America Ferrera is wrapping up one of the biggest years of her long career. But, like most of her fellow performers with something to plug in 2023, her celebrating was largely in private because of the strike-era gag order on promotion.
The $1.44 billion-grossing Barbie, featuring a defining monologue delivered by Ferrera, dropped just as the SAG-AFTRA strike hit. Dumb Money, Craig Gillespie’s dramedy about the GameStop short squeeze in which the actress has an equally pivotal supporting role, premiered in September at an actor-free Toronto International Film Festival screening. But with her guild’s new deal with the studios finally ratified, Ferrera is making up for lost time — appearing at a string of recent events such as the Dec. 1 Women in Film Honors, where she accepted the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award, and the Dec. 3 Academy Museum Gala. “I think that this moment is a celebration of the work that I’ve done recently and, in a lot of ways, the work that I’ve done my whole career,” Ferrera shared during an early December phone call. “And that is beautiful and joyful, in and of itself.”
There have been many viral recitations of your Barbie monologue since the film premiered. Have any been as exciting as when Jane Fonda incorporated it in her presentation of your honor at Women in Film?
I’m still processing it. She’s such a legend and an icon and a trailblazer. I feel overwhelmed to have her acknowledge my work as an actress and an advocate. When she chose to start using her platform to speak up for things she cared about, there was no blueprint. That’s not easy. Then she turned around and brought that advocacy into her work as an artist and a producer by getting stories told that mattered to her. To have someone who created that playbook acknowledge and see me on that path that she paved … there’s a lot happening right now, and each thing is sort of its own monumental moment, but that is especially meaningful.
You had this massive global media tour ahead of Barbie’s premiere, but the dialogue shifted dramatically once people saw the film — at which point you could no longer talk about it. Was it bizarre watching that unfold from the sidelines?
Yes, we were on this crazy global press tour, but nobody knew what the movie actually was! We were talking about the movie in a bigger sense, not wanting to spoil things, so it was incredible to sit back and watch it land with audiences — see what they responded to or were writing about. It was also a bit frustrating to not get to engage with that. I think there’s an explosive energy around us getting to be back together and talking. It’s very welcome on my part.
I’d assume that the strike’s end would bring a deluge of offers, if not conversations about potential new work. Has that been the case?
I’m trying not to conflate too many things. I would be thrilled if this moment of being in highly visible films led to more opportunities for me to do the kinds of roles and create the kinds of stories that I want to, but that’s hard to predict. I’ve had many moments in my career of wonderful successes that didn’t necessarily lead to more opportunity. I’ve learned to just slow down and drop that expectation. I am gearing up to direct my first feature film, actually, and I’ve been involved in that since before the Barbie script came to me.
You’re talking about the adaptation of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter that was announced in 2021, right? What’s the latest there?
Things take time, particularly when you’ve had a pandemic and two strikes. But we love hearing the stories about, “Oh, this movie took 12 years to make.” You just never know. We switched studios. We were at Netflix for a year and a half, and we are now at Orion. That’s a new partnership, so we are in the process of working closely with our new partners to move it toward getting made. If I get to make that next, I’ll be thrilled.
You mentioned not being offered the kinds of roles you want. What doors do you think Hollywood has yet to open for you?
To be frank: For the majority of my career, I have not been considered for roles that weren’t written 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, even though the role was written Latina, it was not a Latina role. 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.
Where have you seen evidence of that?
Dumb Money is an example. That character was not written as Latina on the page, and I know for a fact that I was being considered in a group of other actresses who were not Latina — they were white or they were Black. They were just thinking widely about who could play that role. 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. You asked about the doors that don’t open, 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.” And you can’t build a complex, diverse career of dynamic, differing characters if those roles are not open to you.
You spoke on the Brené Brown podcast a couple of years back and described being on the red carpet as a “soul-crushing experience” earlier in your career. When did that change for you?
My career started when I was 17. I’d say for about 99 percent of 17-year-old girls, the idea of being under scrutiny like that is terrifying. And, on top of that, I was so often spoken about as “non-traditional” or outside of the standard of beauty. There was so much focus, right from the beginning, on my body and how it was such a “revolution.” I wasn’t trying to be a revolution. I was trying to do what I love and build a career. It was rough, and it certainly isn’t just the fault of the industry. It’s the culture. It’s sad because there was a lot of joy that I missed out on. I had to do a lot of personal work to shift my relationship to my body, and, in a lot of ways, that journey is not done. It’s constant. But it changed a lot for me when I started working with my stylist, Karla Welch. I’ve been with her for almost 10 years.
Salma Hayek Pinault recently posted about Ugly Betty enjoying a second life on streaming. A reunion has been floated for years. Do you think it’s possible?
There have been real conversations. For my part, I would revisit that character in a heartbeat. But there are always issues with rights — what you can do and where you can do it. 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.
This story first appeared in a December standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
