America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) Interview

America Ferrera returns as Betty Suarez at the end of June for a third series of award-winning comedy series Ugly Betty.

The series kicks off with Betty returning from her trip and having to make some big decisions about what to do with her life, and which man to do it with.

> Buy the Series 1 & 2 boxset.

> Find out what's coming up in our Series 3 preview.

> Read our interview with Michael Urie, who plays Marc.


So America can you tell us a little bit about the evolution of your character this season?

Well, we begin the season with a little bit of a blank slate. I mean, the writers took away the “love triangle” that Betty’s been in for most of season two and they became really focused on the thing that she wanted, which was her work. She wanted to move to the city and kind of grow up a little and find a little independence from her family and not let her social life get in the way of her career.

What I think is really interesting about season three is the question of who Betty is – this has been challenged in certain situations and parallels have been drawn between Betty and Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina, who’s supposed to be the most evil person on the show, and Betty, who’s supposed to be the moral upstanding person on the show – we start to see that the things that separate them are only their choices and that their wants are very similar - the things that they want out of life make them more alike than they are different.

In one episode, Wilhelmina says to Betty, “You know, you’ll see you’re like me…you’re a career girl.” Wilhelmina chooses her career over love and her personal life. I think that that’s a really interesting thing to bring out this season, that what defines us are our choices and that Betty isn’t immune to that or to making mistakes. And I think she wants a lot out of her career and a lot out of her life and how much she’s willing to sacrifice in her personal life for that career will become a big question for her.

On other Betty shows in the world, at some point, Betty has a ‘look’ change…are you looking forward to it? Do you think it’s coming soon somewhere in the future?

It’s so interesting when it comes to our show because they haven’t followed the original format of it. I know that in the Columbian version, the Mexican version, Betty becomes beautiful and marries her boss. I don’t think that’s ever what they pictured when they thought of this version of it, so I don’t know where they’re going with it. I do know that Betty is growing. She’s growing in her career as she’s growing emotionally and maturing and if you’ve been watching, you might notice that there is this slight change in her fashion and the way she dresses.

I think that Betty’s sense of style or lack of sense of style is such a fun thing about her character. And I don’t ever think that we ever want to lose that individual touch. Patricia Field, who was there when we created the image for Betty in the pilot, is back on the show since we’ve moved back to film in New York and I think she’s moving Betty’s style on. You know that if she’s been at a fashion magazine for two years and she knows how to talk on the phone with the fashion designers, even though she does it in her own way, she’s going to pick up some things about the way people dress and she’s going to do it on her own

If people want belts, okay, I’ll find a belt, but it’s going to be a butterfly belt that’s this big and takes up half of my body. You know if I’m going to wear heels, I’ll wear heels that have like a really big flower in the middle of it or whatever so, I think Patricia Field is having a really fun time with letting Betty’s sense of style grow with how much she’s growing on the inside. I don’t know if it’s ever going to get to the place of, you know, black Prada suits or contact lenses, I don’t think that’s her future, but I never know.

What do you think when you see the style of Betty for the first time every episode?

I love it. You know what I mean? The braces, the glasses, the wig and the clothing, you know, it’s just crazy to look at. She’s such a character, but that’s the part I enjoy. That’s what I love so much. I’m not an actor because I want to play myself. I’m an actor because I love digging into a rich character. I actually really love watching the clothes on every character on the show. I mean, the characters of Mark and Amanda can look as ridiculous as Betty does.

They do it with more designer labels and higher fashion and it probably looks better, but sometimes, they’re wearing some pretty ridiculous things too that look just fine and I think that the fashion is such a treat to watch when we’re on the show because Pat Field is a visionary. She doesn’t copy anyone. She creates her own trend. Whenever something she does has become a trend, she wants to move on she never wants to stay in the present, she’s always looking for the something new or some way to make the next trend. She’s an artist and we’re so lucky to have her.

The show does make fun of the absurdities of the fashion industry. Do you get feedback from people who work in real magazines?

Yeah. And thankfully, it’s all very positive and people really enjoy it and laugh at themselves. And a lot of the absurdities are based in reality, so I get a lot of calls from people who are assistants and say, “You know, sometimes it’s worse.” So I think that it’s good that the people in the fashion industry and in the magazine industry are taking it with a sense of humour.


Ugly Betty is back on Channel 4 on Wednesdays from 24th June 2009 at 10pm.