America Ferrera

Honduran-American

Actress

Instagram: @americaferrera

The youngest of six children, America Ferrera was born in LA to parents who emigrated from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the U.S. in the 1970s.

America landed pretty good acting roles in school plays and community theatre since the age of seven, and even paid for acting lessons by waiting tables and babysitting while at El Camino High School. America’s mother – who worked as the Director of the housekeeping staff at a Hilton Hotel – stressed the importance of higher education. America took heed by entering the University of Southern California (USC) on a presidential scholarship.

Although America made her debut in both TV and film in 2002, it wouldn’t be until 2006 that she catapulted to fame through a lead role as Betty Suarez on ABC’s Ugly Betty. For this role that spanned 4 seasons, America became the first Latina to win a Primetime Emmy award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series.

Her other notable awards include a Golden Globe award for ‘Best Actress,’ a NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a comedy series, and a Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series.

As of March 2015, you can find America on NBC’s sitcom Superstore, where she is not only a co-producer, but also stars as Amy Dubanowski – an employee of cloud 9 Superstore.

Interesting fact: 10 years in the making, accompanied with leading roles in hit movies and TV shows, America finally obtained her bachelor’s degree in international relations from USC in 2013.