America Ferrera inspires USC’s next generation of multi-hyphenates
The Trojan alum spoke to a crowd about her love of storytelling and activism.
By ALIA YEE NOLL
Bright and early Sunday morning, a line of students began to snake outside of Bing Theatre, abuzz with excitement. America Ferrera had entered the building.
The School of Dramatic Arts honored Ferrera with their second annual Multihyphenate Award for her illustrious career as an actor, director, producer and activist. SDA Dean Emily Roxworthy introduced the award, describing Ferrera’s journey as a “testament to the transformative power of storytelling.”
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Andrew Taw, a senior majoring in communication, sat in the front row of the theater, eagerly awaiting Ferrera’s entrance — something he’d predicted since January.
“Last month, I posted on my Close Friends [Instagram] story that I thought that America Ferrera was going to be our Commencement speaker,” Taw said. “This is not Commencement, but I’m so excited that she’s here. I feel like I manifested this.”
President Carol Folt presented Ferrera with the award, acknowledging that many multi-hyphenate students were in the crowd. Folt said the arts is one of the places interdisciplinary work really shines, especially for the Trojan family.
“A real multi-hyphenate like America meets this challenge with boldness and with immense versatility, but also with humanity,” Folt said. “That’s what touches us all, seeing that limitless potential for storytelling in every single form.”
Ferrera conversed with Luis Alfaro, the director of the Master of Fine Arts dramatic writing program. She recalled being five years old and figuring out her ideal careers: an actor and a human rights lawyer. Her passions for storytelling and activism were equally strong, but Ferrera felt pressured to pick between the two. Now, SDA — and the world — celebrate her work as an interdisciplinary creative.
“I feel like so much of my life has been embracing that, and resisting the cultural pressure and urge to conform to a lane or to something that you can say at a cocktail party, ‘This is what I do,’” Ferrera said.
As a young girl, Ferrera took her acting career into her own hands, performing in public school and community college productions. She recalled memorizing a three-hour bus route to get to acting programs when she was 13.
“I had this insane dream, and nobody saw it as possible. And they weren’t wrong — the odds are insane that someone like me would build this career,” Ferrera said. “The only thing I could do was look for any single opportunity to do the thing that I love to do, because I loved to do it.”
When Ferrera attended USC in 2002 to study international relations, she had already starred in “Real Women Have Curves” (2002). She participated in USC’s Joint Educational Program, Teaching International Relations Program and Peace Games, educating elementary school students about conflict resolution.
“I had so many incredible experiences discovering what brought me joy, and I loved seeing the world through my studies in IR and I kept building my career as an actress,” Ferrera said.
While some of Ferrera’s earlier opportunities limited her — she recalls auditioning for a pregnant teen, a housekeeper’s daughter and “the feisty Latina chubby sidekick” — she made it her mission to tell stories that broke free of these type-casted roles.
“[Limited opportunities are] part of what forces you to create,” Ferrera said. “That’s part of what forces you to become a multi-hyphenate: to write, to produce, to direct, to organize. You have to become an organizer if you want to bring artists together and start making your own stuff, because you don’t have any other choice.”
Now, Ferrera is famous for her starring roles in “Ugly Betty,” “Superstore,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” (2005) and, most recently, “Barbie” (2023). Her characters push the boundaries of representation and challenge social norms, earning her an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice award. She is currently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Barbie.”
“I tortured myself feeling like something was wrong with me because I couldn’t pick,” Ferrera said. “And then this magical thing started happening eventually where my work as an advocate and an activist in the world began to find life in the platform I had built as a storyteller. I could use my platform to tell stories about the things I care about.”
Vanessa Jabbour, a graduate student studying stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, first watched Ferrera in “Ugly Betty,” where she plays a young woman determined to rise through the ranks of a cutthroat fashion magazine.
“How she portrayed the character [Betty Suarez], nothing let her down,” Jabbour said. “Every single time somebody told her, ‘You can’t do it,’ or, ‘You’re just not good enough,’ or ‘Pretty enough’ or whatever, she just was like, ‘I’ll prove him wrong.’”
Taw loved Ferrera’s portrayal of Amy Sosa on the television comedy “Superstore.” Ferrera’s character navigates the trials of working at a big box store with strength, dignity and a comedic flair.
“She’s funny and just very charismatic and well-spoken,” Taw said. “[Ferrera] said this in multiple speeches, but she represents Latine characters very complexly. A lot of other movies and TV shows don’t do that, so I appreciate how complex and how diverse the roles that she steps into are.”
Ferrera served as executive producer on the series “Gentefied” and will make her directorial debut with “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” highlighting Latine stories with depth and creating the diverse representation she didn’t have.
“As a producer and a director, I know that a big part of my job is to create opportunity,” Ferrera said, “[and] to create access for others in spaces where if I was not there knocking down that door, no one would be knocking.”
Ferrera used to look back on her earlier work critically, finding “all the mistakes [she] made at 17, 18, 19” to be embarrassing. Now, with over 20 years of acting experience, she’s proud of her own courage to put herself out there as an actor.
“I look back and go, ‘She actually knew quite a bit.’ I’ve grown at every opportunity and experience,” Ferrera said. “That kid really trusted herself. She was going on instinct and going on gut, and it’s not perfect, whatever the hell perfect is. It’s not Juilliard-trained, but there’s something there.”
Ferrera’s incredible career as a multi-hyphenate creative has broken down barriers of what actors can do through their craft. She closed the Q&A with advice for the students in the crowd.
“What you have to contribute to the world uniquely will come from embracing all of the things you love,” Ferrera said. “Trust that you have everything you need and that your passion will guide you. It’s scary. It’s hard … But I do believe that if you follow that passion, all of that, you will get to the place where you’re bringing through the thing that no one else in this world can.”
