America Ferrera Delivers Powerful Speech About Importance Of Representation At Critics Choice Awards

deadline.com:

America Ferrera was presented with the SeeHer Award at the Critics Choice Awards and delivered a powerful speech just like she did in the Barbie movie.

Margot Robbie presented Ferrera with the accolade, highlighting some of her roles over the years, including Real Women Have Curves, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Ugly Betty.

Robbie noted that in the role of Betty, “she blazed a trail for Latina actresses while teaching everyone we are so much more than what we think we are.” Ferrera won an Emmy for Ugly Betty, with Robbie mentioning she was the first Latina to do so in the Lead Actress in a Comedy category and continues to be the only one.

Once on stage, Ferrera opened up about receiving the honor at the gala and growing up as a “first-generation Honduran-American girl in love with TV, film, and theater who desperately wanted to be a part of a storytelling legacy that I could not see myself reflected.” “Of course, I could feel myself in characters who were strong and complex, but these characters rarely, if ever, looked like me,” she said. “I yearned to see people like myself on screen as full humans.” Ferrera said that when she started in the industry, “it seemed impossible that anyone could make a career of portraying fully-dimensional Latina characters” and gave credit to writers, directors, producers, and executives “who were daring enough to rewrite outdated stories and to challenge deeply entrenched biases.” The Barbie actress gave a shoutout to her co-star Ariana Greenblatt, as well as Jenna Ortega and Selena Gomez, for bringing characters to life that Ferrera says she “could not have seen growing up.” “To me, this is the best and highest use of storytelling,” she continued. “To affirm one