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Entertainment July 29, 2017
Yes, she can.
“Sí, se puede!”
If you remember this phrase from the Disney Channel movie “Gotta Kick It Up!,” then you remember America Ferrera hyping up her teammates with this Spanish phrase that means, “Yes, we can.”
But Ferrera has been up to a lot since that movie came out. She starred in her own TV show, got married and more.
So who exactly is Ferrera and what has she been up to?
Here are five facts you need to know about the former “Ugly Betty” star.
She received her degree in international relations from the school in 2013. According to Us Weekly, it actually took her 10 years to graduate. She started school in 2002, but then took a leave of absence to accept the lead role in ABC’s “Ugly Betty.”
She was unsure about having to choose between acting and her education, until one of her professors reminded her that she could always do both.
“I always wanted to go to college and get my education, although I always wanted to be an actor,” Ferrera told students at USC in 2012. “I never knew how those two things would work with each other, and this was revealed to me in my first year of college here.”
She was one semester shy of receiving her degree from USC before she got cast in the role. Her professor, David Andrus, told her she could always use acting as a way to make a change in the world.
“What my professor really wanted me to understand was that my passion for acting and what I loved doing in the world had the power to be a tool,” Ferrera said. “In that moment, I realized that I didn’t have to give up what I love. I could find a way to link it to other things that I cared about.”
She also studied abroad in North Ireland during her time at USC.
The actress began her acting career in the movie “Real Women Have Curves” as Ana Garcia, a first generation Mexican-American woman who is forced to choose between supporting her family or going off to college.
She then went on to star in the Disney movie about a school dance team, “Gotta Kick It Up!,” which launched her into the spotlight. She also guest starred on an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”
She then took on the role of Carmen in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
In 2006, she landed her role as Betty in “Ugly Betty,” which was a turning point in her career.
Although it’s been a while since “Ugly Betty” was on TV, she still remains close with her co-stars. She talked to Independent about life after the show.
“I wore a retainer but I never wore braces – people just assumed the braces were mine,” Ferrera said. “But what I kept from Betty was my friends because the cast is my family and they were all at my wedding and we’ve all been to each other’s hospital rooms when babies were born and graduations and weddings and birthday parties and life moments.”
She starred in the show from 2006 to 2010 until the end of the show. Since then, she’s been in the “How to Train A Dragon” movies as the voice of Astrid. Recently, she stars in the NBC hit show “Superstore.”
According to Celebrity Net Worth, she gained the majority of her $16 million net worth from her movies and TV shows. She also owns a $1.4 million in the Hollywood Hills.
Ferrera actually met her husband at USC when she agreed to act in one of his student films. According to DailyMail, they got married in 2011 at an intimate ceremony attended by close friends and family. The reception was held at Vanessa Williams’ home in Chappaqua, New York. Some of the attendees were Williams, Blake Lively, Rebecca Romijn and Jerry McConnell.
Ferrera and her husband got engaged in 2010 and, according to People, they celebrated their 12th anniversary this year in June.
“We kind of connected from the get-go on that professional level and that was something that really drew us to each other – a shared passion for what we do and our work,” Ferrera told People.
Ferrera has been a part of multiple non-profit organizations, including Save the Children. She joined the organization in 2010 to improve the lives of disadvantaged kids in the U.S. and around the world. She also traveled to Diassadeni village in Mali to help raise funds to build a school, according to a USC article.
“This is an example of how I met up with the right organization to work on an issue that was important to me,” Ferrera told USC.
She also created a documentary with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof called “Half the Sky.” The documentary brought awareness to the problem of human trafficking in India.
On top of that, she founded an advocacy organization with her husband and Wilmer Valderrama called Harness. Its goal is to “connect communities through conversation to inspire action and power change.”
It doesn’t stop there.
This year, she was part of a panel created by her organization and Cosmopolitan called #ActivismIRL. The panel was held in Twitter’s New York Headquarters. Ferrera, Cosmopolitan editor Amy O’Dell, co-founder of Black Lives Matter movement Patrisse Cullors were some of the women on the panel. The women talked about how to organize and resist the current political climate.
According to PageSix, Ferrera talked about the importance of change.
“We want to shift culture beyond the administration that is currently in the White House and really we want to shift culture beyond any one given president because it’s not enough to have the power as the people for four years and then go back to sleep,” Ferrera said. “We have to change what in our culture has led us to this moment.”
With this panel and her activism, Ferrera is following her dream of changing the world.
America Ferrera is an actress turned activist, and she’s unapologetically leaving her mark on this world. And we’re here for it. We’re right there behind you, America!
