America Ferrera – Embracing Barbie & Breaking Barriers

Two decades into a game-changing career, the star gets real about all the oscar buzz, juggling a young family and pursuing her dreams

- By Andrea Mandell

Ferrera's epic Barbie speech continues to resonate. "I've had a lot of moms come to me and say, 'I was watching with my kids, and afterward, they said, Why were you crying?'"

Barbie is always watching over America Ferrera. Literally. "She's right here. I see her every day. Hold on, I'll tip up," says the actress, moving her computer's camera up to a bookcase overlooking her desk at home in New York City. "She's right in front of a picture of me and Greta on-set."

The Barbie in question is the pantsuited new Gloria doll, modeled after Ferrera's character in director-screenwriter Greta Gerwig's billion-dollar summer hit. In the subversive tale, Ferrera, 39, plays a Mattel employee who subconsciously summons Barbie (Margot Robbie) to the real world, where the doll's blithe feminism is put to the test. While costar Ryan Gosling's forlorn ballad about being "just Ken" has become the movie's breakout earworm, Ferrera's searingly delivered speech on the impossible task of being a woman today ("You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line...") has earned cheers from audiences and buzz that she could get her first Oscar nomination.