Jessica Alba has revealed why she refuses to play ethnic Latino characters.

However, in her latest film Machete, the half-Mexican actress has played a Latino character for the first time.

Alba is in Venice to promote the gritty movie, and said that her character is of an intelligent, fierce and independent woman, which made the role more appealing.

"For me, I never wanted to reinforce any stereotypes about Latin women, and that's why I have shied away from Latin characters I've been offered. Most of them reinforced the stigmas," the Daily Telegraph quoted Jessica Alba as saying.

"The women whom I grew up with are intelligent, strong women, and unless I read a woman being portrayed that way in a film, I didn't want to play it," she added.(ANI)