Daring duo of Latino animators

This is the tale of “El Tigre,” a new animated TV series about Latinos that was actually created by Latinos. It’s a story, like so many in Los Angeles, of immigration, ambition, defeat, triumph and, of course, romance.

It starts at the border town of Tijuana, where the show’s creators, Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, met in high school 13 years ago and fell in love, initially against the wishes of her family, who are all doctors.

Gutierrez studied at CalArts on a student visa, graduating in 2000 with a master’s in experimental animation. That’s when the clock started ticking. If he didn’t get a job and a work visa within one year, he’d be forced to go back to Mexico.

“It’s the greatest motivator of all time to be told, ‘If you don’t find a job, we’ll deport you,’ ” says Gutierrez, 32.

So the artist started schlepping from studio to studio with his portfolio, filled with fanciful drawings of colorful characters steeped in his cultural roots.

“A lot of studios would tell me, ‘This stuff is too Mexican. It’s too Latino. We really don’t want to do stuff like that. There’s no market for it. There’s no audience for it.’ I kept pitching and pitching.”

Once he was even dismissed with: “The day Scooby-Doo goes to Mexico, we’ll give you a call.”

During this process, Gutierrez, who worked briefly for shows such as PBS Kids’ “Maya and Miguel” and the Cartoon Network’s “Mucha Lucha,” was surprised to learn that “Mucha Lucha,” about a Mexican wrestler, was created by two Australians. Even Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” and “Go Diego Go,” perhaps the best-known Latino-themed animated shows for youngsters, were not created by Latinos, according to the network.

“I wanted to talk to all the other Latino creators to hear about their experiences, but I couldn’t find any,” he says.

In 2001, Gutierrez married Equihua, 31, who had studied graphic design and illustration in Mexico before joining her husband in Los Angeles. They figured they had one last shot.

“Why don’t we try to pitch a cartoon about our lives?” they asked themselves. “Let’s look at everything we love in movies and art and literature, everything we really like from Latin America, specifically from Mexico ... where it’s about their families and where they’re from, with really personal stories.”

Thus was born “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera,” the couple’s visually dazzling cartoon series on Nickelodeon. The story is about a teenager, Manny, and his conflicted superhero alter ego, El Tigre, who knows the difference between right and wrong but has a hard time choosing. His best friend, Frida, who has a band called the Atomic Sombreros, is not the best influence, but she’s a lot of fun.

Unlike Dora and Diego, “El Tigre” is aimed at older kids, 8 to 11, and is entirely in English, except for a few L.A.-inspired exclamations such as “Ay Cahuenga!” Mexican culture is the context, the stories universal.

The formula seems to be working. “El Tigre’s” March 3 premiere was Nickelodeon’s best for a Saturday morning series, beating the July 1999 debut of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” currently cable’s No. 1 show for kids 2 to 11.

“Latino content seems to be not just for Latinos anymore,” concludes Gutierrez. “It’s sort of reaching this whole new acceptance by the American audience.”

J.Lo as you’ve never heard her

Jennifer Lopez will tell you that, as an aspiring singer looking for her first recording contract, she let herself be talked out of singing in Spanish.

Though her first demo tape was “Vivir Sin Ti” (To Live Without You), star maker Tommy Mottola, the former Sony executive instrumental in the crossover careers of Latin pop singers Shakira and Ricky Martin, persuaded her to do her first album in English.

“I thought that my career was going to be in Spanish music, honestly,” Lopez said during a recent phone call. “My life took a different turn, which was great for me. But my heart was always kind of on the Spanish side.”

What’s odd about those beginnings is that Lopez, like many other U.S.-born Latinos, grew up speaking primarily English. She had to learn Spanish as an adult, “an act of will” that prepared her to reconnect with her roots.

The result is the singer’s first Spanish-language album, a lush collection mostly of romantic ballads, titled “Como Ama Una Mujer” (How a Woman Loves), co-produced by her husband, singer Marc Anthony, and due in stores Tuesday. The first single, “Que Hiciste” (What Have You Done?), one of two up-tempo tracks on the album, is bristling with the wounded pride of a spurned woman.

“I know it’s not maybe what people would expect from me,” she says. “But this is a beautiful opportunity for me to show a side of myself that is such a big part of who I am.”

But like most bicultural Latinos, Lopez is discovering that it’s not so easy to jump back and forth between identities. Her popularity in English doesn’t automatically transfer to the Spanish side. Three weeks after its release, the single had barely entered the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks, and it has slipped a few notches since. More challenges lie ahead.

The Gregory Nava film “Bordertown,” in which Lopez stars as a reporter investigating the killings of women in Juarez, was booed by audiences at the Berlin International Film Festival last month. And salsa critics are already carping about the authenticity, or lack thereof, of her upcoming biopic, “El Cantante,” directed by Leon Ichaso and costarring her husband as star-crossed salsa singer Hector Lavoe, whom he strikingly resembles.

The film, co-produced by Lopez, is set for an Aug. 1 release. No word on a release date for the soundtrack featuring Anthony’s versions of Lavoe’s salsa classics.

Tear down this wall

The Ministry of Culture, a new L.A.-based arts collective, is calling for artists to produce new work in response to the planned 700-mile fence to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border. The group is also hosting open-mike events, “We Say No,” for people to express opposition to the border barrier in two-minute, videotaped statements. The first event, held earlier this month, drew about 100 people to the Imix Bookstore in Eagle Rock

“The diversity of people and ideas was most pleasing,” said Shervin Shahbazi, an Iranian-born filmmaker and curator who helped organize the event. “We had men and women of all colors.... One guy even rapped in Spanglish.”

For future events, check www.ministryofculture.org.

Times staff writer Agustin Gurza covers Latino music, arts and culture. E-mail agustin.gurza@latimes.com with comments, upcoming events and story ideas for this new weekly feature.