Surprise! She's a Bombshell (and You Can be One Too)
America Ferrera, star of Ugly Betty, is climbing Hollywood's A-list—and she's ignoring the unwritten rule that says stars must be blond and Twizzler-thin.
By Laurie Sandell
A year ago, when America Ferrera was moving out of her apartment, she tried to sell her furniture on Craigslist. But after she posted her cell phone number on the site along with her sister's name, dozens of people stopped by her house; an item appeared in US Weekly; and her publicist called to admonish her. "She said something like, Did you really try to sell your furniture on Craigslist?!'" recalls the star.
OK, maybe Ferrera can't do everything a regular gal can do anymore, but you'd never know it. When the 23-year-old actress arrives at a Los Angeles bistro for her Glamour interview, she is dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans, no oversize sunglasses in sight. Later on, she's planning to "veg on the couch" with her longtime boyfriend, aspiring filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams. For Ferrera, staying grounded comes easy: When she was growing up—as one of six kids being raised by a single mom—there was no room for diva behavior. When she announced that she wanted to be an actress, her brother rolled his eyes.
Ferrera persevered: In 2005 she starred in the cult friendship flick The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Then Salma Hayek called, offering Ferrera the part of Betty Suarez, a homely yet good-hearted assistant on Ugly Betty. She won the Best Actress Golden Globe last winter—and is up for an Emmy September 16. What's more, women love her. Here's why.
GLAMOUR: So 11 Emmy nominations for Ugly Betty, two new films in the works. You're huge!
AMERICA FERRERA: I feel like the stars have aligned in my favor—maybe I was good in a past life! What's crazy is that when opportunities to work come along, they are countered by just as many opportunities to piss it all away. It's like, "Congratulations, now we're going to tempt you with every distraction possible. We'll fly you to Vegas in a private jet, put you up in a five-star hotel…." Thank God I'm too busy to say yes. If this is my chance, I'd hate to look back and say I sacrificed it for partying.
GLAMOUR: Is that why we don't see you in tabloids, dancing on tables at Hyde?
AF: No, it's because I work all the time! Paparazzi will sit outside my house to see where I'm going, and when they see it's the studio, they'll be like, "This is boring," and drive off. But you'd never catch me dancing on tables in public. I have no desire to be known for my personal life.
GLAMOUR: Can you remember the first time you were followed by paparazzi?
AF: Yes, I was in New York City doing The View with Salma Hayek; it was the day Ugly Betty premiered. After the show I got chased by a paparazzo on a motorcycle for an hour. I remember thinking, Oh my God, this is crazy, they already care about me! When I finally got out of the car, the paparazzo yelled, "I thought I was following Salma Hayek!" Then he got back on his motorcycle and left. I thought, OK—that puts things into perspective.
GLAMOUR: How about walking the red carpet—love it or hate it?
AF: Personally, I hate it. You are expected to conform to every single expectation. People will say, "Try as hard as you can not to sweat on the red carpet." Meanwhile you are super nervous, and there are tons of camera flashes, and people are screaming your name. It's not fun—not for me, at least!
GLAMOUR: Now, you've said in interviews that you hadn't planned to do TV so early in your career. How did Salma Hayek convince you to do Ugly Betty?
AF: When Salma described her vision to me, I got very excited: It felt new, it felt fresh, it felt like something that hadn't been done before. At the time very few TV shows were centered around a female, much less a Latina female, much less a female whose beauty wasn't the most important thing about her—but this show was about who she was on the inside. I thought, Wow, this is either going to flop or it's going to be great.
GLAMOUR: Have you ever felt limited by your status as a Latina?
AF: Latino actors and actresses have had to struggle for decades, but when I came around with Real Women Have Curves, attitudes were starting to change. We screened the film all over the world—in Jewish communities, black communities, Greek communities, German communities— and people across the board said, "That's my family."
GLAMOUR: So do you think Hollywood is moving away from the tall, skinny blond as the actress ideal?
AF: It's happening all over television: You turn on Desperate Housewives and there's Eva Longoria; you turn on Scrubs and there's Judy Reyes. I've gotten scripts for romantic comedies sent to me that were originally conceived for a blond-haired, blue-eyed actress. At the end of the day, studios are learning there is a market out there that doesn't necessarily want to go with predictable choices.
GLAMOUR: You're obviously driven: What was your upbringing like?
AF: It was definitely a struggle—there was never enough money—but we were all very close. My very first encounter with acting happened when I was seven: My sisters were auditioning for the junior high school play and I begged them to take me with them; they were like, "You're too young, you can't be in the play." But the director thought I was cute and cast me.
GLAMOUR: Did you work in high school?
AF: Yes. I had a job at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, a place where they held huge company picnics. My job was to blow up balloon arches. My best friend and I had acrylic nails and refused to take them off, so we learned how to tie balloons with them—we popped about a million!
GLAMOUR: Do you still pinch pennies out of habit?
AF: My first big, extravagant purchase was a convertible BMW. It was my dream car, but a month after I bought it I was biting my nails, waiting for my tax refund to arrive. Eventually I thought, What's the point? I just need something to get me from A to B. So I traded in my BMW for a Toyota. But I'll spend any amount of money on tickets to a show I want to see. This weekend I'm going to New York City with my boyfriend to see Patti LuPone in Gypsy, my favorite musical ever!
GLAMOUR: How do you feel about being the newest spokeswoman for curvy figures in Hollywood?
AF: I don't hate it. I feel like I'm a regular - size person—I'm a size 6 or 8, which is totally normal. Sometimes I worry more about losing weight than gaining weight, because this is how people know and accept me. I do feel like if I wanted to get in better shape, there might be a backlash of, Why isn't she comfortable with herself anymore? So I try to figure out what my own goals are.
GLAMOUR: Did you ever go through a Betty-like awkward stage?
AF: I never wore braces, but I did wear retainers. I was not subtle about it at all. I would sit down to lunch, take them out and put them on a napkin right next to me. But the most awkward stage I went through has to be my freshman year of college: I had really frizzy hair, that extra freshman 15 from eating disgusting grilled cheese sandwiches every day in the cafeteria and bushy eyebrows. I hadn't yet discovered the wonders of waxing!
GLAMOUR: Do you have any leftover body insecurities?
AF: Totally. I never liked my legs and I can't remember the last time I wore a bathing suit in public. I might put one on if I were to go away somewhere, like to the Bahamas, because I would think, I'll never see these people again. And God forbid if a picture of me in a bathing suit appears in a magazine! But I know that having the perfect body doesn't fix all your problems, or make you love yourself more. To me, it's all about being comfortable in your own skin.
GLAMOUR: You've been dating Ryan Piers Williams since college. Is being famous hard on a relationship?
AF: Yes, because relationships take time and energy, and your job kind of sucks that all out of you. It takes an extra effort to stay present in a relationship when you are working those kind of hours.
GLAMOUR: You seem to be working nonstop—do you have time for a life?
AF: It's hard: During the first season of Ugly Betty I worked 17 hours a day, five days a week. On top of work, I did press every weekend. And I used my summer break to do a movie. But I hope to be acting until I'm playing the role of Grandma, and I'd like to branch out in film—producing, directing, all of it. I'll sleep when no one wants to hire me!
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