America Ferrara was born in 1984 in Los Angeles to Honduran parents and is the youngest of six children.

She first came to prominence as Ana in the 2002 film 'Real Women have Curves', a coming of age film about a Mexican-Amercian teenager. Her performance earned her a Sundance Jury Award for Best Actress.

Her favourite TV shows are Lost, American Idol and Heroes. "If I saw someone from Heroes, I would freak out. I'm the biggest dork when it comes to that." Her favourite hero is the time-bending Hiro Nakamura.

Her music taste includes Missy Elliott, Eminem, Fiona Apple, Damien Rice and country music.

She is fluent in Spanish.

She has one more semester of an international relations degree before she can graduate.

America knew from age 7 that she wanted to act and she wants to win an Oscar by the time she's 26!

Co-producer Salma Hayek had America in mind for the role of Betty even before the show had been created or sold.

She would love to work with Tom Hanks or Kate Winslet.

Her Golden Globes dress, designed by Brian Reyes, is up for auction at Clothes Off Our Backs, a website that auctions celebrity clothes and items for charity.

Besides winning a Golden Globe, her other highlight of the awards was having her picture taken between Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg. Clint's wife told her he had seen 'Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants', the 2005 film about four friends in which she plays Carmen, five times.

ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HER AND BETTY: 'It's always easier to play someone who is as far away from me as possible because then I'm not worried about me making a fool of myself. If I have this costume on and I feel like a different person in front of the camera, it's easier for me to be more daring and go further. Because I don't feel like myself. I feel like her. I feel more like Betty when I'm made up and I have my braces and my glasses and the funny wardrobe. She's a lot braver and more daring than I am.'

ON FASHION 'I hate trying on dresses. I like feeling pretty, but there's nothing like having 20 people looking at your face to make you feel ugly. Especially when I show up to work in sweat pants at 5am.'

ON BODY IMAGE: 'You have to build a normal relationship with exercise and food. I don't have much time to exercise, but when I do, I hike, run and do yoga. For me, it's not about looking like a supermodel, it's about feeling good about who I am naturally.'

'I think it's hilarious when people call Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria curvy. Come on. They're not curvy; they're small. I'm curvy.'