America Ferrera Says Greta Gerwig Making Her Character Latina Helped Get Her Cast In ‘Barbie’: “I Have Not Been Considered For Roles That Weren’t Specifically Latina”

America Ferrera has forged a long career playing strong, multi-faceted Latina characters, including in this summer’s hit blockbuster Barbie. But, she says, she may not have landed her lead role in the film had director and screenwriter Greta Gerwig not written her character to be Latina.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ferrera confessed, “To be frank: For the majority of my career, I have not been considered for roles that weren’t written specifically Latina. And so that, in and of itself, limits what people are willing to think of you as and what’s available to you.”

She continued, “The gift of what Greta offered me is that she actually did write the Barbie part as Latina. I suspect that if she hadn’t written it as such, I might not have been the person they went to.”

Ferrera starred as Gloria, a young mother who began playing with her daughter’s Barbie dolls to cope with her own feelings of insecurity, causing Barbie (Margot Robbie) to suddenly question her own existence for the very first time.

The Superstore star praised Gerwig for not defining character by her ethnicity.

“Even though the role was written Latina, it was not a Latina role. Being Latina was not the purpose of the character,” Ferrera said. “She got to be a full human and representative of so many things.”

She added that her casting “wasn’t a ‘check the box’ kind of casting,” saying, “That has begun to change somewhat, for me at least.”

Though she’s had a big year with the release of Barbie and Dumb Money, the actress also claimed that she learned to “drop that expectation” that bigger roles could lead to more opportunities for her.

“I would be thrilled if this moment of being in highly visible films led to more opportunities for me to do the kinds of roles and create the kinds of stories that I want to, but that’s hard to predict,” she said. “I’ve had many moments in my career of wonderful successes that didn’t necessarily lead to more opportunity. I’ve learned to just slow down and drop that expectation.”

Ferrera is now gearing up to direct her first feature film, an adaptation of the bestselling novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, which is still in early development.