America Ferrera

America Ferrera (birthname: America Georgina Ferrera) is one of the most successful Latina actors in recent television and film, making a major first impression in her big-screen debut in Josefina Lopez’s screen version of her play, Real Women Have Curves (2002), which premiered at the Sundance film festival, where she won a Special Jury Prize for acting, and co-starred Lupe Ontiveros and George Lopez.

The first hit movie ($42 million gross) for Ferrera was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), co-written by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler, based on Ann Brashares’ novel, with Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, and Bradley Whitford; the movie spawned a sequel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008), with Ferrera once again co-starring with Tamblyn, Lively, and Bledel, and earning $44 million for Warner Bros. Director Catherine Hardwicke cast Ferrera in a supporting role in Lords of Dogtown (2005), based on screenwriter Stacy Peralta’s life as a skateboarder, co-starring Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson, Michael Angarano, Nikki Reed, Heath Ledger, Rebecca De Mornay, and Johnny Knoxville.

Ferrera next starred in the indie drama by writer-director Shawna Baca, 3:52 (2005), followed by Ferrera co-starring opposite John Heard, Tom Guiry, Laurie Metcalf, and Raymond J. Barry in the Sundance-premiering indie drama, Steel City (2006). Ferrera played support in Mexican director Patricia Riggen’s U.S.-Mexico co-production, Under the Same Moon/La misma luna (2007), with Kate del Castillo, Adrian Alonso, and Eugenio Derbez, and released by Fox Searchlight/The Weinstein Company.

Ferrera then co-starred and executive-produced in (her future husband) writer-director Ryan Piers Williams’ drama, The Dry Land (2010), with Ryan O’Nan, Wilmer Valderrama, Jason Ritter and Melissa Leo, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. America Ferrera co-starred with Forest Whitaker in writer-director Rick Famuyiwa’s rom-com, Our Family Wedding (2010), with Regina King, earning over $21 million for Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Ferrera landed one of her most successful roles—her first voice role—as Astrid Hofferson in DreamWorks Animation/Paramount Pictures’ How to Train Your Dragon (2010), which was followed by several related short films as well as sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), earning a total global box office exceeding $1.65 billion.

America Ferrera returned to her indie film roots in a co-starring role in writer-director Todd Berger’s black comedy, It’s a Disaster (2012), with David Cross and Julia Stiles, followed by Ferrera playing a supporting role in writer-director David Ayer’s cop drama, End of Watch (2012), starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and premiering at the Toronto film festival, and grossing a robust $57.6 million global box-office.

Ferrara reunited with Peña (as Helen and Cesar Chavez) in the Diego Luna-directed biopic, Cesar Chavez (2014), with Rosario Dawson, John Malkovich, Yancey Arias, Wes Bentley, and Julian Sands, premiering at the Berlin Film Festival. Ferrera was a lead producer and co-starred with husband Ryan Piers Williams (also writer-director) in X/Y (2014), with Common, Amber Tamblyn, and David Harbour, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Ferrera had one of her biggest supporting roles in Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster hit, Barbie (2023), co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, and co-starring Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Simu Liu, Helen Mirren, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell, and dominating the summer 2023 box office with global number far exceeding $1 billion.

Ferrera had another significant supporting role in Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures’ Dumb Money (2023), director Craig Gillespie’s and co-writers Lauren Schuker Blum’s and Rebecca Angelo’s screen version of Ben Mezrich’s 2021 book on the short squeeze of the GameStop stock, The Antisocial Network, with a cast including Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen, and premiering at the Toronto film festival. Ferrera co-starred in a lead voice role in writer-director Adrian Molina’s animated sci-fi comedy for Disney-Pixar, Elio (2024), with Yonas Kibreab, Jameela Jamil, and Brad Garrett.