Biography
Born April 18, 1984, in Woodland Hills, California, America Ferrera is the daughter of Honduran immigrants. Her divorced mother raised six children, all of whom graduated from college, with Ferrera earning an International Relations degree from the University of California. From age seven, Ferrera knew she wanted to act, participating in school and community theater despite her mother's initial insistence on pursuing other interests due to concerns about fairness in the industry. Eventually, her mother supported her dedication, even driving her to auditions. At 16, Ferrera signed with a small talent agency and began auditioning. Her first major role came at seventeen in the Disney Channel movie-of-the-week, "Gotta Kick It Up" (2002), playing one of a group of shiftless Latina teens transformed into a championship dance troupe. This led to the lead in "Real Women Have Curves" (2002) where she played a young Latina determined to attend college and pursue writing instead of working in her family's dressmaking factory. The coming-of-age drama received good reviews, and Ferrera was praised for her strong, charismatic performance.Ferrera soon transitioned to television, appearing as a high school student with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in "Touched By an Angel" (CBS, 1994-2003). She then landed the role of a pregnant teen forced out of her home in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production, "Plainsong" (CBS, 2004). After appearing in an episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (CBS, 2000-15), Ferrera took on the role of the real-life skateboarding groupie, Thunder Monkey, in "Lords of Dogtown " (2005), the rags-to-riches tale about the famed Z-Boys who revolutionized their sport despite falling prey to the trappings of celebrity. She then appeared in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2005), a coming-of-age drama about four life-long friends who split apart for the first time in their lives, but keep in touch by sharing a pair of pants that magically fits each of their distinct frames. Ferrera gave a strong performance as Carmen who spends the summer with her absentee father. Ferrera made a break with the feature world when she was asked to play the lead role on the one-hour drama "Ugly Betty" (ABC, 2006-10), an Americanized version of the popular Columbian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty Le Fea" (RCN, 1999-2001) that was brought to the states by actress Selma Hayek, who served as the show's executive producer. The classic fish-out-of-water tale centered on Betty Suarez (Ferrera), an awkward college graduate in oversized braces, red-rimmed glasses and bad outfits who dreams of one day running her own fashion magazine. Cheerful, intelligent and possessed of an inner beauty that allows her to survive the cutthroat fashion industry, Betty struggles to be herself in a superficial world while staying true to her Latino culture at home. Audiences were charmed by Ugly Betty's inner beauty: Ferrera won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007. After reprising Carmen for "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" (2008), Ferrera continued to earn recognition for "Ugly Betty," securing a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical in 2008. After the series ended in 2010, focused on film work, starring in the romantic comedy "Our Family Wedding" and scoring a major role in the animated hit "How To Train Your Dragon" (2010) and its sequels. After co-starring in the biopic "César Chavez" (2014), Ferrera starred in and produced the drama "X/Y" (2014). Her return to television came as Amy, a dissatisfied floor manager in a St. Louis big box store in the sitcom "Superstore" (NBC 2015-2020 ). The series became a hit, due in part to its subtle social commentary and the will-they-won't-they chemistry Ferrera shared with co-star Ben Feldman as slumming employee Jonah. Between seasons, Ferrera co-starred in Ricky Gervais' ensemble comedy "Special Correspondents" (2016) and continued increasing her profile as a political activist. More recently Ferrera was a supporting cast member of the award-winning film, "Barbie" (2023) directed by Greta Gerwig.
