AMERICA FERRERA

'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 and Emmy-nominated role as Betty Suarez on the ABC television comedy-drama series ''Ugly Betty''.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Filmography

Film

Television

Producer

Awards and Nominations

References

External links

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 George Ellery Hale Middle School and 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.^[2]. She spent the Fall of 2004 studying in the American University Washington Semester Program. ^[3]
In July of 2002 she made her first movie ''Gotta Kick It Up!''. 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 '', 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 whom 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 looks. Ferrera's famous smile is reportedly insured by Lloyd's of London for $10 million.^[4]
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.^[5]
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.^[6] 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''.
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.^[7] In July 2007, America Ferrera also won Imagen Foundation's Creative Achievement Award.^[8]

Personal life

Ferrera was named after her mother and has one brother and four sisters. She 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.^[9] Ferrera is a registered Democrat, but states that she has not voted in her life.

Filmography

Film

★ 2002: ''American Family'': "Fighting Fridas" as a member of the football team

★ 2002: ''Real Women Have Curves'' as Ana Garcia

★ 2002: ''Gotta Kick It Up!'' as Yolanda

★ 2004: ''$5.15/Hr.''

★ 2004: ''Darkness Plus Twelve'' as Luiza

★ 2004: ''Plainsong'' as Victoria Roubideaux

★ 2005: ''How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer''

★ 2005: ''The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'' as Carmen

★ 2005: ''Lords of Dogtown'' as Thunder Monkey

★ 2005: ''3:52'' as Kate

★ 2006: ''Steel City'' as Amy Barnes

★ 2006: ''Planet H2O'': "Water World" as the host^[10]

★ 2007: ''Muertas'' as Rebecca

★ 2007: ''La Misma Luna'' (post-production) as Marta

★ 2007: ''Hacia la oscuridad'' (post-production) as Luiza

★ 2008: ''Forever in Blue''^[11]

Television

★ 2002: ''Touched by an Angel'': "The Word" as Charlee

★ 2004: '' as April Lopez

★ 2006-: ''Ugly Betty'' as Betty Suarez

Producer

★ 2007: ''Hacia la oscuridad'' (post-production) executive producer as Luiza

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result
2007	Golden Globe Awards		'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'

References

1. Miller, Gerri. "America Ferrera: Why she's America's sweetheart!", ''Estylo'' magazine, February/March 2007, pp. 35-37
2. 2nd ref
3. [1] ''AU Alumni Newsletter" Retrieved on 06-19-07
4. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070512/ennew_afp/entertainmentus_070512162047 ''News.yahoo.com'' Retrieved on 05-23-07
5. It's a 'Bettification' project, ''USA Today'', October 4, 2006
6. IMDB Press Release, January 19, 2007
7. Time Magazine
8. America Ferrera wins an Imagen
9. Ugly Betty star slams marriage reports
10.
11. 2nd 'Pants' for Ferrera, grudgingly

External links

★ Ugly Betty official website

★

★ Broadband video interview with America Ferrera, discussing ''Ugly Betty''.

★ FerreraFan.com - Fansite

★ Report from Set of New Movie, 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2'