Glamour Unveils America Ferrera as Global Woman of the Year
America Ferrera’s personal essay was featured in Glamour Magazines ‘Global Women of the Year’ issue, alongside Millie Bobby Brown.
In the essay, Ferrera shared how her childhood inspired her commitment to activism. The actress details how challenging experiences shaped and inspired her drive to succeed.
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“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to fight injustice to incite change in this world,” Ferrera stated.
At five years old, Ferrera told her mother that when she grew up she wanted to be an actress and a human rights lawyer. Many years later in her acting career, she realized that she could use her platform and the power of storytelling to emphasize the causes she cares about.
“Compared with those I grew up with in the San Fernando Valley, I mostly found myself on the having-less side,” Ferrera revealed. “My early years were marked by moving from one two-bedroom apartment to another, along with my five older siblings and a single mother who worked around the clock to meet our most basic needs.”
Moreover, as a fifth-grade student, Ferrera’s family lost assistance with their meals at school. At a young age, Ferrera was able to comprehend that it was unfair for a kid to be hungry when the resources were available. This experience early on shaped her passion for making people’s lives better.
How Did Her Acting Career Begin?
In 2002, she debuted her acting career with the main role in Real Women Have Curves. A film about an 18-year-old girl from East Los Angeles struggling between her dream to attend college and the dream of her mother for her to stay at home and work to help support the family.
While confiding in her professor about quitting acting, he told her how her film changed a prior student. The young Latina student asked her white male professor to watch the movie in order to understand her home situation.
Additionally, Ferrera’s film allowed the young girl to have a conversation that she thought was impossible. “He allowed me to see storytelling as a powerful tool for change,” she stated.
From that moment on, the actress went on to tell stories that impacted the lives of others including her role in the major-grossing film, Barbie, alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
To read Ferrera’s full personal essay with Glamour, click here. The rest of Glamour’s Women of the Year 2023 will be announced on November 1, 2023.
