Maybe the only person No Surprised by América Ferrera's first Oscar nomination is the actress herself, thanks to an innate belief in what she is. for her in this world.
“When I read 'Real Women Have Curves,' I had no doubt that it was about my There's a story to tell as that character,” she declares of her breakthrough 2002 role as Ana, a high school graduate whose big dreams don't fit with the traditionally familiar path of Latinas. “When I auditioned for 'Ugly Betty,' I knew she was mine. I knew that Carmen from 'The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants' was mine. I met Gloria [in ‘Barbie’] It was me. I had a whole body 'yes'. “
Such unbridled conviction is nothing new for this Honduran American USC graduate, the youngest of six born in Los Angeles. In 2007, a year after she began starring in “Ugly Betty,” Ferrera was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. And if his “Barbie” speech got him that Oscar nomination, another one actually announced his arrival in the pilot episode of “Ugly Betty.” Arriving at a job interview for a fashion magazine, Betty's bushy eyebrows, braces, and less-than-runway-ready style did not bode well. She then delivered a monologue stating what made her right for the job, and Hollywood has been listening ever since.
No one who knew Ferrera as a child is surprised. “The United States, when she was five years old, was ready to leave,” she remembers declaring then: “I'm going to be an actress and a human rights lawyer. She saw it for herself and she was” Ferrera smiles, bare-faced and resplendently beautiful, from her office at her home in New York City. “Of course I am Not a Human rights lawyer, but I suppose from the beginning he recognized in me that I was a seeker of justice, a fighter on the inside.”
Today, roles (both in the entertainment industry and in advocacy) demand an “unequivocal yes.” I feel like I've learned to trust that and put my energy and time into the things that I can uniquely do and that I uniquely love to do and that bring me joy. And what a relief it is to say, “Oh, I don't have to be everything, I can just be what lights me up.” inside' and luckily for me, that's more than one thing. But it’s getting easier to trust my internal barometer about what’s worth my time and energy and what’s not.”
She realized her current monologue might take on a life of its own at the “Barbie” premiere in Los Angeles, when it sparked “a very vocal response and applause” halfway through. “I was sitting with my 3 and a half year old daughter on my lap and my 5 year old son sitting in my husband's seat. [Ryan Piers Williams] I was kneeling next to them and, I think, trying to see it through their eyes, trying to see what they saw and feeling a little more than what the audience was feeling. But it was a little difficult to watch me and let him in.”
It hit hardest when nine Latina actresses performed and shared the speech on social media and when Ariana Greenblatt (her on-screen daughter) unleashed another surprise. “We spent two days and so Lots of takes filming the monologue, and when we finished, Ariana started saying the words to me. I started crying because she had memorized the entire monologue. I was like, 'You did it. No,' and she said: 'I did.' Hearing it come out of the mouth of a 14-year-old girl, with understanding and appreciation for what the words meant, really hit me.”
America Ferrera, left, stars alongside Margot Robbie as Ariana Greenblatt's single mother in “Barbie.”
(Courtesy of Warner Bros. Picture)
On criticism that the outrage over Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie not being nominated for Oscars for director and lead actress, respectively, epitomizes white feminism, she notes: “It's always really painful to see how things are reduced to only one thing. We live in a complex world and many things can be true at the same time. We can feel disappointed that women who deserve recognition don't get it, while we celebrate women who are making history and breaking boundaries.”
There's a strange amalgam of symmetry and irony in Ferrera's first Oscar nomination being for a film so based on a doll that often defined beauty standards. “From the moment I started my career when I was 17, I focused a lot on my appearance and it wasn't because I set out to say something about beauty. “He just was who he was and I guess who he was was a challenge to those norms.” You are right to note that it was about the culture of the time and what you saw in it. Ferrera knew that her job was to “bring dimensions and layers” to her characters while she silenced the persistent comment that “this is different.”
“My hope today is that a young woman, a very average-sized woman like me, can play characters that go beyond her appearance. I was so lucky that did have the opportunity to play those rich characters, but the way to get in was a focus on my appearance.”
“My hope today is that a young woman, a very average-sized woman like me, can play characters that go beyond her appearance,” says América Ferrera.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
She is enjoying the full-circle aspect of her upcoming directorial debut, “I'm Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” based on the best-selling novel by Erika L. Sánchez, which shares several parallels with “Real Women Have Curves.” Both feature Latina teenagers who dream of college rather than working, getting married, or having babies in their immediate future. The project is in script development without a cast, but “there is no way” Ferrera will be the protagonist this time.
The wall behind her is dotted with rows of index cards with excerpts from the book. And when I ask her where her personal Gloria Barbie is, she points to a shelf that also contains her “felt thingy” of her character Amy from the NBC sitcom “Superstore” and her “Ugly Betty doll.” I don't see if she has her awards too (including an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for “Ugly Betty,” with 26 total wins to date).
Ferrera directed for the first time while starring in “Superstore” and immediately felt that “having to fire so many cylinders at once” was a good fit. “You can collaborate with people who are the best at what they do, so your good ideas get better. I think I'm good at it but, more than being good at it, I feel very activated on all levels.”
He also lends his time to nonprofits he co-founded, Poderistas and Harness, and is an investor in the Los Angeles Angel City women's soccer team, which sports its black sweatshirt that day. Having once revealed that she was advised to “allocate her resources,” Ella Ferrera allocates herself widely, because she doesn't know how. No to. “There were times in my life when I tried, for simplicity, to be just one thing. And it always felt so bad. He just knew that he was a person who cared and was passionate about many different things. “Some of the things I love about acting and storytelling are very much related to what I love about being an advocate, because telling stories has the power to change the way people think about themselves and others.”
For now, however, he is listening to his own inner monologue, which has morphed into: “How can I be more who and what I am and let the culture catch up?”
She's also just enjoying her “incredible journey,” fangirling over her fellow nominees and feeling “like part of a team sport.” She also came full circle with the Oscars. “I remember very viscerally watching Halle Berry win and how that was a huge breakthrough for a lot of us. I feel very honored to be able to represent anyone who is watching who can see themselves in me and then imagine that is possible for them too. “I needed that growing up.”
