Kamala Lopez

Kamala Lopez is an award winning film and television actress, producer, director, writer and editor a as well as an internationally recognized political activist, blogger and published editorialist. Ms. Lopez has appeared in movies including Born in East L.A., Deep Cover and The Burning Season (co-starring the late Raúl Juliá) in addition to numerous other English and Spanish-language films. She has appeared on such television shows as Beverly Hills, 90210, Murder She Wrote, 21 Jump Street and Hill Street Blues. In 1995 Lopez formed the production company Heroica Films with the mission to write, direct and produce media for women, about women and utilizing women both in front and behind the camera. Kamala’s directorial debut feature film A Single Woman, about the life of first U.S. Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, received the 2009 Exceptional Merit in Media Award from the NWPC.

Although Ms. Lopez’s production company and directorial debut are examples of advocacy for women, her activism began with advocating for at-risk, inner-city LA teen girls seeking to help them find alternative life paths. She then joined Global Girl Media, a non-profit organization “dedicated to empowering high school age girls from under-served communities…”, as Founding Director of the Los Angeles Bureau. In 2010 Kamala created The E.R.A. Education Project, a national media campaign to raise awareness about the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States in partnership with the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) Leadership, Development, Education and Research Fund and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Lopez won the 2011 Woman of Courage Award from the National Women's Political Caucus for her exceptional efforts championing civil rights and equality. She is also a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post.

Early Life

Ms. Lopez, A native of New York, NY who was raised in Caracas, Venezuela, is of Tamil origin on her mother's side and Venezuelan on her father's side. Her paternal grandmother, Maria Emilia Lares Echeverria Baralt was a Spaniard. While in high school in Brooklyn, Lopez was cast as Mercedes, Maria’s cousin on Sesame Street, a role she held the role for two seasons. Soon afterwards she was accepted to Yale University where she double majored in Philosophy and Theater Studies.

Film, Television and Other Media

Acting

Kamala has worked as an actor in over thirty feature films including Born in East L.A., Deep Cover, The Burning Season (co-starring the late Raúl Juliá and winner of 2 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes and the Humanitas Prize), Clear and Present Danger in addition to numerous other English and Spanish-language films. She has starred in over sixty television shows including Lie To Me, Medium, 24, Alias, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, 21 Jump Street (winner of the Imagen Award), and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

Hosting

In 2007 Lopez hosted, along with comedian Chris Hardwicke, Wired Science on PBS, a production of KCET Los Angeles in association with Wired Magazine. The weekly show presented scientific advances in practical terms for the general public. As Lopez said in an interview to La Opinion, "What we are trying to do, in a gradual way, is inform, with the goal that the technological changes that we are living through in theses times are easier to integrate into our lives." Lopez hoped the show would reach a broad audience but, specifically, the Latino community where she was "very happy to see so many Latinos occupying important positions within the scientific community." Latino Perspectives Magazine noted Kamala "combines good looks with gray matter and wit."

Writing

In October of 1995, Lopez sold her first feature script "Mr. Hawaii" (co-written with Jay Lacopo)[1] to Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment in a preemptive strike deal made by Todd Black with agent Jon Klane [2]. The film was set up with producers Andy Licht and Jeff Mueller (Cable Guy). The comedy concerns a telemarketer, determined to win a Hawaiian vacation, who won't take no for an answer. Consequently, he stalks the one subscriber that stands between him and his Hawaiian holiday.

Directing

A Single Woman

She directed the film A Single Woman, which premiered in the United States Congress and has since been invited to screen at The Smithsonian Institution, The United Nations, The National Arts Club, and Yale University. It is currently being sold on DVD. The film received the Exceptional Merit in Media Award from the National Women's Political Caucus in a ceremony on July 14, 2009, at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

In November 2008, A Single Woman author and star Jeanmarie Simpson was interviewed on the radio show Insight, hosted by Jeffrey Callison on Capitol Public Radio, Sacramento, California's NPR affiliate. During the interview, Simpson disclosed that she had retained an attorney because of issues between herself and the filmmaker of A Single Woman. In February 2010, she was quoted in the Reno News and Review, saying, "Terrible movie. It’s just badly, badly conceived, badly done. The director made a mess of it. It’s really too bad because it’s a fantastic story, and it’s a wonderful, worthy subject, as you know. But it just–the film is a disaster."

Political Activism

ERA Campaign

In 2010 Kamala became the director of the E.R.A. Education Project, a national media campaign to raise awareness about the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States. She won the 2011 Woman of Courage Award from the National Women's Political Caucus.

In an opinion piece on Trustlaw.org,[3] writer Rita Henley Jensen lamented the fact that only one woman sits on the congressional committee charged with cutting the federal budget, a lack of representation that potentionally could put such critical programs as child care and education at risk; Jensen mused whether the ERA could be reintroduced and passed, and then cited Lopez as a reason for hope that it could:

"One person fires me up to believe, though. Kamala Lopez, an actor and an activist, is in the process of creating 20 public service announcements that are fast, funny and use the famous to ask: 'Did you know that women in the U.S. do not have equal rights under the constitution?' Lopez is also a powerful orator and she just might have the will, the resources and the strategy to bring it off."

Global Girl Media

Global Girl Media is a non-profit organization “dedicated to empowering high school age girls from under-served communities through media, leadership and journalistic training”. In her role as Founding Director of the Global Girl Media Los Angeles Bureau, Kamala has supported GGM’s mission by organizing annual training academies, the first of which matriculated 12 LA-based high school girls that reported (in combination with 20 high school girls from Soweto, SA) on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

On May 27th of 2010 Tabby Biddle, author of The Goddess Diaries and Huffington Post contributor, named Kamala "Goddess of the Week." In her interview Biddle, Kamala is quoted about her work with GlobalGirl Media:

“I have always been motivated by the desire to improve the world for women, in particular in the media — because the media is the “face” of the collective philosophy; watching media tells you what we think of ourselves and our “ideal” images and states of being. Right now women’s place within that context is deeply troubling on a symbolic level and this translates to trouble for women in society and all over the world, as media is our most powerful export.”

The July, 2011 GGM LA Academy trained 12 high-school-age girls, many from marginalized communities in Los Angeles, and will feature their work in an international exhibition focused on women’s and girls' rights globally in October.

Speechless Without Writers

Speechless Without Writers was a new media campaign produced by Kamala Lopez during the Writers Guild of America Strike of 2007 along with director George Hickenlooper, writer Alan Sereboff, writer Jill Kushner and actor-writer Joel Marshall. The campaign created dozens of short black and white public service announcements featuring actors including Holly Hunter, Sean Penn, Laura Linney, Harvey Keitel, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jenna Elfman, Susan Sarandon, Patricia Arquette, Tim Robbins, Alan Cumming, Patricia Clarkson, André Benjamin, Ed Asner, David Schwimmer, Garry Marshall and the cast of Ugly Betty who all riffed on the theme of being "Speechless" without having scripts from the writers. Directors such as Paul Haggis and Woody Allen also participated in the campaign that showed strong support for the WGA from high profile members of the Screen Actors Guild. The successful campaign was featured in a Time Magazine article "The Striking Writers Speak!" as well as on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Awards

Woman of Courage Award

In July of 2011 Ms. Lopez received the Woman of Courage Award from the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC). The Women of Courage Awards are given to women from diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated courage by taking a stand to further civil rights and equality, and who exemplify women's leadership. Other 2011 Award recipients include Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Pakistani women's rights activist, Rubina Feroze Bhatti; Minority Leader, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi; past and youngest director of the Women's Bureau and Secretary of Labor, Alexis Herman; and first president of the Women's Action Organization of the State Department, Ambassador Mary Olmsted.

Exceptional Merit in Media Award

On July 14th of 2009 Lopez and Heroica Films took home the EMMA award for the film "A Single Woman," produced and directed by Lopez. The Exceptional Merit Media Awards (EMMAs) were created by the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) to honor and reward journalists and media outlets in radio, television, print and the internet that inform and educate the public about critical issues that impact women’s lives. Since 1986, the EMMAs have been presented for outstanding coverage of women’s issues in media. Recent recipients include Sheryl WuDunn for Half the Sky, Glamour Magazine’s “Meet Generation (R)x” and Ms. Magazine’s “The Scandal of Military Rape.” Other past winners include many renowned and highly respected journalists such as Ellen Goodman, Cokie Roberts, Barbara Ehrenreich, Diane Sawyer, and Eleanor Clift.

External links

• Kamala Lopez at IMDb
• Kamala Lopez at the Huffington Post
• Global Girl Media