When Genesis Rodriguez, a Miami-born actress of Cuban and Venezuelan descent, isn't acting on set, she's on a mission to empower her fellow Latina actresses in a business that she feels often reinforces stereotypes and drums up competition.

Rodriguez, who stars in "Run All Night," (currently in theaters) got her start as a telenovela star at 15 and went on to play a variety of characters from Becky Ferrer on "Days of Our Lives," Will Ferrell's love interest in "Casa de mi Padre," to roles in "Identity Thief," "Man on a Ledge,"  "What to Expect When You're Expecting," "The Last Stand" and "Tusk." She also provided the voice of Honey Lemon in "Big Hero 6."

While she's been lucky to land some interesting roles, she realizes that it can be challenging as a Latina actress to get strong roles, but she's up for the challenge and wants to be a cheerleader for other Latina actresses.

"I am a Latina with a mission and a journey," Rodriguez told Latin Post. "I really do have a north and my north is to not repeat myself too much. I don't want to be the girl that's always the cop, or always the lawyer, or always the sex pot in a movie, eye candy. That's so easy to put us in the stereotype. I want the 'Birdman' roles and I know that's not going to happen for me so easily, so I have to continue to do different roles every single movie."

"This movie ('Run All Night') could not be more different than 'Big Hero 6,' 'Tusk,' 'Identity Thief' and 'Casa de mi Padre.' They are all different," she explained. "The next one I have coming out I am in a cameo and I am a Canadian, and from there, I am a punk-rocker ... I have a plan. That plan is to break stereotypes for Latina women and it's hard and I am going to get the 'Birdman' roles, it's just going to take a s**t-ton longer. And that's OK; it's OK. Like most of my family came and did the struggle and I am doing it my own way."

Rodriguez also highlighted International Women's Day, which took place on March 8, and reflected on the strong Latinas she has encountered in the business and the support that's building from within.

"Funny story, my best friend in LA, she's my competition. Her name is Natalie Martinez (who stars in 'SELF-LESS' with Ryan Reynolds). We go out for the same exact jobs. She is Cuban from Miami. I am Cuban from Miami. Like, we could not be more of the same in terms of our roots and upbringing, but we are two totally different actresses," she explained. "We met and everyone wants to put us against each other. She was up for this part, if it's not her, it's me and that's how I saw it. I was like 'I am not going to be your competition. I think you're the coolest chick I've ever met.' I feel it's much stronger that we show them that we're united and support each other. That's what I do with Gina Rodriguez too..."

"I want people to know that we're not competing with each other; there's a piece for all of us. I am all about female empowerment. When we're united, we're so much better together. So I don't know if that generation of Latinas actresses did it, but we are the first, I think in doing it like this (referring to lending support via Twitter, etc.). "Everything is so much about love and nice is the new black ... It's just hard for us out there."

Rodriguez, who is also known for her leading roles in Telemundo telenovelas such as "Prisionera," "Dame Chocolate" and "Doña Bárbara," isn't thrilled with the way women are depicted in telenovelas.

"That's a whole other monster. I don't know why it hasn't changed. It's just like an unsolved mystery to me. It has stayed exactly the same, stuck in time and it's more because of tradition," she said. "I feel like they are never going to change because of that. ... It's nostalgia. It's what your mom's mom grew up on and so-on and so forth," she said.

"When I did my soap operas, by the last one I did, I did my own make-up because I could not stand the huge amounts of make-up they were putting on me and how it made me feel. Like, if I didn't have this make-up, I wasn't as beautiful as the rest of the cast ... and I didn't want the little girls in their houses to feel like if they didn't have all this make-up on that they weren't going to be beautiful. ... That has also been my mission for Latina women. 'Live in your skin, you don't need the mask.' And I am a L'Oreal girl. I just got a campaign with L'Oreal and I want to empower the beauty that you have without having to cover it up and try to be something that you don't have to be."

In "Run All Night," Rodriguez plays a strong mother of two who is real and raw and not glammed up.

"We're such strong spirits. Especially in this movie, too. I got to play a mom, that was a first for me," she added. "There's nothing stronger than a mom, I feel ... just, like, everything they have to endure and everything they have to go through. It's such a stressful job."

So what was it like on the set of "Run All Night?"

"They didn't make me feel like the outcast at all," she said. "I probably was more of a guy than they were in a pregnant belly," she said. "She's strong and she gives it right back to him. And I like that. I like playing those characters because they are real."