Actress and entrepeneur Eva Longoria and actor and director Diego Luna will receive the 26th Hispanic Heritage Awards, the Huffington Post reported. Among the winners are chef José Andrés and musical group Los Tigres del Norte, according to Fox News Latino.
The winners were announced on August 16 by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. ABC News reported the awards ceremony will be presented September 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington and will be broadcasted September 15 on MundoFOX.
Other Latino winnners include Voto Latino President María Teresa Kumar, race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools Alberto Carvalho and actress-singer Lucero.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established The Hispanic Heritage Awards to commemorate the creation of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Recently, Longoria received the "ALMA de Tu Mundo" award, presented by Telemundo and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to ecognize the actress's use of her fame and talent to help the Latino community and to create awareness on various philanthropic causes. Although the 38-year-old actress was born in the U.S., both her parents are Mexican. That's why she has admitted to have a strong bond with her Latino roots.
"The solidarity work is critical to our community, because by defending the rights of Latinos we are defending the rights of everyone. That's how we all can move forward together," the former "Desperate Housewives" actress said during her speech at the awards ceremony. "I feel very honored to be here because I was born in the United States, but I feel Mexican at heart," she added.
"Acting is my profession, but helping the Latino community is my passion and mission of life. That's why I created the Eva Longoria Foundation, to support the Latino community, which, as we know, is powerful, influential and has a limitless potential," Longoria explained.
Mexican actor Diego Luna, whose latest film "Elsyium" hit theaters August 9, is currently finishing his first English-language film, which is the American labor leader César Chávez's biopic, "Chávez."
During an interview with Huffington Post's Alyona Minkovski, Luna confessed that despite being born and raised in Mexico, he actually learned more about the Mexican-American activist during his time living in the United States.
"The idea behind the film is to talk about a community that now I have a strong connection with," said the 33-year-old actor. "And I found out that no one has done a film about him and I don't think it has been celebrated enough. And I think it's the right time to tell the story of César Chávez."
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