|
|
Wondrous Woman
Her role as the lovingly bumbling Betty made her America’s sweetheart, but
there’s more than meets the eye with our favorite leading lady. A producer,
director, independent film star and maybe even a future super hero, there are
many sides to the multi-faceted America Ferrera.
By Marissa Rodriguez
think that Betty Suarez is one of
the most beautiful characters that
has ever been on television. She is
heroic and strong and confident
and I think that’s an incredible role for
a Latina and an incredible image to portray as a Latina.” Standing tall (ish) in her
white heels and Diane von Furstenberg
dress and with award in hand, America
Ferrera was both grateful and proud when
she uttered these words during a press
conference after she was announced the
winner of the Chevy Entertainer of the
Year Award during this year’s ALMA
Awards.
“It was just kind of surreal,” says Fer-
rera of her win. “It takes a while for the real
meaning of it to sink in. It’s a really big hon-
or to know that the work that I have done
has a certain sense of pride and accomplish-
ment for the Latino community.”
Ferrera spoke to Hispanic on a break
during a heavy day of shooting, which
she says, is pretty standard (“12 hours
is, like, a short day”).
At the young age of 24, Ferrera is already
considered one of television’s best. The
ALMA award honored her work on the hit
ABC series Ugly Betty and her efforts to get
young people involved in the Democratic
process. On that stage, Ferrera was referring
to her role as title character Betty. Part lovable goof, part ambitious career woman and
part do-gooder, Betty has become one of the
TV world’s favorite and iconic characters.
And she has skyrocketed Ferrera’s career,
making the actress of Honduran descent a
household name.
As a celebrity, Ferrera is pulling double
duty: playing both the part of America’s
comedic sweetheart and, whether intentional or not, strong role model for Hispanics. As we loved Lucy, we now love
Betty, and America.
And, viewers and her contemporaries
have responded in kind. Now that she’s
been the recipient of an Emmy, two ALMAs, a Golden Globe, an Image Award and
three Imagen Awards, among others, you
would think sauntering up to the podium in floor-length couture would be old hat. But
Ferrera is refreshingly grateful with each
win, even as they grow in number.
“I don’t think that it ever stops being
meaningful,” she says. “I did recently think
back the very fi rst win, it was for my work
in Real Women have Curves. I won a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival.
They create special awards for whatever
they choose to acknowledge, and it was
my fi rst. Receiving the award was such as
shock. I was so thrown off I don’t even remember what my speech was. I do remember having this out of body experience. I
do remember being so overwhelmed with
the opportunity to do what I love.”
Her professional road is short but diversified. As she’s come far from her debut
as Ana Garcia in the fi lm Real Women Have
Curves, in a way, she’s also come full circle.
Her fi rst role was in the indie fi lm about
a young Mexican American teen trying to
come to terms with the end of high school,
her budding sexuality and her desire for
education outside of her closed world and away from her disapproving mother. The film, and especially her role, struck a chord
with audiences, especially young women
who saw themselves in Ana.
It would also seem to set a standard for
Ferrera’s projects. Although the actress admits she has no specifi c guidelines for choosing a part, an examination of her chosen
roles reveals similarities. From Ana to Betty
to Carmen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants movies, many of Ferrera’s characters
are young women with a certain chutzpah:
through personal diffi culties and family crisis, they resolve to persevere, and do.
“I look for [roles] that speak to me.
The things I am most well-known for are
strong female roles. I’m happy to contribute to that image and proud ... but it’s not
really a conscious decision,” she says.
Not content to portray one type, Ferrera
points out that she has played a host of characters in lesser known indie movies. “I think
that many of independent fi lms that [I’ve done]
have not seen the light of day,” she says.
Her independent roles are where Ferrera’s wide range as an actress shines. In
2005’s How the Garcia Girls Spent their
Summer, she plays Blanca, a third-generation Mexican American girl experiencing
her sexual awakening one steamy summer.
The fi lm hits on some pretty emotional
themes, from loneliness to inter-generational
family relationships to women’s sexuality
at three different points in a lifetime. Thefi lm was also recognized by Sundance and
nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. In La
Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon) she
is a fi rst-time human smuggler who hopes
to sneak babies across the border into the
United States from Mexico. And one of her
most recent independent works, Hacia la Oscuridad (Toward Darkness), is perhaps
her most gritty to date.
It is set during the 90 minutes after
José Gutierrez, the son of a banker, is kidnapped in Colombia in one of the country’s now infamous express kidnappings.
Directed by José Antonio Negret and
shown in real time and through flashbacks,
the movie follows the intensity of the moments immediately after a life-threatening situation. Ferrera plays Luiza, an old
flame of Gutierrez’ in Colombia, and she
was also involved in the development of
the film since its first incarnation.
“I met the writer and director in college,”
she says. “He was a film student at USC and we did the short film together, and I wanted
to do the feature length and reprise my role.
I got more deeply involved in the character
and the script and trying to be an active part
in getting the money and the cast attached.
It was a project I was close to.”
Ferrera reveals that the film was also a
very personal journey for the director. The
gritty film opens on the bound, gagged and
beaten Gutierrez and continues with the narration of his own trials from his sequester.
The actor playing the lead, she says, had the
most grueling experience of the cast.
“Several family members [of the director]
kind of had a very similar experience to thefilm,” she says. “I really wanted to be a part of the story. It had less of a political stance and
more of a personal stance. As an audience
member I am more interest in the personal.”
Authenticity was key to the direction.
Filmed in Spanish, it was Ferrera’s first
Spanish-language role. To perfect the accent and tone, she worked with a tutor who
differentiated the Colombian intonation for
her. Her goal was to get as close to the reality of the language as possible.
And, shot in Panama, the beauty of
the country’s jungles juxtaposed the raw
reality of the urban problem the film dealt
with head on. “Being in Panama and expe
riencing the beauty of the culture and the
surroundings and the climate, it’s a natural paradise. The jungle is green and ripe
and rich, and it rained everyday at 3 p.m.
You succumb to the environment and it’s
so raw at the same time. ... You are moti
vated by what you were feeling.”
It was also one of Ferrera’s first forays
into producing. As executive producer of
the film she was fully involved in the production process, including the financing.
Since then she has increasingly taken a
seat in the producer’s chair.
“I couldn’t imagine going in front of
the camera without the process behind
the camera,” she says. “I love being a part
of the creative process.”
It’s something Ferrera fans should come
to expect more of from the budding tycoon.
In addition to producing, she has also begun
to dabble in writing and directing. Early this
year she directed her first short film, a 30-minute movie with no set date for release
yet. A producer brought her the script after
the original director backed out and she ran
with the opportunity. She learned a lot from
the experience, she says, and it has broadened her horizon artistically.
“As an actor I think I am drawn [to
roles] across the board,” she says. The
aspects of that attract her to one project
might be completely different from what
attracts her to another. In the case of Betty,
it was a chance to explore another side of
humor. “Physical comedy ... I have never
seen myself doing that. I took the role of
Betty with a lot of earnestness. Through
the character the physical comedy ended
up happening. It was fun for me to go and explore, and I was attracted to all of it, the
grittiness and the rawness and the kind of
physicality.”
With such diverse interests, what’s next
for the increasingly chameleon-like Ferrera
should come as no surprise.“I am looking forward to looking to
do something active like a superhero,
and then I would like to do some gritty
independent film,” she says. As to what
kind of superhero she would be, she’s
keeping mum. “It’s an idea. It’s something I was interested in and thinking
about. There’s lots of ways to go.”
But if the key to super-ness is versatility,
the ability to excel in a many things and a
desire to do good, Ferrera seems to be there,
personally and professionally.
As Betty, Ferrera is as an unstoppable
force for good in the shallow world of fashion magazines. “The key to Betty is that she
tries to do the right thing,” she says.
Personally, Ferrera has worked toward
mobilizing young voters, and earlier in the
year she campaigned with Chelsea Clinton
on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
She also participated in the star-studded
Stand Up 2 Cancer benefit in September, is a regular on the charity benefit scene,
and even hosted one of her own: the 3rd Annual Hot in Hollywood charity, which
raised almost half a million dollars toward
AIDS prevention education, social services
and more.
It’s all enough to make Ferrera one of
the most applauded and admired celebri
ties today, and for that the media loves her.
“It’s always flattering to think that things
you do are important and written about
and show up the next day as a newsworthy
moment,” she says. Flattering, and it seems,
well-deserved.
|
