Gina Rodriguez Sends Undocumented Student To School With Emmy Money

“Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez truly has a heart of gold. The actress has decided to use her Emmy money not on herself, but for an undocumented high school student.

Every year, there is an FYC campaign -- For Your Consideration events -- for actors and actresses to promote themselves. They could either glam themselves up or go on campaign events and hand out goodies. While Rodriguez is hoping for another Emmy win with the fifth and final season of “Jane the Virgin,” she decided to put the money allotted by CBS TV Studios to better use.

“FYC is a bizarre dance,” Rodriguez told The Hollywood Reporter. “Whatever you do requires an insane amount of money.”

This time, Rodriguez decided that the money would be best spent on an undocumented high school student. “Our show has always jumped at any opportunity to help me do something for the Latin community,” she said. “So I asked my showrunner, Jennie [Snyder Urman], if we could do something different with the money this year.”

Rodriguez partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles to find the right applicant, and they did. The scholarship recipient is a Princeton University-bound young woman who will now be able to complete all her four years in college without having to worry about finances.

The actress admitted that she’s thrilled with the outcome, but she was a little bit hesitant sharing the good news. “It's taboo to talk about the money being spent, but it's the reality,” explained Rodriguez. “I think sharing this might inspire other people to do something similar. You can desire recognition and, at the same time, decide to not play in the confines of the game as it’s set up.”

Rodriguez has a successful career in Hollywood, and she earlier shared with Forbes some of her secrets to success. One of the most important things she bared was for people never to compromise themselves. “I think a lot of people can relate to thinking that they have to change in order for people to say yes,” she said. Once people embrace their individuality, it is “only then you are able to really be an artist (to the fullest extent) because you are not compromising yourself,” she said.