Latinx representation in Hollywoods most popular movies comes nowhere close to reflecting either the U.S. population or that of Los Angeles, where many of these movies and the decisions behind them get made, according to a new study.

The University of Southern Californias Annenberg Inclusion Initiative finds that in the rare instances when Latinx characters do appear on screen, the films in question perpetuate unrealistic and often harmful tropes, often by depicting Latinx people as criminals, low-level workers and the other, or they disproportionately focus on immigration stories.

According to the study, which uses the U.S. census category of Hispanic/Latino, nearly 20% of the U.S. population, 39% of Californias population and 49% of Los Angeles population identifies as Hispanic/Latino. Yet only 3.5% of the top 100 grossing films at the U.S. box office from 2007 to 2019 featured Hispanic/Latino leads or co-leads.

Across the 1,300 movies in the study, which included over 50,000 speaking characters, only 5% of all speaking characters were Hispanic/Latino. That percentage has never gone higher than 7.2% in 2017 and was as low as 2.8% in 2009.

This relegates Hispanic/Latino actors to sidekick, friend, or even villain roles. Moreover, it fails to reflect the multitude of stories about Hispanic/Latinos that exist to be told, the researchers wrote, warning of an epidemic of invisibility.

Released Wednesday to coincide with the start of Latinx Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the groups new report marks the second time the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has specifically studied the lack of Latinx representation in major movies. (In addition to the broader census category of Hispanic/Latino, the study also uses Latinx to more closely examine representation for U.S.-born Latinos who are not of Spanish descent.)

For years, the low numbers have been especially egregious because of how fast these communities across the country have grown and how they make up a significant portion of box office revenue. Year after year, studies and data have shown that representation is not only a moral imperative but an economic necessity for Hollywood .

The Annenberg team partnered with two production companies focused on telling stories from underrepresented communities: Wise Entertainment and actor Eva Longorias UnbelieEVAble Entertainment. The research identified a link between Latinx representation in front of and behind the camera. From 2017 to 2019, nearly half of the top-grossing movies with Hispanic/Latino directors had one or more Hispanic/Latino actors in a top-billed role, compared to 26.5% of films by non-Hispanic/Latino directors.

But Hispanic/Latino directors rarely get to direct major movies, as the study shows. Across the 13 years of movies included in the study, only 4.2% of the directors were Hispanic/Latino, and the researchers documented no change over time. Among the 1,447 directors who directed the films in the study, just three were Hispanic women or Latinas. Only 3.3% of the casting directors behind the movies in the study were Hispanic/Latino, as were just 3% of the producers.

Over the studys 13-year period, only two Latinx actors Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez starred or co-starred in more than one top-grossing movie. Even as recently as 2019, only 28 of the top 100 highest-grossing films featured a Hispanic/Latino actor getting top billing, and in 82% of them, they were the only Hispanic/Latino actor to do so. Just one movie had a whopping five top-billed Hispanic/Latino actors: 2019s Dora and the Lost City of Gold.