Judith Light on Stage

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Judith Light on Stage

Although Judith Light got her start on stage, including a Broadway run in 1975 of "A Doll's House," for years, she was only seen on television, notably starring for 8 seasong on "Who's The Boss?"

When her longtime friend and manager accused her of being scared when she wouldn't take a stage role after years of doing only TV pilots and movies of the week, she realized he was right.

She decided to take the next stage role that came her way, playing the role of a poetry scholar in "Wit" in 1999.

For the role, she had to shave her head and, at age 50, appear nude on stage.

"It was absolutely terrifying at the time," said Light, but she realized it was an opportunity to change the way people saw her.

The gamble work. Reviews called her "transformative" and "profound" and said she'd been missing from the stage far too long.

Though she still works on TV, she makes sure to carve out plenty of time for stage work.

Currently she appears in "Children" by A. R. Gurney. The show just closed at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut.

It next moves to the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Lupe Ontiveros Breaks Molds

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Lupe Ontiveros Breaks Molds

Lupe Ontiveros has been acting for decades, having appeared in such television programs as "Charlie's Angels" and "Who's the Boss?" However, in that career, she's played a maid 150 times.

She realizes that she gets a lot of parts because of her "indigenous" look, but she's also against getting parts that just reinforce Latina stereotypes.

She is pleased with one maid role: Rosalita in "The Goonies." The film has a cult following, and 30-year-olds still love that movie and the character.

It upsets her when she goes to auditions and directors want a thick "waddly" accent.

She broke out of the maid role in the 1983 film "El Norte," which she hails as "'The Godfather' of immigration films."

In it, she plays an illegal immigrant working in a sewing factory who takes the leading lady under her wing.

She has a dramatic scene in that film where she pleads with the woman's brother after the woman gets sick.

She was also able to get a non-maid role when she appeared in Mike White's "Chuck & Buck." She auditioned for a role originally written for a white woman.

Years later, when White was casting the show "Pasadena," he debated whether to see Ontiveros for a maid role in that.

He was afraid she wouldn't want to be offered a maid role, but she wanted to work with White again. And of course, she wanted to work.

She points out that the younger generation of Latina actresses have different choices and more opportunities than she did.

She longs to play judges or lesbians or councilmembers. She will get to play a wealthy grandmother in an upcoming episode of "Reaper."

Gina Wilhelm Actress