America Ferrera is reflecting on the success of Barbie — and why she thinks the race of her character in the film helped her land the part. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter Friday, the actress opened up about the fact that she hadn’t always been considered for non-Latina roles until recently in her career.
“To be frank: For the majority of my career, I have not been considered for roles that weren’t written specifically Latina,” Ferrera said. “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, even though the role was written Latina, it was not a Latina role,” she added. “Being Latina was not the purpose of the character. She got to be a full human and representative of so many things. It wasn’t a ‘check the box’ kind of casting. That has begun to change somewhat, for me at least.”
Ferrera explained that lately she’s been considered for roles not specifically curated for Latinas, citing her casting as Jennifer Campbell in Dumb Money, where she says Black and white actresses were also considered.
“They were just thinking widely about who could play that role,” she said. “That’s fantastic, to be in the running for a role that’s not written specifically for a woman of color on the page. That’s new for me after 22 years of working and being in this industry.”
“It’s really about the lanes that you’re allowed to play in, right? I always remember Viola Davis’ beautiful [Emmy] speech: ‘You can’t win awards for roles that don’t exist,’” she added. “And you can’t build a complex, diverse career of dynamic, differing characters if those roles are not open to you.”
Ferrera got her start in 2002 when she starred in Real Women Have Curves, a Latina-focused film. Since then, she’s played Latinas in different projects including TV shows Ugly Betty and Superstore. Ugly Betty has had a bit of a resurgence over the last year through TikTok. With THR, the actress shared she would be open to “revisit that character in a heartbeat,” adding that there have been “real conversations” about doing so.
“But there are always issues with rights — what you can do and where you can do it,” Ferrera said. “Either way, it’s wonderful for me that Ugly Betty is having this moment with people who weren’t even alive when we made it the first time around. It’s still so pertinent to the culture.”