The best America Ferrera movies and TV shows highlight why the Ugly Betty star is so highly regarded outside the realm of sitcoms and quirky comedy - and also show why she’s so deserving of her status as a multi-award-winning actor. Born in California in 1983, America Ferrera started her career in 2002, jumping straight into a lead role in the comedy-drama Real Women Have Curves and the Disney Channel original Gotta Kick It Up.

The momentum from this strong start never waned, and within a few years, America Ferrera would find herself becoming a household name thanks to taking the lead role in the Ugly Betty. However, while playing Betty Suarez was a career-defining performance, it’s far from the only celebrated performance from the actor - nor is it the best America Ferrera movie or TV show.

10 Lords Of Dogtown (2005)

America Ferrera Plays Thunder Monkey

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke and also starring the late Heath Ledger, 2005’s Lords of Dogtown is definitely among the most unique America Ferrera movies - especially from her earlier career. The biographic drama focuses on the skateboarding community in the area of Santa Monica known as Dogtown in the mid-1970s. By the 2020s, Lords of Dogtown has become considered a cult classic and one of the best skateboarding movies ever made.

America Ferrera has a minor but memorable role as Thunder Monkey in Lords of Dogtown. It’s incredibly different from the majority of her other performances, and so is notable when considering her best movies and TV shows as it demonstrates her versatility and range, as she’s stepping outside the coming-of-age stories that defined her earlier career and the sitcoms she’d eventually become most known for. She also has incredible chemistry with the young Heath Ledger, and the scene where they’re awkwardly flirting with one another at a party is performed so well it almost seems unscripted.

9 Gotta Kick It Up (2002)

America Ferrera Plays Yoli

The 2002 Disney Channel original Gotta Kick It Up marks one of America Ferrera’s earliest roles. She played Yolanda “Yoli” Vargas in the sports-comedy-drama, and while Gotta Kick It Up is definitely among the more lighthearted movies she’s appeared in, it still contains many of the themes present in America Ferrera’s best movies. Yoli is one of several students on a Latina dance team, and the narrative focuses on their attempts to juggle their ion for dance with their academic careers.

While Gotta Kick It Up doesn’t do much to reinvent the wheel when it comes to typical high school sports films, this doesn’t stop it from being one of the best America Ferrera movies of her early career. America Ferrera delivers an incredibly solid performance as Yoli, both during the typical and trope-filled moments present in most movies of the genre and during those that explore the difficulties faced by Latina students in predominantly white communities. It’s an early appearance that showcases the skills Ferrera would eventually become highly respected for and marked an important milestone at the start of her career.

8 Dumb Money (2023)

America Ferrera Plays Jenny

Based on Ben Mezrich’s 2021 movie The Antisocial Network, Dumb Money is one of the best movies of America Ferrera’s recent career. What’s more, it also marks a departure when it comes to genre and the type of role the actor is usually cast in. Rather than being focused on coming-of-age romance or female empowerment, Dumb Money sees America Ferrera playing Jenny, one of several Redditors involved in the GamesStop Wall Street crash that took place during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.

Not only is the movie itself fascinating and hilarious, it’s also an appearance from America Ferrera that showcases her range. What’s more, she also manages to stand out in a cast that also includes the likes of Pete Davidson, Paul Dano, Nick Offerman, Sebastian Stan, and Seth Rogen. While Jenny in Dumb Money isn’t her most prominent or central role, it’s still one that fans of America Ferrera shouldn’t miss, both because it shows her versatility and because it stands as a solid film in its own right.

7 How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (2005)

America Ferrera Plays Blanca

2005 was an important year for America Ferrera’s earlier career, as three of her best movies were released back to back - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Lords of Dogtown, and How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer. While not quite as iconic as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, or niche enough to have the cult status Lords of Dogtown enjoys, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer still stands out as one Ferrera’s best movies to date.

Like many of America Ferrera’s earlier film appearances, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer is a coming-of-age tale with a surprising amount of emotional depth. Ferrera plays Blanca, the youngest of the three Garcia women that the story focuses on. There are plenty of moments exploring intergenerational trauma and the complexities of life as a Hispanic family in a white community alongside the traditional young romance scenes involving Ferrara’s Blanca. All in all, while it’s not her most well-known movie, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer still stands as one of America Ferrara’s strongest performances, and gave an early glimpse into the future success she’d soon find.

6 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants (2005)

America Ferrera Plays Carmen

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a classic coming-of-age movie based on the novel of the same name by Anna Brashares. It’s also one of the best America Ferrera movies, and was an incredibly significant role in her earlier career prior to her breakout role in Ugly Betty a year later. America Ferrara plays Carmen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, one of four friends who go off on separate adventures all linked by a single pair of jeans they share and send to one another.

America Ferrera gave a standout performance in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and the movie inarguably boosted her reputation significantly. She managed to land an ALBA award for Oustanding ing Actress in a Motion Picture, and it’s easy to see why. Carmen’s story in the film is one of the most emotionally complex, and deals with themes like race and emotional neglect. Ferrera navigated these incredibly nuanced moments with ease, so much so that The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants remains one of the strongest performances in her career despite being two decades old.

5 How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

America Ferrera Plays Astrid

The How To Train Your Dragon franchise has been one of the most successful DreamWorks projects of the 21st century, and America Ferrera has been part of the cast since the 2010 original. How To Train Your Dragon stands out as one of the best America Ferrera movies not only because it’s become such a cultural phenomenon, but also because of her performance as Astrid, the romantic interest of Jay Baruchel’s Hiccup.

However, what makes Astrid such an exceptional character isn’t her position in the franchise’s romantic arc. Of all the Vikings and, eventually, dragon-riders in the How To Train Your Dragon movies, none are as capable as Astrid. She is absolutely fearless, and often exasperated by the ineptitude of many of her peers (and it’s these moments in which America Ferrera’s comedic talents especially shine). Her voice acting as Astrid in the franchise has also landed Ferrera several award wins and nominations, including winning Best Actress in an Animated Feature Film from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists in 2011.

4 Real Women Have Curves (2002)

America Ferrera Plays Ana

America Ferrera may have become a household name in 2006 when she took on the role of Betty Suarez in Ugly Betty, but this wasn’t the start of her career. What’s more, she’d also delivered several incredible performances in movies and TV shows before donning the glasses and braces that became so iconic - and the best movie of her earlier career is, by far, 2002’s Real Women Have Curves. While it thematically shares a lot with Ugly Betty as it centers on self-acceptance and the rejection of society's obsession with image, it’s a much more emotionally grounded and dramatic role.

The coming-of-age movie from director Patricia Cardoso was America Ferrera’s feature-film debut. What’s more, Ferrera landed the lead role, taking center star as 18-year-old Beverly Hills student Ana Garcia. Even at this early stage of her career, Ferrera was showing her incredible potential, as evidenced by winning the Special Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and being nominated for a 2003 Independent Spirit Award.

3 Superstore (2015-2021)

America Ferrera Plays Amy

Running on NBC from 2015 to 2021, Superstore is a sitcom based around the day-to-day working lives of employees of a Walmart-like store, Cloud 9. America Ferrera co-leads the ensemble cast of Superstore as Amy, an employee of Cloud 9 since she was a teenager. Now a wife and mother, Amy is often torn between regretting her life choices and wanting to stay faithful to her husband, and Ferrera portrays these moments so well that it’s impossible for viewers not to relate.

While it’s not as widely known a role as her time leading Ugly Betty, Superstore comes incredibly close when it comes to the strength of America Ferrera’s performance. It’s also arguably a more grounded role than many others Ferrera has taken on, and its place as one of her best TV shows is hard to dispute. It also landed her several award wins and nominations, including a Gracie Award win for Best Actress in a Leading Role - Comedy or Musical in 2017.

2 Ugly Betty (2006-2010)

America Ferrera Plays Betty

By the 2020s, America Ferrera is known as a multi-award-winning actor, and it’s her breakout role in Ugly Betty that paved the way for the reputation she currently enjoys. Landing an Emmy and Golden Globe among the many accolades she received for taking up the titular role, Ugly Betty still stands as the best America Ferrera TV show so far.

While Ugly Betty is a more outlandish sitcom than Superstore, playing Betty Suarez still gave America Ferrera plenty of opportunities to display her range in emotional, dramatic moments as well as laugh-out-loud comedic scenes. Throughout the show’s 4 seasons, Ferrera masterfully brought Betty’s journey from being a timid fashion magazine assistant to a bold, confident woman to life. The accolade and praise she received are truly deserved, and her performance still stands as one of the strongest of any lead actor in a 2000s sitcom.

1 Barbie (2023)

America Ferrera Plays Gloria

While Ugly Betty cemented America Ferrera as a household name and Superstore proved her ability to perfectly balance comedy and grounded emotional moments, her performance in 2023’s Barbie is her strongest by far. It’s hard to debate that Barbie is the best America Ferrera movie, and it’s not just because of the quality of the film overall. Ferrera stands out among the Barbie cast as Gloria - an impressive feat given that she stars alongside A-listers like Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, and Will Ferrell.

America Ferrera’s performance in Barbie received an incredible amount of praise, landing her an Academy Award for Best ing Actress among other accolades. As Gloria, a mother struggling to connect with her daughter, Ferrera was responsible for some of the most emotional and impactful moments in the movie - especially her speech about the need for a ‘normal’ Barbie representative of women simply trying to make it through the day. Of all the best America Ferrera movies and TV shows, none match Barbie when it comes to showing just how talented the actor truly is.