America Ferrera
America Ferrera | |
|---|---|
| File:AmericaFerreraGoldenGlobe.jpg America Ferrera at the Golden Globes in 2007. | |
| Born | America Georgina Ferrera |
| Height | 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) |
America Georgina Ferrera (born April 18, 1984) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Real Women Have Curves and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and for her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning role as Betty Suarez on the ABC comedy/drama series Ugly Betty.
Biography
Ferrera, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Los Angeles, California to Honduran parents and was raised by her mother in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. She started acting at age eight in school plays and community theater. She attended high school at El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills. In interviews, Ferrera has noted the contrast between the image of the "typical Latina" experience and her own childhood, observing that growing up in a mostly Jewish, non-Hispanic neighborhood, she attended "52 bar mitzvahs and not a single quinceañera."[1] Ferrera attends the University of Southern California, where she is double-majoring in Theater and International Relations; as of January, 2007, she lacked only one semester's coursework to earn her degree.[1]
In 2002, she made her film debut in Real Women Have Curves. Ferrera followed this with roles in both television (Touched by an Angel) and film (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Lords of Dogtown). Ferrera received a 2005 Movieline Breakthrough Award. In December 2005, she appeared in the off-Broadway play Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, directed by Trip Cullman.
In 2006, she landed the lead role in Ugly Betty, an adaptation of the Colombian hit telenovela Betty La Fea, in which she portrays a girl that her peers find extremely unattractive, thus the series title. As Betty Suarez, Ferrera wears fake braces on her teeth, bushy eyebrows and a disheveled wig, and make-up and clothing intended to downplay her own good looks.
According to Ugly Betty hair department head Roddy Stayton, "She's a gorgeous girl with an incredible style sensibility in her personal life. What we do is Bettify her in the morning. It's in contrast to the rest of the show, where everybody else is glammed up", adding that it was Ferrera herself who coined the term "Bettification" to describe the process.[2]
For her role in Ugly Betty, Ferrera won the 2007 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical, beating out fellow nominees Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mary-Louise Parker. As a result of the award, she was congratulated by the US House of Representatives as being a role model for young Latinas.[3] On 28 January 2007 Ferrera won the prestigious Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series. She also starred in and executive produced the poignant short film Muertas.
Personal Life
Ferrera is currently dating Ryan Piers Williams, whom she met while working on his student film at USC. Ferrera has denied rumors that they are engaged.[4]
Ferrera is a registered Democrat, but states that she has not voted in her adult life. At the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards, she made a quip that was interpreted as criticism of George W. Bush, stating "I guess I'm a free-spirited person and America's supposedly the 'land of the free,' right?...Or at least we will be in 2008."[5]
Filmography
Film
- Hacia la oscuridad (2007) (post-production) as Luiza
- Boy, Immigrant (2007) (post-production) as Marta
- Muertas (2007) as Rebecca
- Planet H2O: "Water World" (2006) as the host.[1]
- Steel City (2006) as Amy Barnes
- 3:52 (2005) as Kate
- Lords of Dogtown (2005) as Thunder Monkey
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) as Carmen
- How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (2005)
- Plainsong (2004) as Victoria Roubideaux
- Darkness Plus Twelve (2004) as Luiza
- $5.15/Hr. (2004)
- Gotta Kick It Up! (2002) as Yolanda
- Real Women Have Curves (2002) as Ana Garcia
- American Family: "Fighting Fridas" (2002) as a member of the football team
Television
- Ugly Betty as Betty Suarez (2006-present)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2004) as April Lopez
- Touched by an Angel: "The Word" (2002) as Charlee
Producer - filmography
- Hacia la oscuridad (2007) (post-production) executive producer as Luiza
Awards & Nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical | Won |
| 2007 | Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a Series - Comedy or Musical | Nominated |
| 2007 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Comedy Series | Won |
| 2007 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated |
| 2007 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated |
Footnotes
- ^ a b Miller, Gerri. "America Ferrera: Why she's America's sweetheart!", Estylo magazine, February/March 2007, pp. 35-37 Cite error: The named reference "estylo" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ It's a 'Bettification' project, USA Today, October 4, 2006
- ^ IMDB Press Release, January 19, 2007
- ^ "Ugly Betty star slams marriage reports". The West Australian newspaper. 2007-02-18. Retrieved 2007-03-06.
- ^ Brent Baker (2007-02-24). "At 'Spirit Awards,' Star of ABC's 'Ugly Betty' Quips U.S. Won't Be 'Free' Until Bush Gone". Newsbusters. Retrieved 2007-03-06.