America Georgina Ferrera[2] (/fəˈrɛərə/; born April 18, 1984)[3] is an American actress. She has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, among others. In 2007, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Born in Los Angeles to Honduran parents, Ferrera developed an interest in acting at a young age, performing in several stage productions at her school. She made her feature film debut in 2002 with the comedy-drama Real Women Have Curves, earning praise for her performance. She achieved modest success early in her career with roles in films such as the comedy-dramas Gotta Kick It Up! (2002) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005); the latter earned her the Imagen Award for Best Actress and her first nomination for the ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. She garnered further critical acclaim and recognition for her starring role as Betty Suarez in the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty (2006–2010). For her performance, she won a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, the first for a Latina woman in the category.