America Ferrera Talks Diversity on 'Superstore,' Being Mistaken for Other Latinas
Actress America Ferrera recently revealed that she was attracted to working on her new show for NBC, "Superstore," by its diversity and representation of working class people.
According to Variety, during a recent "Superstore" press event, the 31-year-old actress explained what she loves about being a part of the show and why it matters.
"Centering a comedy around very real people is an opportunity to have relevant conversations," Ferrera said. "Comedy is such a great place to reflect on our lives... I grew up on TV shows like 'Roseanne,' 'Cheers' and 'All in the Family' where you could turn on the TV and not everybody was a detective or a lawyer."
Besides the Honduran-American actress, the new comedy features a few other diverse casting choices. Also starring in the series are Nico Santos, who is of Filipino decent, African-American writer and actor Colton Dunn, and "Shameless" star Nichole Bloom, who is of Japanese and Irish decent.
"None of these characters were written in any specific ethnicity," she said. "That was really interesting to me. I'm excited about this show representing not just working class America, but what the world looks like."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actress admitted to being mistaken for other famous Latinas. She was recently confused with Gina Rodriguez on the Golden Globes Twitter account, and she has been mistaken for Selena Gomez and Michelle Rodriguez as well.
"It's fun to be able to say, 'Nope, sorry, not her!' and I keep walking ... Basically anyone who's Latina. People just look at me and go, 'I think she's vaguely famous - she's definitely the one famous Latina who I might know,'" Ferrera said.
Being one of the few big Latin names in Hollywood, Ferrera is known for helping to diversify film and television.
The actress was praised for her role in the film "Real Women Have Curves" and appeared in one of Disney Channel's more diverse original movies, "Gotta Kick It Up!," which featured a main cast made up of Latinas.
Perhaps her most popular role is that of Betty Suarez on ABC's "Ugly Betty." In 2007, Ferrera became the first Latina to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in the series.
Most recently, Ferrera appeared in the film adaptation about the life of American labor leader "César Chávez," alongside Mexican-American actor Michael Peña.
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