America Ferrera

America Ferrera Introduction

There are only two decades when a girl like America Ferrera would not be made fun of because of her name: The 1940's after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the post 9/11 world. Not only does she not get made fun of, but she became famous.

America Ferrera Life Story

Ferrera, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Los Angeles, California, to Honduran parents, so of course they were going to name her America. She was raised by her mother in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles.

In July of 2002 (post 9/11), she made her first TV movie, Gotta Kick It Up! for The Disney Channel. That same year, she made her feature film debut in the indie sleeper hit Real Women Have Curves, and since she was 18 at the time it is not disgusting or illegal to say that about her. 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 Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, directed by Trip Cullman.

In 2006, she landed the lead role in Ugly Betty in which she portrays a girl whom her peers find extremely unattractive, and she has worked hard with her shrink to get passed the issues of being cast as an extremely ugly person. It seems to have worked out. 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]]. Since then the women have changed their names to Liberty Cross, Felicity Bald Eagle, Star-Spangled-Banner-Louise-Dreyfus, and Mary-Louise Bush. On September 16, 2007, Ferrera won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series for her role of Betty Suarez on ABC’s Ugly Betty. In the summer of 2007, she wrapped filming on the sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

In 2008, she was nominated for an Emmy in Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Ugly Betty.