America Ferrera extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

America Ferrera
America Ferrera
Born	America Georgine Ferrera April 18, 1984 (1984-04-18) (age 24) Los Angeles, California, USA
Occupation	actress
Years active	2001 - Present
Awards won Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series 2007 Ugly Betty Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Musical or Comedy Series 2007 Ugly Betty NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series 2008 Ugly Betty Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series 2006 Ugly Betty

America Georgine Ferrera (born April 18, 1984) is an American actress.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Personal 2 Career 3 Filmography 3.1 Films 3.2 Television 3.3 Guest appearances 4 Awards and nominations 5 References 6 External links

Biography

America Ferrera, the youngest of six siblings, was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Honduras in the mid-1970s. Her mother is a hotel executive in charge of housecleaning staff. Later, her mother divorced her father and raised six children – five girls, one boy – while stressing the importance of higher education.^[1] Five have graduated from college and America is working on earning her degree.^[2]

She 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.^[3] From the time she was seven years old, when she landed a small role in a school production of Hamlet, Ferrera knew that she wanted to be a performer. She acted in school plays and community theater in Los Angeles throughout her youth, but with little help from her mother, who insisted that she pursue other interests because she was concerned whether or not her daughter would 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.^[1]

In interviews Ferrera has observed the contrast between the image of the “typical Latina” experience and her own childhood, noting that growing up in a mostly Jewish, non-Latino neighborhood, she attended 52 bar mitzvahs and not a single quinceañera.^[4] She was raised speaking English and is now learning to speak Spanish.

Ferrera’s famous smile is insured by Aquafresh^[5] through Lloyd's of London for US$10 million/GB£5million ^[6] to generate sales/donations for their Smile For Success campaign. The campaign is a program plans to cover part of the cost for dental care for women trying to get off welfare. Aquafresh claims they will donate $1 to Smiles for Success for each box of Aquafresh White Trays that was purchased through August 31, 2007.

Personal

Ferrera is the youngest of six siblings which include one brother and four sisters. Her long-term boyfriend since college is Ryan Piers Williams. Williams is from Texas and is an aspiring film director. In 2007 he was an assistant to director Steven Soderbergh. They first met while working on his student film at USC. Ferrera has repeatedly denied rumors that they are engaged.^[7] Rumors that they had split up in January 2008 were not^{citation needed} denied but Ferrera and Williams attended the NAACP Awards together in February 2008. The two have been seen together throughout Spring 2008 in California.^[8] In April 2008 they purchased a home together.^[9] They have two dogs — Buddy the Golden Retriever and a lady Great Dane.

Ferrera attends the University of Southern California, where she is majoring in International Relations; as of January 2007, she lacked only one semester’s coursework to earn her degree.^[4] She spent the autumn of 2004 studying in the American University Washington Semester Program^[10] and also attended New York University as a part of their Spring in New York program in the spring of 2006 while she was performing in Dog Sees God.

In January 2008, Ferrera announced her endorsement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for president and joined the senator and her daughter Chelsea Clinton during several campaign events in Nevada and Pennsylvania.^[11] She has been quoted as saying that the United States should take responsibility for illegal immigration and provide more help to immigrants.^[12]

At the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards, Ferrera said that America won't be free until 2009 when George W. Bush leaves office.^[13]

Career

In July 2002, 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. 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.

She landed the lead role 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. It’s in contrast to the rest of the show, where everybody else is "glammed up"; Ferrera herself coined the term “Bettification” to describe the process of creating her onscreen persona.^[14]

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.^[15] 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.^[16] In July 2007, America Ferrera also won Imagen Foundation’s Creative Achievement Award.^[17] 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 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, the sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.She played Carmen.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Real Women Have Curves	Ana Garcia	Lead Role
	Gotta Kick It Up!	Yolanda	made for television (Disney Channel)
2004	$5.15/Hr.	TBA	made for television (HBO)
	Darkness Minus Twelve	Luiza	Lead Role
	Plainsong	Victoria Roubideaux	made for television (CBS)
2005	How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer	Blanca	Lead Role
	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Carmen Lowell
	Lords of Dogtown	Thunder Monkey	Appearance
	3:52	Kate	Lead Role
2006	Steel City	Amy Barnes
2007	Muertas	Rebecca
	Hacia la oscuridad	Luiza
	La Misma Luna	Marta
2008	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2	Carmen Lowell
	Tinker Bell	Fawn	Voice
2010	How to Train Your Dragon	Astrid

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006—present	Ugly Betty	Beatriz "Betty" U. Suarez	Lead Role

Guest appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Touched by an Angel	Charlee	"The Word" (episode 4, season 9)
2004	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	April Perez	"Harvest" (episode 3, season 5)

She played Carmen.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result
2008	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Won
2008	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical	Nominated
2007	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical	Won
2007	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Series - Comedy or Musical	Won
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Comedy Series	Nominated
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Comedy Series	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 Cast in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2007	NAACP Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2008	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2007	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Won
2007	1st Annual Wave Awards, Academy of Wireless Arts, Video and Entertainment	2007 Favorite Clipped (from television) Comedy Artist	Won
2008	Image Awards	Favorite Actress in a Comedy Series	Won
2007	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Breakout	Won
2007	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress-Comedy	Nominated
2008	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress-Comedy	Nominated
2007	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Television Actress	Won
2007	Imagen Foundation Awards	Outstanding Achievement Award	Won
2007	Time Magazine	100 Most Influential People	Won
2008	ALMA Awards	Chevrolet Entertainer of the year	Won

References

External links

• America Ferrera at the Internet Movie Database
• Broadband video interview with America Ferrera, discussing Ugly Betty.

Awards
Preceded by Felicity Huffman for Desperate Housewives	Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Comedy Series 2006 for Ugly Betty	Succeeded by Tina Fey for 30 Rock
Preceded by Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds	Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actress in a Comedy or Musical 2007 for Ugly Betty	Succeeded by Tina Fey for 30 Rock

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series Patricia Heaton (2000) · Patricia Heaton (2001) · Jennifer Aniston (2002) · Debra Messing (2003) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2004) · Felicity Huffman (2005) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2006) · America Ferrera (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) Complete list: (1950–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)

Persondata
NAME	Ferrera, America
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	April 18, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH	Los Angeles, California, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH