America Ferrera sometimes lamented Hollywood’s treatment of her as a Latina. Other times, she sought to distance herself from her role as a Latina in this industry. But now, her role as Latina in the movie ‘Barbie’ has earned her her first Oscar nomination.
Recently, Ferrera talked about her reaction to being an Oscar nominee and “disappointment” in the Academy snubs her “Barbie” costar and director on the phone with the “TODAY” show.
Ferrera had sent her kids off to school with her husband Tuesday morning, when the Academy Awards nominations were being announced. She was home alone, lying in bed, when the hosts named her a nominee for best actress in a supporting role.
“When it happened, I gasped, and I was silent. And I had no one around me to confirm that what I was hearing was real,” Ferrera told the “TODAY” show in a phone interview. “So there was a moment of like, What’s happening? Am I imaging this? And then my phone started blowing up, so then I knew it was real.”
Ferrera received her first congratulatory text message “literally half a second” after her name was announced. It was from actor and Oscar winner Ariana Debose. The message was “so sweet and moving,” according to Ferrera.
Even though she won Hollywood’s top TV awards, including an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for her lead role in “Ugly Betty,” America Ferrera felt on her own as a Latina actress.
“For a very long time, I felt very alone and isolated as a Latina in this industry,” Ferrera said in 2020 at the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s 2020 Impact Awards Gala in Beverly Hills.
“I know many of us in this room have felt that way,” Ferrera said. “But we can write the new mandate for Latinos in this industry. A command that says we will lift each other up, and we will lift each other through new doors, that we will celebrate each other’s successes, that we will shower each other with praise, and that we will love each other to the top, where “we belong.”
Ferrera believes that her ‘Barbie’ character being Latina helped her get a part in the movie.
The 39-year-old actress starred as Mattel employee Gloria in last year’s smash-hit blockbuster and doubts that she would have been cast if it were not for her background.
America told The Hollywood Reporter: “To be frank: For the majority of my career, I have not been considered for roles that weren’t specifically Latina. And so that, in and of itself, limits what people are willing to think of you as and what’s available to you.
“The gift of what Greta (Gerwig) offered me is that she actually did write the ‘Barbie’ part as Latina. I suspect that if she hadn’t written it as such, I might not have been the person they went to.”
However, the ‘Ugly Betty’ star stressed that Gloria was “not a Latina role” and she was not included in the movie as a box-ticking exercise.
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