Sarasota County Film and Entertainment Office and Ringling College of Art and Design hosted Luisa Leschin, Hollywood actor, writer and producer, in Ringling’s Academic Center last night to address local filmmakers and aspiring creatives and students. But before taking the stage, Leschin made time to share her own circuitous path to find success in the face of adversity and what Ringling students can learn from her story as a Latina and budding screenwriter at a time when Hollywood still hadn’t caught up to the Latin experience.

Now a successful screenwriter with seven television pilots under her belt and writing credits on six syndicated shows, Leschin says the path wasn’t always easy or clear. Beginning as a dancer, Leschin first parlayed her skills into a small role in Saturday Night Fever, taking acting lessons in New York and doing commercial work at a time when companies would often make two at a time—one for mainstream America and one with a Latino actor for Latino audiences—but finding roles was still a problem.

Leschin found work in film as an extra, but noticed a disturbing trend. A vast majority of the roles for Latina women were reserved to prostitutes, maids and pregnant teenagers. “That’s why I started writing,” said Leschin, whose first work was a stage play entitled Latins Anonymous, featuring herself and three other frustrated actors airing grievances in comedic fashion and in the style of Alcoholics Anonymous. Absurdism peaks when one apologizes for being Latino but not speaking Spanish.

“I got so tired as an actress of being stereotyped. My advice is to develop your own story.” It’s literal and figurative advice, she said; by owning her identity, she forged a path, and by taking command of the writing aspect of her craft, she brought it to fruition. That first attempt, Latins Anonymous, was a hit, putting Leschin on the radar as a writer, while temporarily killing her career as an actor when casting directors stopped calling for stereotypical roles and few were left.

“At that point, I had to decide if I wanted to push the Latina aspect of myself,” said Leschin, and she did, quietly and gradually trying to change the status quo. “You have to give that drop of medicine, but within the confines of where you work.” One of her first successful shows, The Brothers Garcia, told the story of a well-to-do Latino family dealing with everyday life in America. “And that was subversive,” said Leschin, in eschewing stories of gangs and drugs for a different vision of Latino families in the United States. “This is what’s driving me, because I suffered through 20 years of acting these stupid parts.”

Today, Leschin looks back on a filmography that includes hit shows such as George Lopez, Everybody Hates Chris, an Emmy-nominated season of East Los High and two ALMA nominations for writing, and looks forward to new shows such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Just Add Magic, getting digital distribution through Netflix and Amazon, respectively.

“The most important thing is that, in this business, there is no one path and you never know what it is that will lead you to the next thing,” said Leschin of what she wanted students to take away from the night's event. “I started working and haven’t stopped for 15 years.”