‘They said she was too dark or chubby’: the outburst of America Ferrera, star of ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Barbie’

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After starring in the acclaimed comedy Ugly Betty and take on an important role Barbie39-year-old actress America Ferrera’s path to success has been “a fairytale.”

Ferrera is the first – and only – Latina to win an Emmy for a leading role. But she is also fully aware of how exceptional it is to have achieved these goals.

“Even though I’ve had an incredible career, full of opportunities that I’ve fought for and worked hard for,” he tells the BBC, “I know that the big reality for Latinos in this industry is that today it’s harder than ever. 16 years ago , or even 22, when I started.”

Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States, where they make up approximately 20% of the population.

But that didn’t translate to on-screen representation, according to Ferrera.

“There are anomalies, moments when Latinas shine. And obviously we’ve had those moments, but I feel like we’ve all been waiting for this defining moment for a long time,” says Ferrera, who was selected as part of the BBC’s 100 Women List, which recognizes 100 women from around the world who were inspiring and influential in 2023.

“It is difficult to reconcile the almost fairy-tale story of my journey with what I know to be the reality for the vast majority of people like me.”

American dream

Born in California to Honduran immigrant parents, Ferrera says she grew up “believing in the American dream.”

“From an early age, my parents taught me, especially my mother, that taking advantage of every educational opportunity was the reason they immigrated to the United States,” he says.

However, navigating her Latino heritage and mainstream culture has left her confused about her identity, she explains.

Even being called America didn’t make things any easier.

“Everyone thought it was a patriotic tribute to my immigrant parents, but the truth is that, in Latin America, the name America is much more common,” says the actress, who shares the same name as her mother.

His start in the entertainment industry brought other challenges.

Before landing her first role at 17, she says she was told she was “too dark, too short, too chubby or too ethnic” for the industry.

The first successes

Her breakthrough role, playing Betty Suárez in the hit comedy Ugly Bettyin 2006, it won her a Golden Globe, an award from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American actors’ union, and an Emmy, making her the only Latina woman to win one as a leading lady.

“It’s 2023 and I’m still the only one who, I think, shows exactly this problem. It’s taken this long because the opportunities don’t exist,” Ferrera says.

“I’ve been very fortunate in my career to arrive at a time where I’ve found as few opportunities as exist for a young Latina actress to become a female lead…much less a confident leading lady who isn’t portrayed as a pauper immigrant criminal or a hypersexualized Latina.”

More professional successes came with the hit comedy series Hypermarketwhich he produced and performed.

This year he also made headlines for his role in the film Barbiedirected by Greta Gerwig, in which he presents a passionate monologue that has touched women around the world.

Her keynote speech, which took 30 to 50 takes to perfect, shows how Ferrera’s character, Gloria, deals with social pressures.

“Feelings like anger and resentment and righteousness, or even joy and silliness and fun… being able to see those expressions (on screen) is a cathartic feeling,” he says.

“And for many of us, many of these experiences we have never seen shared in the mainstream media.”

Ferrera says roles like this can create spaces for women, and particularly women of color, to validate their life experiences.

“We often have to divorce parts of ourselves that are not accepted,” she says.

“The truth is, many of us in underrepresented communities still struggle to make ourselves visible.”

Activism

At 39, Ferrera will make his directorial debut next year with I’m not your perfect Mexican daughter (“I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter”), an adaptation of Erika Sánchez’s bestselling novel about a first-generation Latina immigrant living in a poor Chicago neighborhood.

The themes covered in the film are close to Ferrera’s activism.

The actress co-founded Harness, an organization that amplifies the voices and experiences of communities underrepresented in popular culture, particularly on issues of social justice.

Ferrera is also passionate about political participation and uses some of her time to visit minority communities and encourage them to participate.

On the eve of the 2020 presidential election, Ferrera launched an Instagram series to demystify the voting process, in which he addressed issues such as voter suppression for Black, brown, female, and young voters with clarity and humor.

Now he has his sights set on the 2024 elections.

“My goal is to keep people involved in the process,” he says.

“I think one of the biggest dangers to democracy is simply our discouragement, the feeling that it won’t make any difference if we pay attention and participate, when in fact these outcomes definitely affect our living conditions.”

Ferrera recently invested in an all-female professional soccer team, founded by actress Natalie Portman in Ferrera’s hometown of Los Angeles, which fights to ensure equal pay and conditions for female athletes.

“It’s very difficult to change when the systems we have are still set up to benefit people who have always been in positions of power,” he says.

“We need to see a shift in power, we need to see a real shift in power,” he says.

She suddenly seems excited, ready to challenge the status quo.

“I have a proposal,” he says.

“We take all the money that people spend on diversity committees and we use it all to hire women and people of color to do things.”

“It’s not that complicated… it’s not about charity. It’s about doing good business.”

Source: Terra

Amanda

I am Amanda Gans, a motivated and ambitious professional in the news writing industry. With over five years of experience in this field, I have developed an eye for detail and an ability to craft stories that captivate readers. I currently write for Gossipify, where I specialize in beauty & celebrities news. My passion lies with exploring the world of beauty through writing, interviewing experts and developing articles that are both informative and entertaining.