Features

Betty on Beauty

The American sitcom Ugly Betty has re-defined the perception not only of what makes a global, female TV star, but of the very nature of beauty itself.

Betty, the hit programme screened on Channel 4, follows the life of Betty Suarez, who comes from a struggling Latino family, a million miles away from the bitchy, glamorous world of high fashion.

Betty, passionate about fashion, works as the assistant to a womanising boss at Mode fashion magazine. Betty, played by the 22-year-old actress America Ferrera, is short with bushy eyebrows and braces on her teeth, and her own particular sense of style.

Bucking the trend on US television, where sitcoms, soaps and primetime dramas invariably feature beautiful women, the actress has attracted glowing reviews from viewers and critics.”

Ferrera made her film debut in 2002 playing an overweight teenager in Real Women Have Curves. The role of Betty came along when the show’s producer, Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, approached the fledgling actress.

“I read the script and fell in love with the character,” says Ferrera. “Because I get to play Betty and put on this costume and dive into that character, it also gives me more freedom to go as far as I can in the acting and not be concerned with what I’m looking like.”

Ugly Betty was inspired by the Colombian telenovela, Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, which translates as I Am Betty, the Ugly One.

The series was adapted to an American setting by former Oscar nominee Hayek. “It’s about the fish-out-of-water, the person who is not conventional in the way she looks, the way she talks,” explains Hayek. “But they are incredibly smart and hard workers, and they get ahead in life using that.”

Ferrera is the standout star and has become an overnight sensation in the role. Bucking the trend on US television, where sitcoms, soaps and primetime dramas invariably feature beautiful women, the actress has attracted glowing reviews from viewers and critics.

“Betty is a new kind of TV star,” says Luaine Lee, a columnist with the McClatchy-Tribune News Service. “She’s not beautiful, she’s not blonde, she’s not dumb - so she’s the antithesis of what we have usually laughed at in our sitcoms.

For Ferrera, playing ugly, is a beautiful thing. “I couldn’t imagine having my job or my ratings based on making sure that I maintain a healthy physique or workout five hours a day, on top of doing the work,” she says.

“The stories and the messages have universal appeal and people love that it’s not based at all on physical trends or definitions of what beautiful is. There’s always another pretty face down the line, but it’s fun to be on a show that is quite timeless.”

“Most of us are not TV stars and we don’t look like we belong on television. We’re just normal people who also deserve to have good lives. Americans also tend to champion the underdog. When someone like Betty comes along who’s naive, down-to-earth, caring and sincere, we feel relieved that there is something real in this world of phoney and superficial values.”

By Peter Bowes, BBC News, Los Angeles.

Printed courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk

Back: Features