When Gina Rodriguez was nominated for a Golden Globe Thursday morning, it wasn’t just a pleasant surprise for the “Jane The Virgin” star, it was also the first nomination ever for The CW, the youth-oriented network first launched in 2006.
The actress struggled to respond to her first Globe nomination.
“There are no words,” Rodriguez told TheWrap. “It feels like … eating red velvet and it being fat free. It feels like the most incredible thing in the whole world. It feels like a guilty pleasure. It feels like too much. I’m so excited about the idea of more people being exposed to the show and giving it more opportunities to make them laugh and cry.”
While Rodriguez was nominated in the Best Television Actress – Musical or Comedy category, the show itself is also nominated for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, which is a double blessing for Rodriguez and her coworkers.
“I’m so excited the entire cast gets to enjoy the nominations and it’s not just me,” she said. “I feel blessed for that and for The CW getting their first Golden Globe nomination — look at Jane, popping all kinds of firsts!”
The joke is in reference to her titular character on the show, who’s vowed to remain a virgin until marriage, and has thus far managed to keep the vow even after being accidentally artificially inseminated and now preparing to give birth to her first child.
Almost as miraculous is how much critical acclaim the freshman drama has acquired in its first season, boasting a 100-percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association followed suit in lauding it.
“[The nomination] gives us such an opportunity to fly and that’s the biggest blessing,” Rodriguez continued. “The HFPA believing in me and the show, it’s everything. The fact that I have to go to work in 2 minutes — there’s no better motivation to continue to work hard, put your head down and prayers up and keep proving to people you deserve the nomination and do more and just keep continuing to make people laugh and cry.”
“Jane The Virgin,” an adaptation of a Venezuelan telenovela, does make people laugh and cry in spades, with outrageous twists and turns tempered by genuine emotion. The show has already been picked up for a full 22-episode first season, and Rodriguez is hopeful the nomination will help secure it for a second season.
“To get to live with Jane for another year would be incredible, and to see where the amazing writers’ minds are gonna go,” Rodriguez said. “They are so brilliant and Jennie Urman is so brilliant, and the way we’ve traveled on this crazy roller coaster, it’s going to be very exciting to see what other crazy things they pull.”
“Jane The Virgin” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.