America Ferrera was fresh out of high school when her 2002 film Real Women Have Curves won her raves from independent film critics. From there she landed a few small roles in feature films before being chosen for the lead role in Ugly Betty, an ABC television series that began in 2006. (Her official site described the title character as "an unattractive but spirited secretary who doesn't quite fit in at the high fashion magazine where she works.") An American whose parents were Honduran, Ferrera began acting in local theater productions as a child. After her success in Real Women Have Curves, she continued starring in feature films and TV shows while also attending classes at the University of Southern California. Her other films include Lords of Dogtown (2005, starring Heath Ledger) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005). She added an executive producer credit to her resumé for the 2007 Colombian film Hacia la Obscuridad (Towards Darkness), in which she also appeared.
Ferrera was given the 2007 Emmy Award for best actress in a comedy after the first season of Ugly Betty... Famed insurer Lloyd's of London announced in May of 2007 that they had insured Ferrera's smile for $10 million. The policy was taken out by Aquafresh to support Smiles For Success, a dental care program for low-income women.
Career Highlights: Real Women Have Curves, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
First Major Screen Credit: Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Biography
Few aspiring actresses could ever hope to experience the early career success of Ugly Betty starlet America Ferrera. In the scant four years after earning a Sundance Jury Award, an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and a Young Artist Award nomination for her role as a first-generation Mexican-American girl teetering on the cusp of womanhood for Real Women Have Curves, the hardworking actress rose quickly through the ranks to become one of television's brightest young stars.
A Los Angeles native and the youngest of six siblings born to Honduran parents, Ferrera was raised by her mother in Woodland Hills, CA. Though at first hesitant to pursue a career on camera, the natural-born actress and high school valedictorian displayed an instinctive talent on the stage that seemed to signal she had found her true calling. It was during this time that Ferrera began working as a waitress to fund her classes and pay for headshots, and shortly thereafter she made her screen debut as a cheerleader in the Disney Channel feature Gotta Kick It Up! (2002). Later, while attending summer theater camp at Northwestern University, Ferrera taped an audition for Real Women Have Curves; after six auditions, she was ecstatic to learn that she had been cast as first-generation American Ana Garcia. It was the perfect role for the emerging actress, as she too was among the first of her family to be born in America.
In the following two years, Ferrera appeared in a number of film and television projects while studying International Relations and Theater at the University of Southern California, with high-profile roles in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Lords of Dogtown helping to form a solid foundation for an enduring career. Roles in the addiction drama 3:52 and the working-class drama Steel City were quick to follow, and in 2006 Ferrera became a small-screen sensation with her role as an unattractive secretary working for a popular fashion magazine in ABC's Ugly Betty.
An Americanized remake of the popular Columbian comedy drama Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, Ugly Betty was produced by screen star Salma Hayek and became an immediate hit with viewers. When the Golden Globes were handed out in early 2007, young star Ferrera was visibly thrilled to be bestowed with a Best Actress award for her work on the series. She also won a the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Comedy Series shortly thereafter. That same year, Ferrera would expand her resumé to include the role of producer for the dramatic crime thriller Towards Darkness -- in which she also starred as a girl who shares a sensitive relationship with a young kidnapping victim. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Ferrera, the youngest of six children, was born in Los Angeles, California, as America Georgine Ferrera, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Honduras in the mid-1970s. Her mother worked as a housecleaning staff director for a Hilton hotel.[2] Her mother divorced her father and raised six children on a diet of Mexican rice, refried beans, and tortillas, always stressing the importance of higher education.[3]
Ferrera was raised in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, where she attended George Ellery Hale Middle School and El Camino Real High School.[4] From the time she was seven years old, when she landed a small role in a school production of Hamlet and then at age 10 a much bigger role as the Artful Dodger in Oliver!, Ferrera knew that she wanted to be a performer. She acted in school plays and community theater in Los Angeles throughout her youth, though with little help from her mother, who insisted that she pursue other interests because she was concerned her daughter would not get a fair shake. Ferrera was forced to take the bus to auditions, though eventually her mother saw her daughter’s dedication and began to drive her.[3] Ferrera disliked her first name as a child and went by her middle name, "Georgine", until she began acting professionally.[5]
She landed the lead role of Betty in Ugly Betty in 2006. Ugly Betty is an adaptation of the Colombian hit telenovela Betty La Fea, in which she portrays a girl whom her peers find extremely unattractive, thus the series title. As Betty Suarez, Ferrera wears braces, has bushy eyebrows and a disheveled wig, and make-up and clothing intended to downplay her own looks, in contrast to most of the "glammed up" characters; Ferrera herself coined the term “Bettification” to describe the process of creating her onscreen persona.[6]
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 U.S. House of Representatives as being a role model for young Hispanics.[7] 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 was the executive producer for the poignant short film Muertas. Her co-star, Eric Mabius, has regularly said of her, "She's only 24 and will take over the planet in a few years time!"[cite this quote]
In 2007, Time Magazine chose Ferrera as one of the top artists and entertainers in their “Time 100: The Most Influential People In The World” issue.[8] In July 2007, America Ferrera also won Imagen Foundation’s Creative Achievement Award.[9]
