My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle
-
0:01 - 0:04On the red tiles in my family's den
-
0:04 - 0:08I would dance and sing
to the made-for-TV movie "Gypsy," -
0:08 - 0:10starring Bette Midler.
-
0:10 - 0:13(Singing) "I had a dream.
-
0:13 - 0:17A wonderful dream, papa."
-
0:17 - 0:22I would sing it with the urgency
and the burning desire of a nine-year-old -
0:22 - 0:25who did, in fact, have a dream.
-
0:25 - 0:28My dream was to be an actress.
-
0:28 - 0:32And it's true that I never saw
anyone who looked like me -
0:32 - 0:33in television or in films,
-
0:33 - 0:39and sure, my family and friends
and teachers all constantly warned me -
0:39 - 0:42that people like me
didn't make it in Hollywood. -
0:44 - 0:47But I was an American.
-
0:47 - 0:51I had been taught to believe
that anyone could achieve anything, -
0:51 - 0:55regardless of the color of their skin,
-
0:55 - 0:57the fact that my parents
immigrated from Honduras, -
0:57 - 1:00the fact that I had no money.
-
1:01 - 1:04I didn't need my dream to be easy,
-
1:04 - 1:06I just needed it to be possible.
-
1:08 - 1:09And when I was 15,
-
1:11 - 1:14I got my first professional audition.
-
1:14 - 1:18It was a commercial
for cable subscriptions -
1:18 - 1:20or bail bonds, I don't really remember.
-
1:20 - 1:21(Laughter)
-
1:21 - 1:25What I do remember
is that the casting director asked me, -
1:26 - 1:31"Could you do that again,
but just this time, sound more Latina." -
1:33 - 1:35"Um, OK.
-
1:35 - 1:38So you want me
to do it in Spanish?" I asked. -
1:38 - 1:43"No, no, do it in English,
just sound Latina." -
1:45 - 1:50"Well, I am a Latina,
so isn't this what a Latina sounds like?" -
1:51 - 1:54There was a long and awkward silence,
-
1:54 - 1:55and then finally,
-
1:56 - 1:59"OK, sweetie, never mind,
thank you for coming in, bye!" -
1:59 - 2:04It took me most of the car ride home
to realize that by "sound more Latina" -
2:04 - 2:07she was asking me
to speak in broken English. -
2:07 - 2:09And I couldn't figure out why the fact
-
2:09 - 2:14that I was an actual,
real-life, authentic Latina -
2:14 - 2:16didn't really seem to matter.
-
2:16 - 2:18Anyway, I didn't get the job.
-
2:18 - 2:22I didn't get a lot of the jobs
people were willing to see me for: -
2:22 - 2:24the gang-banger's girlfriend,
-
2:24 - 2:27the sassy shoplifter,
-
2:27 - 2:30pregnant chola number two.
-
2:30 - 2:31(Laughter)
-
2:31 - 2:35These were the kinds of roles
that existed for someone like me. -
2:36 - 2:40Someone they looked at
and saw as too brown, too fat, -
2:40 - 2:44too poor, too unsophisticated.
-
2:44 - 2:46These roles were stereotypes
-
2:46 - 2:49and couldn't have been further
from my own reality -
2:49 - 2:52or from the roles I dreamt of playing.
-
2:52 - 2:56I wanted to play people
who were complex and multidimensional, -
2:56 - 3:00people who existed in the center
of their own lives. -
3:00 - 3:05Not cardboard cutouts that stood
in the background of someone else's. -
3:05 - 3:07But when I dared to say that
to my manager -- -
3:07 - 3:11that's the person I pay
to help me find opportunity -- -
3:11 - 3:14his response was,
-
3:14 - 3:20"Someone has to tell that girl
she has unrealistic expectations." -
3:22 - 3:24And he wasn't wrong.
-
3:24 - 3:26I mean, I fired him, but he wasn't wrong.
-
3:26 - 3:28(Laughter)
-
3:28 - 3:33(Applause)
-
3:33 - 3:38Because whenever I did try to get a role
that wasn't a poorly written stereotype, -
3:38 - 3:39I would hear,
-
3:39 - 3:43"We're not looking
to cast this role diversely." -
3:43 - 3:47Or, "We love her,
but she's too specifically ethnic." -
3:47 - 3:52Or, "Unfortunately, we already have
one Latino in this movie." -
3:53 - 3:58I kept receiving the same message
again and again and again. -
3:59 - 4:05That my identity was an obstacle
I had to overcome. -
4:06 - 4:09And so I thought,
-
4:09 - 4:11"Come at me, obstacle.
-
4:11 - 4:15I'm an American. My name is America.
-
4:15 - 4:19I trained my whole life for this,
I'll just follow the playbook, -
4:19 - 4:21I'll work harder."
-
4:21 - 4:24And so I did, I worked my hardest
-
4:24 - 4:27to overcome all the things
that people said were wrong with me. -
4:27 - 4:31I stayed out of the sun
so that my skin wouldn't get too brown, -
4:31 - 4:35I straightened my curls into submission.
-
4:35 - 4:37I constantly tried to lose weight,
-
4:37 - 4:39I bought fancier
and more expensive clothes. -
4:39 - 4:41All so that when people looked at me,
-
4:41 - 4:46they wouldn't see a too fat,
too brown, too poor Latina. -
4:48 - 4:50They would see what I was capable of.
-
4:50 - 4:53And maybe they would give me a chance.
-
4:56 - 5:00And in an ironic twist of fate,
-
5:00 - 5:04when I finally did get a role
that would make all my dreams come true, -
5:06 - 5:10it was a role that required me
to be exactly who I was. -
5:11 - 5:15Ana in "Real Women Have Curves"
-
5:15 - 5:18was a brown, poor, fat Latina.
-
5:20 - 5:25I had never seen anyone
like her, anyone like me, -
5:25 - 5:29existing in the center
of her own life story. -
5:29 - 5:31I traveled throughout the US
-
5:31 - 5:33and to multiple countries with this film
-
5:33 - 5:39where people, regardless of their age,
ethnicity, body type, -
5:39 - 5:41saw themselves in Ana.
-
5:41 - 5:45A 17-year-old chubby Mexican American girl
-
5:45 - 5:50struggling against cultural norms
to fulfill her unlikely dream. -
5:51 - 5:54In spite of what
I had been told my whole life, -
5:54 - 6:01I saw firsthand that people actually did
want to see stories about people like me. -
6:01 - 6:04And that my unrealistic expectations
-
6:04 - 6:08to see myself authentically
represented in the culture -
6:08 - 6:10were other people’s expectations, too.
-
6:11 - 6:13"Real Women Have Curves"
-
6:13 - 6:18was a critical, cultural
and financial success. -
6:18 - 6:21"Great," I thought, "We did it!
-
6:22 - 6:25We proved our stories have value.
-
6:25 - 6:27Things are going to change now."
-
6:30 - 6:33But I watched as very little happened.
-
6:33 - 6:35There was no watershed.
-
6:35 - 6:39No one in the industry
was rushing to tell more stories -
6:39 - 6:45about the audience that was hungry
and willing to pay to see them. -
6:47 - 6:51Four years later,
when I got to play Ugly Betty, -
6:52 - 6:55I saw the same phenomenon play out.
-
6:55 - 6:59"Ugly Betty" premiered in the US
to 16 million viewers -
6:59 - 7:03and was nominated
for 11 Emmys in its first year. -
7:05 - 7:09(Applause)
-
7:09 - 7:14But in spite of "Ugly Betty's" success,
-
7:14 - 7:17there would not be another television show
-
7:17 - 7:19led by a Latina actress
-
7:19 - 7:22on American television for eight years.
-
7:25 - 7:27It's been 12 years
-
7:27 - 7:30since I became the first and only Latina
-
7:30 - 7:33to ever win an Emmy in a lead category.
-
7:34 - 7:37That is not a point of pride.
-
7:37 - 7:39That is a point of deep frustration.
-
7:39 - 7:42Not because awards prove our worth,
-
7:42 - 7:46but because who we see
thriving in the world -
7:46 - 7:49teaches us how to see ourselves,
-
7:49 - 7:51how to think about our own value,
-
7:51 - 7:54how to dream about our futures.
-
7:54 - 7:56And anytime I begin to doubt that,
-
7:56 - 8:01I remember that there was a little girl,
living in the Swat Valley of Pakistan. -
8:01 - 8:04And somehow, she got
her hands on some DVDs -
8:04 - 8:06of an American television show
-
8:06 - 8:10in which she saw her own dream
of becoming a writer reflected. -
8:11 - 8:15In her autobiography, Malala wrote,
-
8:15 - 8:17"I had become interested in journalism
-
8:17 - 8:20after seeing how my own words
could make a difference -
8:20 - 8:24and also from watching
the "Ugly Betty" DVDs -
8:24 - 8:27about life at an American magazine."
-
8:27 - 8:34(Applause)
-
8:34 - 8:38For 17 years of my career,
-
8:38 - 8:43I have witnessed the power our voices have
-
8:43 - 8:46when they can access
presence in the culture. -
8:47 - 8:49I've seen it.
-
8:49 - 8:52I've lived it, we've all seen it.
-
8:52 - 8:55In entertainment, in politics,
-
8:55 - 8:59in business, in social change.
-
8:59 - 9:03We cannot deny it --
presence creates possibility. -
9:05 - 9:07But for the last 17 years,
-
9:07 - 9:10I've also heard the same excuses
-
9:10 - 9:14for why some of us can access
presence in the culture -
9:14 - 9:15and some of us can't.
-
9:17 - 9:19Our stories don't have an audience,
-
9:19 - 9:22our experiences won't resonate
in the mainstream, -
9:22 - 9:26our voices are too big a financial risk.
-
9:28 - 9:30Just a few years ago, my agent called
-
9:30 - 9:33to explain to me why
I wasn't getting a role in a movie. -
9:33 - 9:35He said, "They loved you
-
9:35 - 9:39and they really, really do want
to cast diversely, -
9:39 - 9:44but the movie isn't financeable
until they cast the white role first." -
9:47 - 9:49He delivered the message
with a broken heart -
9:49 - 9:53and with a tone that communicated,
"I understand how messed up this is." -
9:55 - 10:01But nonetheless, just like
hundreds of times before, -
10:01 - 10:03I felt the tears roll down my face.
-
10:04 - 10:08And the pang of rejection rise up in me
-
10:08 - 10:10and then the voice of shame scolding me,
-
10:10 - 10:14"You are a grown woman,
stop crying over a job." -
10:15 - 10:19I went through this process for years
of accepting the failure as my own -
10:19 - 10:23and then feeling deep shame
that I couldn't overcome the obstacles. -
10:25 - 10:26But this time, I heard a new voice.
-
10:28 - 10:31A voice that said, "I'm tired.
-
10:32 - 10:34I've had enough."
-
10:34 - 10:35A voice that understood
-
10:35 - 10:40my tears and my pain
were not about losing a job. -
10:40 - 10:44They were about what
was actually being said about me. -
10:44 - 10:48What had been said about me my whole life
-
10:48 - 10:51by executives and producers
-
10:51 - 10:54and directors and writers
and agents and managers -
10:54 - 10:57and teachers and friends and family.
-
10:57 - 11:00That I was a person of less value.
-
11:01 - 11:04I thought sunscreen
and straightening irons -
11:04 - 11:08would bring about change
in this deeply entrenched value system. -
11:10 - 11:13But what I realized in that moment
-
11:13 - 11:19was that I was never actually asking
the system to change. -
11:19 - 11:25I was asking it to let me in,
and those aren't the same thing. -
11:26 - 11:29I couldn't change
what a system believed about me, -
11:29 - 11:32while I believed what
the system believed about me. -
11:33 - 11:35And I did.
-
11:35 - 11:37I, like everyone around me,
-
11:37 - 11:43believed that it wasn't possible
for me to exist in my dream as I was. -
11:44 - 11:47And I went about
trying to make myself invisible. -
11:50 - 11:55What this revealed to me
was that it is possible -
11:55 - 12:00to be the person
who genuinely wants to see change -
12:00 - 12:06while also being the person whose actions
keep things the way they are. -
12:08 - 12:12And what it's led me to believe
is that change isn't going to come -
12:12 - 12:15by identifying the good guys
and the bad guys. -
12:15 - 12:18That conversation
lets us all off the hook. -
12:18 - 12:20Because most of us
are neither one of those. -
12:22 - 12:23Change will come
-
12:23 - 12:25when each of us has the courage
-
12:25 - 12:29to question our own fundamental
values and beliefs. -
12:29 - 12:35And then see to it that our actions
lead to our best intentions. -
12:37 - 12:40I am just one of millions of people
-
12:40 - 12:43who have been told
that in order to fulfill my dreams, -
12:44 - 12:46in order to contribute
my talents to the world -
12:46 - 12:49I have to resist the truth of who I am.
-
12:50 - 12:54I for one, am ready to stop resisting
-
12:54 - 12:59and to start existing
as my full and authentic self. -
13:00 - 13:03If I could go back and say anything
-
13:03 - 13:08to that nine-year-old,
dancing in the den, dreaming her dreams, -
13:08 - 13:09I would say,
-
13:09 - 13:11my identity is not my obstacle.
-
13:12 - 13:14My identity is my superpower.
-
13:15 - 13:18Because the truth is,
-
13:18 - 13:20I am what the world looks like.
-
13:21 - 13:24You are what the world looks like.
-
13:24 - 13:29Collectively, we are
what the world actually looks like. -
13:29 - 13:32And in order for our systems
to reflect that, -
13:32 - 13:35they don't have to create a new reality.
-
13:36 - 13:39They just have to stop
resisting the one we already live in. -
13:41 - 13:42Thank you.
-
13:42 - 13:46(Applause)
- Title:
- My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle
- Speaker:
- America Ferrera
- Description:
-
Hollywood needs to stop resisting what the world actually looks like, says actor, director and activist America Ferrera. Tracing the contours of her career, she calls for more authentic representation of different cultures in media -- and a shift in how we tell our stories. "Presence creates possibility," she says. "Who we see thriving in the world teaches us how to see ourselves, how to think about our own value, how to dream about our futures."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:02
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle |