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

America Ferrera
America Ferrera, 2006
Born	America Georgine Ferrera1 April 18, 1984 (1984-04-18) (age 25) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present

America Georgine Ferrera¹ (born April 18, 1984) is an American actress. She plays the lead role in the television series Ugly Betty. She also starred in the movies Real Women Have Curves, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequel Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Filmography 3.1 Films 3.2 Television 4 Awards and nominations 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Ferrera, the youngest of seven children, was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Honduras in the mid-1970s. Her mother worked as a housecleaning staff director for a Red Roof Inn.² Her mother divorced her father and raised Ferrera and her siblings, always stressing the importance of higher education.³ Ferrera was raised a Catholic.⁴

Ferrera grew up in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, where she attended George Ellery Hale Middle School and El Camino Real High School.⁵ From the time she was eight years old, when she landed a small role in a school production of Hamlet and then at age twelve a much bigger role as the Artful Dodger in Oliver!, Ferrera knew that she wanted to be a performer. She acted in school plays and community theater in Los Angeles throughout her youth, though with little help from her mother, who insisted that she pursue other interests because she was concerned her daughter would not 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.³ Ferrera disliked her first name as a child and went by her middle name, "Georgine", until she began acting professionally.⁶

Career

In July 2002, Ferrera made her first TV movie, Gotta Kick It Up! for The Disney Channel. That same year then her uncle died, 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 of Betty 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, in contrast to most of the "glammed up" characters; Ferrera herself coined the term “Bettification” to describe the process of creating her onscreen persona.⁷

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.⁸ 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 was the executive producer for 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.⁹ In July 2007, America Ferrera also won Imagen Foundation’s Creative Achievement Award.¹⁰

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 as Carmen. She also is the voice of one of the nature fairies in Tinkerbell (2008). As of May 2009, she is filming a movie in Albuquerque, New Mexico and west Texas called American Tragic or The Dry Land.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Real Women Have Curves	Ana Garcia
	Gotta Kick It Up!	Yolanda "Yoli"
2004	Darkness Minus Twelve	Luiza
2005	How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer	Blanca
	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Carmen Lowell
	Lords of Dogtown	Thunder Monkey
	3:52	Kate
2006	Steel City	Amy Barnes
2007	Muertas	Rebecca	Also executive producer
	Towards Darkness (Hacia la oscuridad)	Luiza	Also executive producer
	La Misma Luna	Marta
2008	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2	Carmen Lowell
	Tinker Bell	Fawn	Voice Direct-to-video
2010	The Dry Land	Sarah	Released at Sundance Film Festival 2010 Also executive producer
	How to Train Your Dragon	Astrid	Voice post-production
	Our Family Wedding	Lucia Ramirez

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Touched by an Angel	Charlee	Episode: "The Word"
2004	$5.15/Hr.		TV film
	Plainsong	Victoria Roubideaux	TV film
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	April Perez	Episode: "Harvest"
2006-201011	Ugly Betty	Betty Suarez

Awards and nominations

This section may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions. (November 2009)

America became the first ever TV Actress to have won all 3 major Lead Actress Awards in a single year,including the Emmy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. On December 9th, 2009, Ferrera became one of recipients of NYWIFT Muse Awards 09^[1], along with 3 other women, Julianna Margulies, Allison Silverman, and Andrea Wong^[2].

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
2002	Real Women Have Curves	Sundance Film Festival - Special Jury Prize: Dramatic for acting	Won
2003	Real Women Have Curves	Independent Spirit Awards - Best Debut Performance	Nominated
		Young Artist Awards - Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Nominated
2005	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	Satellite Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Female	Nominated
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice Movie Hissy Fit - Female	Nominated
2006	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants	ALMA Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated
		Imagen Awards - Best Actress	Won
	Ugly Betty	Satellite Awards - Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Nominated
2007	Ugly Betty	Image Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Won
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice TV Actress: Comedy	Nominated
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice TV: Breakout	Won
		Television Critics Association Awards - Individual Achievement in Comedy	Nominated
		ALMA Awards - Outstanding Actress - Television Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie	Won
		Emmy Awards - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Won
		Golden Globes - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Won
		Imagen Awards - Creative Achievement Award	Won
		Imagen Awards - Best Actress - Television	Won
		Satellite Awards - Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Won
2008	Ugly Betty	Emmy Awards - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Golden Globes - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice TV Actress: Comedy	Nominated
		Image Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Imagen Awards - Best Actress - Television	Nominated
2009	Ugly Betty	Peoples Choice Awards - Choice TV Actress Comedy	Nominated
		Golden Globes - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		Image Awards - Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Imagen Awards - Best Actress - Television	Nominated
		Kids' Choice Awards - Favorite Television Actress	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Awards - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated
		Teen Choice Awards - Choice TV Actress: Comedy	Nominated

References

External links

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

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series 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) · Toni Collette (2009) Complete list: (1950–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Kirstie Alley (1990) · Candice Bergen (1991) · Roseanne Barr (1992) · Helen Hunt (1993) · Helen Hunt (1994) · Cybill Shepherd (1995) · Helen Hunt (1996) · Calista Flockhart (1997) · Jenna Elfman (1998) · Sarah Jessica Parker (1999) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2000) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2001) · Jennifer Aniston (2002) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2003) · Teri Hatcher (2004) · Mary-Louise Parker (2005) · America Ferrera (2006) · Tina Fey (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) · Toni Collette (2009) Complete List · (1969–1989) · (1990–2009)

v • d • e Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Helen Hunt (1994) · Christine Baranski (1995) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1996) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1997) · Tracey Ullman (1998) · Lisa Kudrow (1999) · Sarah Jessica Parker (2000) · Megan Mullally (2001) · Megan Mullally (2002) · Megan Mullally (2003) · Teri Hatcher (2004) · Felicity Huffman (2005) · America Ferrera (2006) · Tina Fey (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) · Tina Fey (2009)

Persondata
NAME	Ferrera, America
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	April 18, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH