Quick Links
- WeCrashed (2022)
- Gotta Kick It Up (2002)
- Dumb Money (2023)
- How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (2005)
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
- How To Train Your Dragon Franchise (2010-)
- Real Women Have Curves (2002)
- Barbie (2023)
- Superstore (2015-2021)
- Ugly Betty (2006-2010)
America Ferrera has been acting professionally since 2002. The first few roles of her career were largely coming-of-age stories that reflected her own age at the time, but as she’s grown as an actor, her roles have diversified as well. While she’s best known for several television projects, she actually made her big screen debut in 2002 as well.
With more than 50 professional projects on her acting resume, Ferrera has also worked behind the camera. She’s also been a producer on several short films and series, including the sitcom Superstore. She’s also tried her hand at directing, stepping into the director’s shoes for four episodes of Superstore. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter will be her feature directorial debut. While she’s building her resume behind the camera, these are her best acting projects.
10 WeCrashed (2022)
An AppleTV+ Series Inspired By A Podcast And Real Events
WeCrashed Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
WeCrashed is a 2022 Drama television series that streamed on Apple TV. The miniseries was based on the Podcast titled WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork. It stars both Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto as a husband and wife team that build a successful company only to see it crash sometime later.
Cast Jared Leto , Anne Hathaway , Kyle Marvin , Anthony Edwards Release Date March 18, 2022 Seasons 1
While Ferrera’s Kennedy is a fictional character, she is inspired by Julie Rice, the founder of SoulCycle.
This series is inspired by the podcast WeCrashed: The Rise And Fall Of We Work, which in turn recounted the real events of the rise and fall of the company WeWork. Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto are the stars of the miniseres as the founders of the company, but America Ferrera appeared in a few episodes as Elisha Kennedy.
While Ferrera’s Kennedy is a fictional character, she is inspired by Julie Rice, the founder of SoulCycle. Rice was the Chief Brand Officer of WeWork in 2017. Most of Ferrera’s time in the series is opposite Hathaway as their two characters strike up a friendship. They have excellent chemistry, playing off of one another’s performances very well. Their rapport in the show is enough to make any fans hope they team up in another project down the line.
Related WeCrashed Cast, Character & Real Life Comparison Guide
On top of the existing podcast, documentary, and novel, the WeWork scandal is getting its own Apple TV+ series. Here’s who plays each character.
9 Gotta Kick It Up (2002)
One Of Her Earliest Roles Is A DCOM
The late ‘90s and early 2000s were a golden age for the Disney Channel. That time is when most of the iconic Disney Channel series and original movies premiered. Ferrera appeared in one of those projects, a DCOM called Gotta Kick It Up.
The movie centers on a Latina dance team of middle school girls called The Dancing Barrios who all face their own personal problems while trying to keep the dance team going. Ferrera stars as Yolanda, one of the members of the ensemble who is often the comedic relief of the group. She isn’t one of the characters spotlighted who has the most difficulty, but she’s still a compelling character in the story.
Even this early in her career, it was clear that Ferrera had a charm and spark on screen that meant she was going to be acting for a long time.
8 Dumb Money (2023)
Inspired By The Real Reddit Wall Street Saga
Dumb Money 
3.5 1
Your Rating
5 stars4.5 stars4 stars3.5 stars3 star2.5 stars2 stars1.5 stars1 stars0.5 star Rate Now Submit Rate Now Edit Leave a Review
Your comment has not been saved
BiographyComedyDrama Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
Based on the Novel “The Antisocial Network” by Ben Mezrich, Dumb Money is an upcoming film adaptation that explores the story of the GameStop short squeeze that confounded Wall Street. When a small group of investors and group of users from a Reddit subgroup called WallStreetBets find a loophole in the system, chaos ensues when they enact a short squeeze that sends one of the most powerful hedge funds scrambling for solutions to a chaotic time in Wall Street’s history. The film has recently signed on the likes of Sebastian Stan and Seth Rogan to star in unannounced roles for the film and is expected to start production in late 2022.
Director Craig Gillespie Release Date September 15, 2023 Writers Lauren Schuker Blum , Rebecca Angelo , Ben Mezrich Cast Paul Dano , Pete Davidson , America Ferrera , Nick Offerman , Anthony Ramos , Sebastian Stan , Shailene Woodley , Seth Rogen , Dane DeHaan , Myha’la Herrold , Talia Ryder , Clancy Brown , Kate Burton , Larry Owens , Olivia Thirlby , David Faber Runtime 104 Minutes Expand
Ferrera had to toe the line between humor and drama in the role, much as she has in so many of her more iconic parts.
Dumb Money is inspired by the real events that transpired when one man went viral with his investing advice. Keith Gill (played by Paul Dano) invests his entire savings into GameStop and goes viral by posting videos online with his investment advice. His viral advice prompts a huge change in just who is buying stock and how they’re investing their money.
While Pete Davidson and Seth Rogan also star in the movie, America Ferrera stands out in her role. She plays a nurse named Jenny who is suffering under the weight of incredible debt. When she follows Keith’s tip, her life changes very quickly. Because of the nature of the movie, Ferrera had to toe the line between humor and drama in the role, much as she has in so many of her more iconic parts.
7 How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (2005)
A Mexican-American Coming Of Age Story
Close
Quite a few of Ferrera’s earliest projects feature her in coming-of-age stories as a Mexican-American teenager trying to find her place in her family. One of the best of those is How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer.
Here, it’s not just Ferrera’s Blanca that goes through changes though. The story centers on three generations of Mexican-American women in a small town in Arizona. Blanca is the youngest of the family and experiencing first love with the new boy in town. While she’s doing that, her mother and grandmother form different relationships with a gardener.
The movie is a great showcase for romantic love, but also familial love and the relationships between the women at the center of the story. Much of Blanca’s story is about how growing up coincides with first love, but the other women around her are at very different stages of their lives, and each of these life stages influences how they approach love and relationships.
6 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
Four Girls Share A Pair Of Magical Jeans
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants PGComedyDocumentaryDrama Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 film about four teenage friends—Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen—who share a pair of jeans that fits each of them perfectly despite their different body types. As they embark on separate summer adventures, the pants become a symbol of their enduring friendship and support. Starring Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively, and Alexis Bledel, the film explores themes of growing up and personal discovery.
Director Ken Kwapis Release Date June 1, 2005 Cast Amber Tamblyn , Alexis Bledel , America Ferrera , Blake Lively , Jenna Boyd , Bradley Whitford Runtime 113 minutes
Ferrera was nominated for an ALMA Award for her role.
Inspired by the novel of the same name, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants sees four young women find a pair of jeans at a thrift store that magically seems to fit all of them. The friends decide to share the pants, sending the clothing to one another throughout the summer in which they will be separated, with notes or drawings on the jeans to indicate their experiences while wearing them. The four friends are made of Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively, and America Ferrera.
Each of their journeys during the summer is very different. Ferrera, as Carmen, is sent to stay with her father and her step-family during the summer holidays, and she struggles to fit into their lifestyle. Not only are they wealthy, but they are all white, and she feels completely out of place with them. Ferrera was nominated for an ALMA Award for her role.
While the movie has been dismissed by some as fluff for younger audiences, it offers four very different looks at what it means to be a teenage girl and how growing up can be different for each of them.
Ferrera, Tamblyn, Bledel, and Lively also star in the sequel movie.
5 How To Train Your Dragon Franchise (2010-)
Astrid Shares The Spotlight In The Children’s Franchise
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon is a critically acclaimed animated franchise that began with the 2010 film of the same name, inspired by Cressida Cowell’s book series. The story is set in the mythical Viking world of Berk, where young Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III befriends a dragon named Toothless, challenging his tribe’s tradition of dragon slaying. The franchise expanded into a trilogy of films, several TV series, short films, and an upcoming live-action adaptation, becoming one of DreamWorks Animation’s most successful properties.
Created by Cressida Cowell , Chris Sanders , Dean DeBlois First Film How to Train Your Dragon First TV Show DreamWorks Dragons Cast Jay Baruchel , Gerard Butler , America Ferrera , Craig Ferguson , Jonah Hill , Christopher Mintz-Plasse , Kristen Wiig , T.J. Miller , Cate Blanchett , Kit Harington
Summary
How to Train Your Dragon is a critically acclaimed animated franchise that began with the 2010 film of the same name, inspired by Cressida Cowell’s book series. The story is set in the mythical Viking world of Berk, where young Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III befriends a dragon named Toothless, challenging his tribe’s tradition of dragon slaying. The franchise expanded into a trilogy of films, several TV series, short films, and an upcoming live-action adaptation, becoming one of DreamWorks Animation’s most successful properties.
Expand
Hiccup is likely seen as the primary protagonist in the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, but Astrid, whom Ferrera voices for all of the movies, is right by his side from the very beginning. She voices Astrid from her age at 15 in the start to 30 in the epilogue of the story.
Astrid is a fierce and determined young Viking. She is smart and capable, and she never gives up. While the audience doesn’t get to see Ferrera on screen in the role, her entire performance is completely with her voice. Most of the voice acting work of Ferrera’s career has been for this same character, and it’s surprising that she hasn’t taken on more voice roles since she’s so great in this one.
The first movie of the franchise was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, and the Annie Awards.
Related The Live-Action How To Train Your Dragon Remake: Release Date, Cast & Everything We Know
A live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake is coming from Universal, and there’s already much to discuss on the cast and story of the 2025 movie.
4 Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Ferrera’s Best Coming-Of-Age Movie
Close
Self-acceptance and female empowerment are big themes of the movie…
Released during the same year as Ferrera’s Disney Channel Original Movie, Real Women Have Curves is the best coming-of-age movie that Ferrera appeared in during her teen years. Here, she is, again, a Mexican-American teenager growing up in the shadow of the expectations of her family members.
In this case, her family works in a textile plant, and Ana is expected to follow in their footsteps. The story takes place during her last summer before starting college courses as she decides to pursue her own dreams.
The movie also puts a large focus on body image as Ana struggles with how she sees herself and how others might see her. Self-acceptance and female empowerment are big themes of the movie without it feeling too heavy-handed handed with Ferrera’s performance here feeling like one of her most authentic.
Real Women Have Curves
is Ferrera’s first feature film.
3 Barbie (2023)
Ferrera Goes On A Journey Alongside Barbie
Barbie The Movie
Arguably the best piece of Barbie movie merch you could buy is the movie itself and it’s already available via Prime Video for pre-order! Buy the movie now in UHD, SD, or HD, and you’ll be sure to get it as soon as it’s released so you can re-watch it at your leisure and own it forever!
Pre-Order For $25 At Prime Video
Barbie
earned America Ferrera an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Barbie might be one of Ferrera’s best-known works right now. Released in 2023 at the same time as Oppenheimer, the two drastically different films went toe-to-toe at the box office and raked in money as a result of so many people opting to see both in a double feature.
Ferrera doesn’t appear as one of the Barbies in the movie, but instead as Gloria, an assistant to Mattel’s CEO who discovers that her own musings about life and Barbies have given Barbie an existential crisis. She ends up on an adventure with Barbie in the real world, and in Barbie Land as a result. Ferrera’s speech about just what it means to be a woman is one of the standout moments in the movie, and it was recreated and parodied extensively after the movie’s release.
Barbie earned America Ferrera an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It’s also part of the reason she won the See Her Award at the Critics Choice Awards, which “honors a woman who advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes, and pushes boundaries.”
2 Superstore (2015-2021)
A Workplace Comedy In The Retail World
Superstore Comedy Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
Superstore is a workplace sitcom following the employees of the St. Louis branch of a fictional big-box store. Cloud 9 sells everything anyone could ever possibly need, but its workers often leave much to be desired. Trying to organize their lives around the demanding world of retail work, Cloud 9’s staff more often end up having fun than they do working.
Cast Ben Feldman , Nichole Sakura , Colton Dunn , Nico Santos , America Ferrera , Mark McKinney , Lauren Ash , Kaliko Kauahi Release Date November 30, 2015 Seasons 6 Showrunner Justin Spitzer
Much of Ferrera’s career has been on the small screen instead of on theater screens. Superstore was one of the television series she appeared in the longest and one of the most recent projects for her. The series was set in a fictional big box store and was largely a workplace comedy, focusing on the day-to-day goings on at the store as well as the relationships among the coworkers.
Ferrera’s Amy starts the show as a floor supervisor who has worked for Cloud 9 since she was a teenager. She’s jaded and doesn’t think anything about the job will change, but she needs the paycheck since she’s got a young daughter and a husband who isn’t great with money. Her relationship with Johan (Ben Feldman), however, helps her see that even just one employee can change things and that she can allow herself to be more ambitious.
Though Ferrera only appears in a handful of episodes in the final season of the show, her character is one of the most authentic of the series. She undergoes so much growth, starts a new life, and finds her happiness, giving the audience a spot of hope in the monotony of a retail job.
Related Superstore: Amy’s 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Traits
Amy was one of the best characters on Superstore. There were plenty of reasons to love her but she also had some poor traits as well.
1 Ugly Betty (2006-2010)
Ugly Betty Is Ferrera’s Best Role So Far
ugly betty Drama
ABC’s Ugly Betty is the American adaptation of Fernando Gaitan’s world-famous Colombian soap opera Yo Soy Betty, La Fea. Starring America Ferrera as Betty Suarez, the comedy series follows a young woman who lands a job as an editor assistant at Mode, a fashion magazine. Despite her poor sense of fashion, Betty’s can-do attitude and work ethic allows her to thrive in the industry.
Cast America Ferrera , Ana Ortiz Release Date September 28, 2006 Seasons 4
America Ferrera won an Emmy, A Golden Globe, an NAACP award, and an ALMA Award for her work.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was, arguably, Ferrera’s big break, but Ugly Betty really put her on the map. It was her first starring role in a TV show. She played the titular character in a dramedy that was inspired by a telenovela.
Here, Ferrera played Betty, a young woman who got a job as an assistant at a fashion magazine where everyone judged her appearance from her hair to her braces to her clothing. While she might not have fit in, she worked hard, and eventually made friends with her judgmental coworkers. Ferrera got to really show her abilities in the series as she grew with the role and the show employed a huge amount of both comedy and drama.
Over the run of the show, America Ferrera won an Emmy, A Golden Globe, an NAACP award, and an ALMA Award for her work. The role is one of her most lauded and her most iconic.