America Ferrera Shines in a Barbie-Pink Versace Gown at the 2024 Oscars

Throughout her life, from Real Women Have Curves, to Ugly Betty, to Barbie, America Ferrera has consistently used her career to be a voice and a positive source of inspiration for all women. The actress received a much-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscars nomination for her role of Gloria in the Greta Gerwig film, a role that empowers women and encourages societal change; especially with her viral monologue about the struggles of being a woman.

For the ceremony, Ferrera wore a beautiful pink sequin gown by Atelier Versace.

She posed with Billie Eilish on the carpet, too.

In January, she told The Wrap that a teenage Ferrera would have thought, “What the hell took you so long?” about her present-day Academy Awards nomination.

“17-year-old America thought she was getting nominated for Gotta Kick It Up,” she laughed. “17-year-old America thought she could get nominated for an Oscar for a Disney Channel movie. She did not quite understand the rules of the game.”

The actress acknowledged the consistent lack of representation during award show season, and what being nominated means to her.

“I grew up watching the Academy Awards and looking for proof that I could one day be there. And I found that in any woman of color or a person outside of the dominant stereotype of movie star,” she said. “And so I think it really makes an incredible impact when people see people who reflect them in these cultural moments that are about celebrating and valuing people’s voices, people’s stories, people’s work, people’s artistry.”

“For too long, so many of us have had so little to see ourselves in. So to get to be in that room and represent millions of people who maybe feel like it’s more possible for them to be valued and celebrated in our culture, it means everything to me. It’s truly, to me, the real power of the moment,” she finished.

Ferrera also shared how easy it was for her to evoke the childlike wonder and excitement needed for Barbie.

“That still very much exists in me,” she explained. “I feel so close to my childlike glee, particularly around getting to do my work. As an actress, or when I’m directing, it feels like play. And I feel very close to that kind of ecstatic energy when I’m getting to do what I love.”

“That was also so much the energy that Greta brought to the project—that everyone brought to the project, but because of Greta, it all felt like child’s play. And so that wasn’t really hard for me to tap into,” she added.

She also spoke about playing her character and how she related to her.

“For her, on a personal level, it was about her childhood memories—playing with Barbie with her mother and what that imagination meant and what that connection meant. And she never let that go,” Ferrera told The Wrap. “Even though Barbie was imperfect, it still had value to her, and she held onto that value. And because she was a real woman in the real world who believed in what Barbie could be, I felt like I could see Gloria.”

“I thought, yes, Gloria is not afraid to love what she loves,” she continued on. “She’s a little afraid, because she’s hiding most of it, and she’s pretending to be whatever people need her to be in any situation. But this journey gets to be one where she unabashedly gets to revel and love what she loves. And that felt like a really important journey to see an adult, grown woman go on. To just give herself the permission to value what she values and to love what she loves.”