In Hollywood, people have more sex appeal if, in their native language, the word for love is 'amor' or 'amore' or
'amour'. We don't call them "Romance languages" for nothing. Latin men are hotter than jalapeños, and Latin women melt butter at a 5 kilometer radius with their
Femme Fatale aura. Plus there's dancing. There's always dancing.
The "Poolboy" or "New Gardener" character fits this role often.
The
Latin Lover was usually from Spain or Italy, but has expanded to include Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other Central and South American ethnicities.
But not Mexicans. Never Mexicans. For some reason, they're not generally from Latium, unless they're Salma Hayek.
Subtrope of
Everyone Looks Sexier If French.
The Paolo may be one.
Examples
Female
- Violet Esperanza from Deadlands.
- Eva Longoria Parker
- Cote de Pablo (that's Ziva off NCIS)
- Jenifer Lopez
- Eva Mendez
- Salma Hayek
- Flor Moreno in Spanglish. Though somewhat subverted in that it is the white Deborah Clasky who cheats.
- Shakira
- Penelope Cruz
- Rosario Dawson, if she ever decides to use an accent.
- Cameron Diaz(Fun fact: She's Cuban).
Male
- Antonio Banderas.
- Ricky Martin.
- Enrique Iglesias and his father, Julio.
- Enriqué from this
Order Of The Stick strip. Also, Julio Scoundrél.
- The original "Nutty Professor" Buddy Love.
- Juanissimo from The Fairly Odd Parents is a parody.
- Jimmy Smits.
- Aurelio Voltaire Hernadez. A sexy, cuban goth guy with a good sence of humor who can play the guitar and has a goatee? For some, he's walking sex.
- One character in the first Police Academy movie deliberately invoked this trope by using a much thicker "Latino" accent than he actually had in order to score with women.
- Aldolfo from The Drowsy Chaperone. Sort of. He probably thinks he's greater than he is.
- Fernando Martinez from the Grand Theft Auto games is a parody of this.
- Carlos "the Barracuda" DelGato of Frasier tries to be one of these. How well he succeeds is a topic for another day.
- Puss in Boots from the Shrek films, as voiced by the aforementioned Banderas.
- Rudolph Valentino.
- Cesar Romero, in his pre-Joker days.
- Robin briefly dated one (played by Enrique Iglesias) after she broke up with Ted in How I Met Your Mother.
- Ricardo Montalban.
- The webcomic Irritability had one show up for a one-shot gag, touted by the narrator as "the latin lover". It turned out to be a nerdy guy who really loved the latin language.
- Subverted by Raphael Kerna in Arcia Chronicles, who comes from a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Spain (and he is a toreador, to boot) and is the most popular guy among Arcian noblewomen thanks to his looks and mannerisms. However, he has never entered relationships with any of them. Also, his little sister Dariolo is acknowledged as the hottest girl in Arcia and even hooks up with future king Alexander, but is faaar away from a Femme Fatale,
- Another subversion is found in 6Teen where one of the characters fall for someone who she thinks only speaks Spanish, although the viewer can see it was his unattractive friend talking in Spanish. Consequently, she attempts to learn Spanish herself. He doesn't actually speak Spanish, though, and he tries to learn Spanish himself to communicate with her. If I recall correctly, the phrase "Latin Lover" was even thrown around in the episode.
- In one episode of Blood Ties, they meet a Hispanic incubus.
- On The Ben Stiller Show, Ben had a recurring character called The Pig-Latin Lover, essentially a stereotypical Latin Lover, but he spoke in Pig Latin.
- Lusty love muchachos! Live to love and fight! Loving life and lusting and living for the night!"
- Joaquín Cortés.
