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America Ferrera On Playing An ‘Ugly’ Character

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:31 PST, Jun 16, 2016

America Ferrera has opened up about a less-than-desirable job from her younger years, according to Page Six. The 32-year-old actress revealed that she had to clean pig poop when she was young.

In her chat with Page Six at Austin’s ATX TV Festival, America Ferrera revealed that when she was “too young to have a real job,” she worked for her next-door neighbor, who made her clean pig poop.

“It was not a fun job.”

But it appears that America Ferrera didn’t have to clean pig poop in her 20s, as the actress got her first role in Real Women Have Curves in 2002 at the age of 18. And according to the Superstore actress, she hasn’t cleaned pig poop ever since.

America Ferrera has put gender inequality in Hollywood in the center of discussion at the ATX Festival, which took place in Austin, Texas, last Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly. The actress revealed that she gets asked lots of questions about her role in Ugly Betty, but there is one particular question that gets asked more frequently.

And that question is about America Ferrera playing an ugly character on the ABC series, which ended its four-season run on April 14, 2010. And Ferrera thinks that it’s “funny” because men never get asked questions like this.

“I mean, we never ask men that. You know? We just say, ‘What a great performance. Good for you for taking on that character.'”

America Ferrera continued by saying that as for a female actress, it’s considered to be the bravest thing in Hollywood to play an ugly character.

“It’s like, who cares? And then what? That’s what the show is about. It was about valuing a person for everything that they have to offer beyond the surface.”

America Ferrera shared quite a few interesting details from the cast’s life while filming Ugly Betty. The actress also revealed how she first learned about the role of Betty on the show. In fact, it was Salma Hayek who offered her the role.

America Ferrera revealed that she had known absolutely nothing about the show, but then Hayek ran up to her and said, “You are my ugly Betty!” But Ferrera was surprised at first, not knowing how to respond to that.

“And I was like, ‘I don’t know what that means, but I’ll be whatever you want me to be.'”

That’s basically how Hayek offered America Ferrera the role of Betty on the ABC show. And all Hayek had to say to attract Ferrera’s interest was that it was a Colombian show about a girl who “looks like a train wreck.”

But before America Ferrera started working on developing her role for Ugly Betty, Hayek explained to her the essence of Betty. Hayek said that her character “turns everyone else beautiful from the inside out” in the world of fashion.

And after such words, America Ferrera said she knew right away that a show like this “had to exist.” In fact, she took the role because she hadn’t seen enough “realistic portrayals of women” in her life.

“I just knew immediately that that show was going to exist and that it was going to resound with people. And so from there on and out, I was a million percent in.”

And it appears that America Ferrera is campaigning for Ugly Betty’s continuation. It’s been over six years since the last episode of the show aired, but the actress doesn’t give up her hopes to convince Hulu to revive the series or to create a movie.

“I mean, it took 20 minutes for everyone to say yes to my email to be at ATX. I think they’re going to be at the reunion movie.”

[Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly]

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