America Ferrera's Rousing Critics Choice Awards Speech Moves Co-Stars to Near Tears
American Ferrera
America Ferrera proved once again that her Barbie monologue was not a fluke—the woman knows how to deliver a rousing speech.
Accepting the eighth annual SeeHer Award at the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night, an honor given to a woman who “advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes and pushes boundaries," the Ugly Betty star moved many people in the audience, Greta Gerwig and Ryan Gosling included, to near tears.
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"I grew up as a first generation Honduran American girl in love with TV, film and theater, who desperately wanted to be a part of a storytelling legacy that I could not see myself reflected in," she said. "Of course I could feel myself in characters who were strong and complex, but these characters rarely, if ever, looked like me. I yearned to see people like myself on screen, as full humans."
She went on to say that when she started working 20 years ago, it seemed "impossible that anyone could make a career portraying fully dimensional Latina characters, but because writers, directors, producers and executives who were daring enough to rewrite outdated stories and to challenge deeply entrenched biases, I and some of my beloved Latina colleagues have been supremely blessed to bring to life some fierce and fantastic women." She also shouted out the next generation of Latina actresses, including Ariana Greenblatt, who played her daughter in Barbie, Jenna Ortega and Selena Gomez.
"To me, this is the best and highest use of storytelling. To affirm one another's full humanity. To uphold the truth that we are all worthy of being seen—Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian, trans, disabled, any body type, any gender. We are all worthy of having our lives richly and authentically reflected."
Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie presented Ferrera with the SeeHer Award, praising the actress as "remarkably grounded, surprisingly silly, seemingly unaffected by the talent she possesses, and always, always on the right side of a cause."
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