America Ferrera W Mag Photos and Video

Freddy @ Gone Hollywood | Thursday, April 5, 2007

America Ferrera, star of the popular show (which I’ve never actually seen) “Ugly Betty” gets the cover and a photo shoot in something called “W” magazine, which I’ve never heard of.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

America Ferrera’s first real showbiz experience was something of a letdown. At 16, after a decade of acting in school plays and drifting off each night to Hollywood dreams, she was cast in a Disney Channel movie about a junior high school dance team with the somewhat hilarious name of Gotta Kick It Up. At first, she was thrilled. “I love to dance, so I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to just dance all day. And there were four other girls in the cast, so that was fun. And you know the way you think when you’re a teenager: Disney Channel today, Oscars tomorrow!” she says with a laugh. But a few weeks into filming, she had what she describes as “a mini nervous breakdown.” “I just felt really empty,” she says. “I had achieved my dream, and it wasn’t totally fulfilling. I still had school problems, and I still had boy problems. My life was still my life. I guess I had been waiting to be turned into a swan.”

***

Betty Suarez—the lead character in television’s Ugly Betty—is a style-challenged young Latina from Queens who lands a job as assistant to the editor in chief of a fashion magazine. The show is based on a Colombian telenovela called Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, which was a cultural phenomenon in Latin America and was adapted for markets around the world—everywhere from Israel to India—before being imported to the U.S. for the fall 2006 season. American audiences fell for the series almost immediately. Drawing roughly 14 million viewers a week, the show dominates its competitive Thursday night time slot and ranks as the most watched newcomer of the season. In January Ugly Betty won the Golden Globe for best TV comedy or musical series, and Ferrera herself—who dons a wig, fake brows and snap-on faux braces for her role—walked away with the statuette for best actress, beating out such veterans as Felicity Huffman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Two weeks later she took home a SAG award.

According to critics and those who work with Ferrera on Ugly Betty, such accolades were well deserved. “She’s one of the most charismatic people I’ve ever met,” says Salma Hayek, an executive producer of the show. “She’s also authentic. That’s a rare characteristic nowadays, and that’s why people are falling in love with her. I knew the minute that I saw her that she was a superstar.”

***

What’s most interesting about America-as-Betty is the breadth of her appeal. The character has struck a chord with a remarkably diverse collection of fans— 12-year-old girls, gay men, Latinas, the fashion crowd—all of whom seem to want to adopt her as their mascot. The day after the Globes, for example, California Congresswoman Hilda Solis took to the floor of the House to, in her words, “commend America and everyone involved in Ugly Betty for helping to break down stereotypes and provide a role model for young Latinas.” A few months later, Out magazine put the cast on its cover under a headline that read, HOW UGLY BETTY BECAME THE GAYEST, BEST SHOW ON TV. In the accompanying story, Ferrera recounted the surreal experience of attending the West Hollywood Halloween parade—a big night for L.A.’s gay community—and seeing scores of guys dressed up as Betty. “Anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider can see themselves in her and feel represented,” she says. “And who hasn’t, at some point in their life, felt like they didn’t belong?”

Some more photos from the shoot:

America Ferrera W Magazine Photo 2 America Ferrera wears an Alexander McQueen fox fur cape and an Armani Collezione silk dress with lace insets.

A behind-the-scenes video

The article and photo spread is called “Hot Betty” as a play on “Ugly Betty.” I’d say it was more like “Not All That Bad Looking Betty” or “Kinda Fugly for Hollywood But She’d Do in a Pinch Betty.”

MollyGood disagrees saying it should be “Slightly Chubby but Still Strikingly Beautiful Betty.” Usually, the gossip blogs are way too hard on really hot babes. Here, though, I think they’re grading on a curve because of the name of the show.

America Ferrera W Mag Photos and Video

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