In the debut episode of “The Podcast Of The”, presenters Fidel Martínez and Suzy Expósito spoke with the Latin Grammy-nominated singer and actor. Leslie Grace about his long-awaited new music, plus some of the highlights and lowlights of his film career.
Released in May, Grace’s bilingual album “Amor, ¿Qué Eres?” It is the first album he has released in more than a decade. Imbued with what Expósito described as “tropical elegance,” the album is a far cry from the Christian music Grace recorded in her teens, and a marked change from the Latin Grammy-nominated self-titled project she released in 2013. She touched on some of the personal developments required to achieve the more sensual soundscape she explored on her last release.
“The biggest learning has been how to protect my creative space, while growing and discovering it at the same time,” he told De Los.
The 31-year-old also spoke about her work on the 2021 musical film “In the Heights” and the online backlash the film received due to the lack of other Afro-Latinos in the cast.
“The lack of representation within cinema [and] “Diversity within the Latino community is a conversation that we haven't touched on much,” he said. “There are only a limited number of movies [are] given a chance. There [are] Certain ways in which Latinos are portrayed are very restricted in film. I think it's a worthwhile conversation at any time. I'm glad people started talking about it, so [we] I can get more stories.”
Reflecting further on her filmography, Grace spoke about the canceled release of “Batgirl,” in which she played the lead role. The film, which was originally set to debut in late 2022 on the HBO Max streaming service, was canceled by its studio Warner Bros. for financial reasons.
“It was disappointing because we knew the movie we were making,” Grace said of the film, which was in post-production when it was scrapped. “I knew it wasn't a reflection of our work, because this is something that happens. But I think because of the context of the conversation about representation and the way films can be dismissed, after a lot of work and time and money has been put into something… the creative community really felt for me.”
During that period, Grace said the support of other creatives helped her keep going. Since then, he has starred in more independent films in recent years, including “In the Summers,” which won a grand jury prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and the 2026 films “Stages” and “Campeón Gabacho,” which premiered at this year's South By Southwest.
“I'm really grateful for every person who came up to me and said, 'Hey, I've got you, whatever you need,' or 'This is wrong,'” Grace said. “When something happens to me, I focus on my experience and what I got out of it, something that no one could take away from me.”
