I think Hispanic women are beautiful with their curves. I'm not sure who feels that way in Hollywood. I was never told to lose 50 pounds. If they think that they just don't bother with you. You just don't get the role and you never know why. That's still better than physically harming yourself and becoming unhealthy just to star in a movie.
America FerreraAm I Latin? Am I American? What the hell am I? I love my culture and I'm very proud of my culture
America FerreraMy parents were both Spanish-speakers and they used to speak to me and my siblings in Spanish and we'd answer them in English.
America FerreraAs a child, I didn't know what I didn't have. I'm thankful for the challenges early on in my life because now I have a perspective on the world and kind of know what's important.
America FerreraHow much time have I wasted on diets and what I look like? People are saying 'We love you and love what you do' and you're sitting there thinking 'I'm not skinny enough or pretty enough.' It's taken a lot of work to get over that.
America FerreraYou'd never catch me dancing on tables in public. I have no desire to be known for my personal life.
America FerreraRelationships take time and energy, and your job kind of sucks that all out of you. It takes an extra effort to stay present in a relationship when you are working so many hours.
America FerreraIt's so reassuring to have a woman heroine who triumphs with more than just what she has on the outside who has more to offer the world than just a pretty picture.
America FerreraThe name America has definitely grown on me. I wish there was a big patriotic story behind it, but the truth is that my grandfather was a librarian who knew all sorts of random facts.
America FerreraTo me, the tragedy about this whole image-obsessed society is that young girls get so caught up in just achieving that they forget to realize that they have so much more to offer the world.
America FerreraI hope to be acting until I'm playing the role of Grandma, and I'd like to branch out in film - producing, directing, all of it. I'll sleep when no one wants to hire me!
America FerreraI was an open, smiley and gregarious child. I could make friends in 30 seconds wherever I went.
America FerreraI think the body image thing, everybody can identify with that. In our culture there's just so much pressure and so much attention placed on the way we look. You just turn on the TV or flip open a magazine and there's people who don't look like any of us. I think this movie is like, finally, a celebration of reality and of our imperfections. We're not all a size 2 and we're not all a size 0, and you know what? That's OK, because some of us like to eat!
America FerreraHaving the perfect body doesn't fix all your problems, or make you love yourself more. To me, it's all about being comfortable in your own skin.
America FerreraI was just so lucky with 'Real Women Have Curves.' At that point, I would have done an insurance commercial. I would have done anything.
America FerreraNowadays I'd describe myself as earnest, terribly earnest. I'm the person who wants everybody in the room to feel important and happy.
America FerreraSometimes I worry more about losing weight than gaining weight, because this is how people know and accept me.
America FerreraWhat's so kind of beautiful about the whole thing was that everything that made me not right for all of those hundreds of commercial auditions that I went on and no one ever wanted me for is what made me perfectly right for 'Real Women Have Curves'.
America FerreraThe hardest part of this year has been learning to enjoy it. It's almost like a full-time job reminding myself to live in the moment and not look for more, more, more...I see now that people who make movies, this world of creative geniuses that I grew up idolizing, are just normal people who wanted to do something and made it happen. Everything that's happened to me in the last year has only made me feel more like a normal person, more human, but in the most beautiful way.
America FerreraYou'll never see me at the launch of the new PlayStation or some club. For me, the fun stuff is being able to get my mom tickets to 'Dancing With the Stars' - she loves Mario Lopez.
America FerreraI really hate the duties of being a celebrity, like getting dressed up for the red carpet.
America FerreraAs early as second grade I remember feeling really different and isolated. I had the hugest crush on a boy, and my best friend had a crush on him, too. One day he said to me, 'I like your best friend more because she's paler and she has freckles.' And it was right then that I began to feel like, Oh wow, I'm different.
America FerreraRelationships take time and energy, and your job kind of sucks that all out of you. It takes an extra effort to stay present in a relationship when you are working kind of hours.
America FerreraI just wanted to see every single musical I could. The very first one I saw was 'Beauty and the Beast,' the only one I could get tickets for, and then 'Les Miserables' and then 'Chicago.
America FerreraPersonally, I hate waiking the red carpet. You are expected to conform to every single expectation. People will say, "Try as hard as you can not to sweat on the red carpet." Meanwhile you are super nervous, and there are tons of camera flashes, and people are screaming your name. It's not fun - not for me, at least!
America FerreraI could have easily been too afraid to say 'yes' to Chicago, because it requires so much I haven't done before. If I am a flop at singing and dancing, maybe my love for it will carry me through.
America FerreraWhatโs hard about being on the other side of the world is that sometimes the problem feels so big that changing one life doesnโt feel like enough. But it is.
America FerreraPaparazzi will sit outside my house to see where I'm going, and when they see it's the studio, they'll be like, "This is boring," and drive off. But you'd never catch me dancing on tables in public. I have no desire to be known for my personal life.
America FerreraI'm okay if people don't know who I am, but if you remember my character that would be great.
America FerreraI mean, I grew up in the Valley. All my friends were white Jewish kids. So the Latino kids thought I was this white girl.
America FerreraI struggled with being a Latino growing up in Los Angeles. I felt very American. I still do. I went to 35 bar mitzvahs before I went to a single quinceanera. I could talk all day about my culture and what it means to me.
America FerreraI'm the first one in line to go watch "Spider-Man," but there's definitely something in me that makes me want to go to a movie and see something that makes me feel good about life.
America FerreraWhat's kind of wonderful about being the voice in an animated film is you're a small part of an enormous production. And in a way, you get to remain a little bit objective.
America FerreraThe first time I landed in New York and got a cab to my hotel, I was completely struck by it: a feeling of life and chaos, 24 hours around the clock, just like in London. And whatever your problem is, it's insignificant. You're just a small part of something very big.
America FerreraSometimes I worry more about losing weight than gaining weight, because this is how people know and accept me. I do feel like if I wanted to get in better shape, there might be a backlash of, Why isn't she comfortable with herself anymore? So I try to figure out what my own goals are.
America FerreraFinding the one is not just a feeling, it's an educated guess. I feel like I chose someone to share my life with who is my friend.
America FerreraI work really long hours and work a lot and have done press tours and junkets, but there is nothing like a presidential campaign that I have experienced before...I think at one point we visited three different cities in one state in 12 hours. It's exhausting.
America FerreraI realized how Latina I was, and then also, at the same time, how not Latina enough I was, because Iโm born and raised in Los Angeles. I speak Spanish, but I donโt speak perfect Spanish, not like a native speaker
America FerreraIt would be impossible to be a woman in Western culture and not have your own issues about your image and what you look like.
America Ferrera