Los Angeles, June 1, 2007 – Hispanic artists are making ever bigger inroads in Hollywood, and the movie Babel and the hit TV series Ugly Betty were the big winners at this year’s American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Awards.

Babel, which was nominated for seven Oscars this year, won four ALMA awards, including outstanding motion picture, best director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and best actress for Adriana Barraza.

The Ugly Betty gang was ebullient, although America Ferrera couldn’t be there to pick up her best TV actress award; she was off shooting the sequel to the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Salma Hayek and Jessica Alba did not walk the red carpet, but we caught them in the press room during the show, where Alba made award winner George Lopez’s night even better by giving him a kiss and a hug. What you may not see on Tuesday, when the ALMAs will be broadcast on ABC, is Lopez onstage cussing about President Bush – in Spanish. The show was taped at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Friday.

Co-host Eva Longoria, who changed costumes multiple times throughout the evening, brought up the very hot topic of “green”, and then made Green Card jokes.

Sara Ramirez, Rodrigo Santoro, Mario Lopez and Andy Garcia were some of the celebs on hand.