When Marc Anthony released his first English-language album in 1999, Latin artists were in vogue. Ricky Martin was the hottest thing in pop, Jennifer Lopez's hits were climbing the charts, and the media were focused on music that was "muy caliente." But instead of relishing all the attention, Anthony reviled it. The Grammy-winning singer believes that instead of educating people about the diversity of Latin music and culture, it just served to perpetuate stereotypes. "There were all kinds of misconceptions about what it was to be Latino," Anthony says. The 33-year-old New Yorker, whose parents are Puerto Rican, complains that people lumped Latin performers in one bag, failing to differentiate them by genre or style. And he says the hoopla underscored how ignorant many were about Latinos in general. He recalls one incident where he was doing a major show, and "as I'm walking out, the producer comes running out. And she says, 'I didn't get your work visa information.' … And I'm like, 'Where do you think I'm from?' "I felt like a stranger in my back yard for the first time in my life. It was a little weird." But with the success of his first album and the recent release of his second pop album, "Mended," Anthony is starting to feel like music fans are finally accepting Hispanic stars based on their music and their individuality. "They're not lumping us up simply because we have Latin surnames," says Anthony, who kicks off a U.S. tour in Boston on Saturday and has a CBS concert special airing July 12. "And I don't hear little things like, 'Oh, you speak very well for being Puerto Rican.'" His tour won't stop in Pittsburgh but will make an appearance in Cleveland on July 21. Angelo Figueroa, managing editor of People en Espanol, says Anthony isn't "comfortable with that crossover tag, because he started off (singing) in English. He's basically a product of America." (While Anthony has an accent, it's due to his Bronx roots more than anything else.) Anthony got his start singing in the late 80s but didn't achieve stardom until he made his Spanish-language debut in 1993. "He's been the king of salsa for many years now," Figueroa says. Yet he was not well known outside of Hispanic households. So when his label, Sony Music, urged him to release an English-language album, Anthony wasn't sure what to expect. The singer admits feeling insecure about whether it would sell. "The first experience was extremely tough, because you are under the microscope," Anthony says. "Sony made a big investment in me. I hadn't written in 10 years … it was mind-boggling." But any doubts Anthony had about the disc's success were erased with the album's first single, the fiery up-tempo "I Need to Know," which became an instant smash. The album went on to sell 3 million copies. Suddenly, Anthony was a star in a new realm. "Everything that happened, happened so fast — fast and furious," he recalls. Two years ago, he wed former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres. On Monday, they announced that they are separating. They have a 16-month-old son, Cristian, and Anthony has an 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. Anthony was unavailable to comment on the split, although a spokeswoman says it was amicable. Meanwhile, Anthony is trying to forge an acting career. He's now in talks to star in a movie with friend Jennifer Lopez based on salsa singer Hector Lavoe's life. He also has appeared in the 1999 movie "Bringing Out the Dead" with Nicolas Cage; other acting projects have included the failed Paul Simon Broadway play, "The Capeman." Film festival opener Following speculation about which Canadian film will be opening the 27th installment of the Toronto International Film Festival, programmers finally announced at a press conference Tuesday that Atom Egoyan's controversial "Ararat" beat out David Cronenberg's "Spider" for the honor. Set in contemporary Toronto, "Ararat" is about two families living under the shadow of the Armenian massacre in Turkey in 1915 and stars David Alpay, Charles Aznavour and Eric Bogosian. "'Ararat' is based on true events that have been systematically denied," festival officials say. The film has caused controversy because Turkey has never officially acknowledged the massacre. The festival, which will run Sept. 5 through 14, also will feature a remembrance of the events of Sept. 11, which shut down the 10-day festival last year. Among the 300 features to be screened is Cronenberg's "Spider," about a man (Ralph Fiennes) who "must face the demons of his childhood and discover the truth behind his mother's murder"; Peter Kosminsky's "White Oleander," starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Billy Connolly and Robin Wright Penn, about a girl living in a series of foster homes; Brad Silberling's "Moonlight Mile," starring Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, and Jake Gyllenhaal as a man who tries to pick up the pieces after the death of his fiancee; and Im Kwon-taek's "Chihwaseon," about 19th-century South Korean artist Jang Seung-up. New oscar rules Rules for the 75th Academy Awards have been approved by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with the governors making it tougher to give honorary awards. The procedure by which governors vote for honorary awards — the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award — will now require a vote of two-thirds of the governors present to give an award, and three-fourths of the governors will have to endorse a candidate for a second award. Nominating and voting for all three awards will be conducted as a single procedure. The move is an attempt by the board to limit the number of honoraries presented each year to one or, at most, two, and to do so in a way that is fair to each of the three types of award. The official "75th Annual Academy Award Rules" booklet will be ready for distribution to Academy members during the first week of August. Academy Award rules are reviewed annually by branch and category committees, and submitted to the Awards Rules Committee, which then reviews all proposed changes and presents its recommendations to the Board of Governors. The 75th Annual Academy Awards Presentation will be telecast live from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland by ABC at 8:30 p.m. March 23.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---