America Ferrera was the break-out star of 2002's Sundance Film Festival for her debut starring performance in Real Women Have Curves, for which she earned a Special Jury Prize. Just 16 years old when she got the role of Ana in Real Women, Ferrera is currently studying for a double-major in International Relations and Theater at the University of Southern California. The youngest of six children in a single-parent home (her mother is an immigrant from Honduras), Ferrera started acting in community theater and school plays at the age of eight. Her mother tolerates her dramatic pursuits as long as heir studies don't suffer; Ferrera was a straight-A student through high school, and has a near-perfect GPA at USC. She has appeared in an episode of Touched by an Angel and had a supporting role as a cheerleader in Gotta Kick It Up! for the Disney Channel.
