America Ferrera plays a plucky 24-year-old do-gooder on ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” and it appears she has quite a lot in common with her on-screen character, Betty Suarez.
In an interview in the October issue of Seventeen magazine, Ferrera stood up for positivity, saying she believes there are a host of television programs that do more harm than good.
“Close, genuine female relationships are not what generally gets depicted in movies and TV shows. Like, if you’re watching ‘The Hills’ or ‘90210,’ all the backstabbing shapes the way we act — you go to school and you think your job is to find a sworn enemy and be jealous of each other,” Ferrera said.
And her concern extends to “Gossip Girl,” which stars her “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” pal, Blake Lively.
“I mean, I love Blake; she’s a wonderful friend of mine, but shows like ‘Gossip Girl’ kind of condition us to be mean,” Ferrera said.
Though she may not be chiming in with a ringing endorsement of Lively’s show, Ferrera loved working with Lively and her other “Sister” co-stars — Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel.
“One of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had with girl relationships was working with them on ‘Sisterhood,’” Ferrera explained. “I’d worked with other girls before and it was pretty catty.
But this time, I thought, I don’t want to feel judged or defensive. So before we started shooting, I was like, I’m just going to show up to work and be professional — not their best friend. But a couple of weeks into shooting, Amber and I started talking. She’s a hippie and I thought we had nothing in common — and now she’s one of my closest friends!”
And like “Ugly Betty’s” Betty Suarez at Mode, Ferrera believes you should head out into the workplace with a positive attitude.
“It was so empowering to make girls your friends instead of your competitors,” she said. “What I’ve learned is, don’t waste your time judging people, because more often than not, you’re off base. And you’d be shocked to know what they think about you — where you meet someone and they’re like, ‘I thought you were stuck-up.’ And you’re like, ‘What?!? I’ve been sitting here waiting for you to talk to me!’”