When America Ferrera began her studies as an international relations major at USC, one question continuously plagued her:
“How can you exist in a world this messed up and go pursue art?”
With a desire to uplift underrepresented voices, Ferrera believed sacrificing her professional acting career was necessary to initiate social justice advocacy.
From launching “She Se Puede” Latino voting campaigns to highlighting gender inequity through her role in “Barbie,” Ferrera has since then found her dueling pathways converging into her own multidisciplinary medium: storytelling.
On Sunday morning, the USC School of Dramatic Arts honored Ferrera with their second annual Multihyphenate Award, a recognition that celebrates versatility and innovation in the entertainment industry.
SDA Dean Emily Roxworthy opened the ceremony, commemorating Ferrera’s iconic roles in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” “Real Women Have Curves,” “Ugly Betty,” “SuperStore” and “Barbie.”
As USC students anticipated the appearance of the Oscar nominee, a sea of applause shocked the Bing Theatre with a surprise entrance by USC President Carol Folt.
“Across our campuses, people are really doing this interdisciplinary work, but to be multi-hyphenated means you need to take it even deeper into these different parts,” Folt said when she presented the award. “A real multi-hyphenate like America Ferrara meets this challenge with boldness, and with immense versatility, but also with humanity. And I think that’s what touches us all. Seeing that limitless potential for storytelling in every single form.”
Chicano playwright and SDA faculty member Luis Alfaro joined Ferrera onstage, in conversation on the essential nature of multidisciplinary artistry. The pair created an intimate environment, chronicling Ferrera’s journey from L.A. theater programs to USC and her artistic position as a “messenger of culture.”
“I got so emotional when I learned that the award that you all wanted to give me was the multihyphenate award because that is the essence of my story in my life, but absolutely the essence of the struggle that I had here when I was at USC,” Ferrera said. “At the time, I felt the pressure that every choice that I made was going to define the rest of my life and that I had to choose right.”
From a young age, Ferrera desired to not only be an actress but also a human rights lawyer. At just five years old, she knew “there was more than just one lane, one path, one title.”
Although struck with limited resources, she continued her pursuit of acting, taking three-hour bus rides to local playhouses and seizing every chance in sight to express her love for acting.
“I was raised by a single immigrant mother who struggled to keep the lights on and hot water coming out of the sink and I had this insane dream, and nobody thought it was possible…the odds were insane that someone like me would build this career,” Ferrera said.
At 17, Ferrera made her dynamic film debut with her leading role in “Real Women Have Curves,” a movie that navigates a high school girl’s complicated relationship with her body, womanhood and her Mexican American family.
Assuming more senior production roles, Ferrera’s involvements continue to elevate marginalized narratives. Most recently, in her upcoming directorial debut for the adaptation of the best-selling novel, “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” Ferrera opens the door for authentic Latino representation on screen.
“Now as a [director and] producer, because of the access that I managed to get...I know and assume that a big part of my job is to create opportunity and to create access for others in spaces where if I was not there knocking down that door, no one would be knocking” Ferrera said.
Ensuring that pipelines of opportunity are available to other creatives of color is central to Ferrera’s mission. Alfaro described that Ferrra’s work enables students to feel their aspirations are never too out of reach.
“There is so much hope and dreams in the idea that us people of color and women, anybody in this room, we can project something onto you which is: there is a future and there is a possibility for all of us. Not only in the arts but in the expression of our world,” Alfaro said to Ferrera.
Sophomore BFA Acting student Kalālapa Winters said Ferrera’s mission of representing communities that are often overlooked in the media resonated with her.
“My entire goal in life is to bring authentic representation to Hawaiian women on screen, but I also have, [for] my entire life, been a huge activist,” Winters said. “I have felt multiple times in my life and in my career the same way [Ferrera] has about having to choose something, and stick to it…I felt really seen and heard by what she was saying.”
Ferrera concluded the conversation with what she noted as the most important moment during her time at USC. While she questioned the trajectory of her career, the late international relations professor, Dr. David Andrus revealed his struggle of connecting with one of his mentees, a Latina high school student in Los Angeles.
“If you really want to understand what I’m up against, then come watch this movie with me,” she told him.
The film she took him to see was Ferrara’s “Real Women Have Curves.”
“I want to say that to every single kid in this room…what you have to contribute to the world uniquely will come from embracing all of the things you love. All of them. And not deciding that that doesn’t have a place in the story of your career or the story of your legacy,” Ferrera said. “I do believe that if you follow that passion, all of them, you will get to the place where you are bringing through the thing that no one else in this world can.”