Eva Longoria "couldn’t say no" to ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’.
The 44-year-old actress – who plays the titular character Dora The Explorer’s mother Elena in the adventure film – had not long given birth to her son Santiago when she began filming, but she wasn’t going to let anything stop her taking on the role because she felt it was a great opportunity to represent Latino’s.
Eva admitted: "I didn’t really have a choice. I could’ve said no, but I couldn’t.
"I literally could not have said no to this movie.
"The opportunity that this movie provided, not only for me, but for my community and for people who look like me, I was like, I have to do this movie."
On having to move her life to Australia for filming temporarily, she added to TooFab: "’We’re gonna do this.
"We’re taking the family, we’re taking everybody to Australia, and we’re gonna do this.
"And you guys are gonna be there, and you’re gonna support me, and you’re gonna be happy, and you’re gonna like it!’ And they did!"
The former ‘Desperate Housewives’ star – who has her little boy with husband José ‘Pepe’ Bastón – previously revealed she had to breastfeed her son in the jungle on the movie set when he was just two months old.
She said: "It was the first time being a mom and playing a mom and having a kid. I was breastfeeding so I had to [have him on set]."
When Eva found out about the project she had to be a part of it because it is "authentically Latin" and Latino characters are not being added in to "check a box".
She shared: "It’s so important. It’s the reason why I wanted to do the movie. It’s authentically Latin.
"There’s no check the box, let’s insert Latino character here. It’s Dora, she’s Latina. Of course her parents would be Latino and then her friend Diego, he’s Latino. And they have a grandma. It’s not forced upon you. No one’s hitting you on the head with a tortilla."
Eva Longoria ‘couldn’t say no’ to Dora and the Lost City of Gold
