Ugly Betty star America Ferrera says swapping sitcom for suspenders has been liberating

By Michael Hellicar

Last updated at 7:48 AM on 25th November 2011

Super sexy: America as Roxie Hart in Chicago

Somewhere deep inside actress America Ferrera’s wardrobe is a poncho, thick-rimmed glasses with beer-bottle lenses, a frizzy wig and a metal teeth brace that give her a smile like a half-open sardine tin.

They were her trademark look as the frumpy star of the hit TV show Ugly Betty in which she played the eponymous heroine, and were presented to her on the last day of filming as a permanent reminder that you don’t have to be beautiful and sexy to succeed.

‘I’m keeping them safe,’ she says. ‘I don’t  suppose I will ever wear them again, even though there is talk of making an Ugly Betty movie, but it is nice to keep them because we defied the old showbusiness belief that looks are everything by proving that they aren’t.’

Not that Miss Ferrera, 27, is anything like the unfortunate Betty in real life. She is petite, curvy and elegant, with dark soulful eyes, perfect white teeth and an exquisitely sculpted face.

Transforming her into plain Betty Suarez complete with wild, bushy eyebrows and a wig — a process she calls Bettification — would take two make-up artists more than an hour every day.

The U.S.-made show struck a chord with viewers, becoming a hit in more than 70 countries, and was screened here by Channel 4 until the show ended in April last year.

It told how Betty, a humble assistant on a New York fashion magazine, rose through the executive ranks in spite of merciless bullying by the bitchy staff until she was finally offered, and declined, the editorship.

She flies to London for a new life and the final scene showed Betty — who had blossomed from ugly duckling into sleek swan — meeting her old boss Daniel Meade in Trafalgar Square where they fall into each other’s arms.

By a strange coincidence — or is it life imitating art? — although Betty has gone, America (who in June married film-maker Ryan Piers Williams) is now back in London making a fresh start herself. She is starring in the West End stage musical Chicago?.?.?. just around the corner from where Ugly Betty’s poignant last scene was shot.

‘Betty was clumsy, wrong-footed and if anything was going to go wrong for her, it would,’ says America. ‘Thank goodness I’ve left all that behind or I’d be falling flat on my face in every dance routine ten times a night.

‘I’ve never sung or danced professionally before. When I was 10, I played the Artful Dodger in my school  production of Oliver! but that’s about it. And until now, I hadn’t even set foot on a stage for six years.’

Confessing she wasn’t sure about taking the new role, America adds: ‘When I was offered the part [of showgirl Roxie Hart] my first instinct was to say, “No.” Then I thought, well, it’s another challenge.

‘Every night, I’m conscious that it’s not like TV or films. There are no second chances, no edits, no cuts, no body doubles. I’ve got to get it right first time, every time..

Real-life: America married her long-time boyfriend, director Ryan Piers Williams, this year

‘Even the simplest mistake can throw me off course. The other night my hat fell off in the closing number. I was devastated, even though it wasn’t my fault, and the audience probably didn’t even notice’.

In fact, she is a stunning success, getting a standing ovation most nights. But the precision and discipline that is required is a far cry from the Ugly Betty set.

‘We spent four years on that show just laughing and laughing,’ she says. ‘It was a luxury to be able to take our time to get everything perfect. My teeth braces would get uncomfortable, so I’d slip them out between takes.

‘Then I’d be called back on to the set for more filming and just when we thought we’d finished for the day I’d realise I had forgotten to put the braces back in. No one had noticed — not me, the director or the cameraman. So we’d have to start all over again.’

Bettification: It took two make-up artists an hour every day to transform America into Betty

When Lindsay Lohan guest-starred in a couple of episodes as Betty’s high school nemesis, Kimmie, she and America got on famously — despite reports there was friction between them.

‘We had to do one scene 30 times before we got it right. It was mostly my fault. I had to meet her at the lift and walk her through the office, chatting while picking up papers and signing things. It required a lot of co-ordination of dialogue and action, and I kept fluffing it. You’d think a big star like her would get impatient, but instead we were in hysterics.

‘And when they started bringing in guests like Victoria Beckham, Adele and Naomi Campbell, we welcomed them. Victoria was very friendly and down to earth. And Naomi was a surprise.

‘Judging by the bad publicity she’s had, you’d think she would be very difficult, but she happily poked fun at her reputation for throwing phones by posing with one in front of the camera.’

The offer to play Ugly Betty came out of the blue. ‘What attracted me was that Betty was nothing like the usual TV heroine,’ says America. ‘It wasn’t about playing an ugly girl. It was about playing someone who was a very nice person and who got on in life in spite of her looks.

‘She wasn’t conventionally beautiful but her inner beauty and decency shone through, which must have been a first for American network TV.

When we started work on it, they assigned Patricia Field, the stylist behind Sex And The City, to come up with Betty’s look. They had me trying everything — but no one could agree on how ugly Ugly Betty should be.

‘Then one day they put the braces in, slipped the glasses and poncho on, mussed my hair up and we’d got it. From that moment, I was Ugly Betty, the epitome of the underdog’.

That first series won America a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Screen Actors’ Guild award. Time Magazine named her one of their 100 Most Influential People. ‘By the second series we’d begun to hit a few bumps in the road,’ she admits. ‘It seemed as if everyone had a different vision for the show.

‘There were too many cooks. Some of the stories didn’t gel and the whole ethos of the show lost its way a little. A lot of viewers switched off. By series three we were back in our stride but many viewers never came back, so the network pulled the plug.

‘I love being Roxie Hart, but I miss Betty Suarez. I find it funny that people are shocked when they see I don’t really look like Betty. Some of them are  disappointed. I’m not though’.

¦?America is in Chicago, at the Garrick Theatre, London, until December 31 (0844 482 9673).