America Ferrera is now an Oscar-nominated actress. And her first reaction to her Oscar nomination for Barbie was one of disbelief. “There was a moment where I wasn’t sure if I had made it up,” Ferrera told Variety. “And then my phone started blowing up so I figured that I must have heard it right.” She couldn’t also help but think, “I can’t even believe that this is real.”
Ferrera, who was in bed, watching on her phone by herself as her husband drove their kids to school heard from her publicist first. Then her husband, who was very emotional. “He was screaming and emotional. And I just heard my kids in the back, like so confused. ‘What are you screaming about?”
And then, came her co-stars from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
“They FaceTimed me as a group right away,” Ferrera also shared with Variety. “It was hilarious and funny and emotional and it’s wonderful to be celebrated and held up by my sisters. These women who I’ve had the honor of growing up with in this industry and being loved and cheered on and supported by them. Which we all do for each other. They’re amazing, and such a gift in my life.”
Ferrera was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Gloria in Barbie. The movie was also nominated for multiple awards, including Best Movie and Best Adapted Screenplay. Notable omissions, however, were Margot Robbie in the Best Actress and Greta Gerwig in the Best Director categories. Ferrera made a point to comment on the snubs, saying: “I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated.”
About Robbie, she added. “One of the things about Margot as an actress is how easy she makes everything look. And perhaps people got fooled into thinking that the work seems easy, but Margot is a magician as an actress in front of the screen, and it was one of the honors of my career to get to witness her pull off the amazing performance she did.”
Whatever may come next, America Ferrera deserves her flowers for the Barbie monologue alone.
The 2024 Academy Awards are on March 10, 2024 on ABC at 7 p.m. ET.
Barbie is now available to watch on Max.