10 TV and movie characters from the '90s every Latino could relate to

The recent increase in Latino representation onscreen is a sign that Hollywood is moving in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work left to do. Despite Emmy and Golden Globe wins for actors America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin), there remains a dearth of roles for Latino and Latina leads.

In the 1990s, however, it was even rarer for Latino-Americans to see themselves on television or in movies. Popular entertainment during that time, including shows like Friends, Sex in the City, and Beverly Hills 90210, only told stories of white characters—despite being set in cities with large multicultural populations.

So, who did Latinos and Latinas growing up in the ‘90s relate to? We rounded up a list of 10 characters who added a little brown to whitewashed screens, and sent the message that our stories matter, too.

It must have been hard for Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez (played by Mike Vitar) to be one of two brown kids in the San Fernando Valley (the other being Kenny DeNunez, played Brandon Quintin Adams​).

Luckily for Benny, he was a star baseball player, and could safely navigate through his neighborhood's suburban sea of whiteness. Benny was soft-spoken, but always always rose to the occasion—whether at the plate or while outrunning a territorial English mastiff. He was an inspiration for young Latino boys who dreamed big, and proved that if you focused and worked hard enough, you could make it to the big leagues.

Selena Quintanilla-Perez was a beloved Tejano music superstar whose life was tragically cut short at 23, when she was shot and killed by the president of her fan club. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Latino who doesn’t remember this moment, and even fewer who don’t remember Selena's songs.

“There haven’t been enough people like [Selena] in the Latino community,” Deborah Paredez, author of Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory, told NBC. “So people continue to turn to her, to commemorate her.”

Selena’s vast influence as a Latina role model highlights why the cinematic retelling of her life was so important to the community she represented. Jennifer Lopez’s breakout role as Selena in the 1997 film became one of the most iconic Latina roles of that decade.

Everybody who grew up in the ‘90s watched Ghostwriter on PBS—if not at home, then definitely at school.

Gaby Fernandez (Mayteana Morales), whose parents owned a neighborhood bodega, was part of the multicultural group of Brooklyn kids who solved mysteries with the help of a friendly ghost that shared written clues. Gaby was also obsessed with Galaxy Girl, the title character of a popular fictional TV show on Ghostwriter (portrayed by former MTV VJ and Latina actor Daisy Fuentes).

The '90s were rampant with negative onscreen portrayals of homosexuality (how can we forget the gay panic and homophobia of NBC’s Friends?)

But during that time, well before Ellen DeGeneres came out publicly, My So-Called Life’s Rickie Vasquez (Wilson Cruz) stood out for being a positive representative of LGBT youth. As Rolling Stone noted, the problems he faced as a gay teen—abuse from his uncle, getting kicked out of his home, feeling like an outsider—weren’t just used as plot devices. Rickie was a three-dimensional character who was just trying to be himself, while figuring things out along the way.

Sure, Ashley Banks wasn’t a Latina character. But the actress who portrayed her, Tatyana M. Ali—whose mother is Panamanian and father is Trinidadian—identifies as Afro-Latina.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was one of the 1990s' most popular sitcoms, and saved NBC at a time when it needed a big hit. The show's success and broad reach brought Ashley Banks into the homes of many Latino teens. The character grew up trying to emulate her older, cooler cousin, Will Smith, while developing her own identity under the regime of her protective father Philip Banks.

Ali also grappled with her racial identity while portraying Ashley Banks.

“It’s always interesting how people discuss culture and race,” she told NBC. “It’s hard sometimes for people to realize you can be more than one thing.”

Leonardo DiCaprio gets all the credit for his performance as Romeo in Baz Luhrman’s 1996 imagining of the Shakespearean classic, Romeo and Juliet. But one oft-overlooked character is Tybalt (played by John Leguizamo).

Following his short-lived FOX sketch show, House of Buggin’, Leguizamo tried his hand at drama.

“He’s one of these guys that you meet in clubs or you meet in New York City,” Leguizamo said in an interview promoting Romeo + Juliet​. “He thinks he’s good looking, he knows to fight … he loves to be the center of attention. And when that’s threatened by anything, they’re like time bombs waiting to happen.”

Actor Lauren Vélez is best known as driven police lieutenant Maria LaGuerta on Showtime’s Dexter, but in the mid-1990s, she broke out as Det. Nina Moreno on the FOX police drama New York Undercover.

Before Nina was a cop, she got married and had a baby at 16, but decided to give it up for adoption after her teenage husband left her. Although this history certainly added to Nina's inner turmoil, it never stopped her from getting work done.

Vélez​ first appeared on New York Undercover in its second season as the savvy and fearless detective. ​

Before he played traumatized killing machine Huck on ABC’s Scandal, Guillermo Diaz portrayed a young and insecure aspiring DJ named Leo in the 1995 indie comedy Party Girl.

Leo is hustling his way into New York City nightlife, but is haunted by a recurring nightmare in which he can’t seem to get his records to spin, while a disappointed crowd boos him off stage. Leo’s just trying to catch a break, and will do anything to get a slot at one of New York's hottest clubs. Case in point:

Played by Afro-Latina actor Stacey Dash, Dionne was Cher’s (Alicia Silverstone) best friend and confidant in Clueless.

The fashion-forward socialite may have seemed somewhat self-absorbed, but she was caught up in the same anxieties many Latino teens faced on a regular basis. Dionne was a plaid-clad 15-year-old C student whose panic about driving on the freeway was only outweighed by the anger she felt when boyfriend Murray (Donald Faison) shaved his head at a Valley party.

Saved by the Bell's A.C. Slater is perhaps the quintessential '90s Latino.

Played by Extra host Mario Lopez, Slater was the son of a U.S. Army major who constantly moved the family around. With no sense of stability, he showed up to Bayside High School as an outsider, but found a way to stand out through sports. Slater excelled at football, wrestling, and dance as a way to maintain a sense of identity he could actually control.

During Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Slater “came out” as Chicano. He was one of two people of color on the original cast, alongside Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies​). Whether you were on Team Zack or Team Slater, Latinos could at least turn on the TV after school, and see one character who looked like them.