America Ferrera

The Ugly Betty star has done a video with Hillary and gone door-to-door with Chelsea. She tells Glamocracy blogger Asma Hasan what the candidate and her daughter are really like—and why she's backing Clinton.

ASMA: Why are you supporting Hillary?

AMERICA FERRERA: I have a lot of reasons, but mainly because she has spent so much of her life achieving things that are about enfranchising the most disenfranchised people in this country. That is a forgotten art, especially in this current administration. I think she is an incredibly intelligent woman, and she has fought really hard battles; she has won some and she's lost some. She stands up for what she believes in and she puts herself in the line of fire time and time again for things [no matter how] unpopular they might be.

ASMA: The fact that Hillary is a woman—is that an important part of why you support her?

AMERICA: No, not at all. I think it's really exciting that she's a woman and that the face of politics has been changed because there has been a viable woman candidate. But I wouldn't support a candidate based on whether they're a woman or a man or whether they're black or white. I think that voting for a woman because she is a woman is not really progress.

In fact, I think that to some degree her being a woman made me stop and think: If I'm going to support her, I have to know why I am supporting her. And it made me say, this is who deserves our support, because she is going to be an amazing president—not because she's a woman.

ASMA: You've met Hillary; you did an interview with her, posted on YouTube, in which she comes across as so natural. I think you brought out some qualities in her I hadn't seen on television. What is she really like?

AMERICA: As a person, she's incredibly engaging. I was so taken by how lovely and warm she is. The truth is, politics is a hard game, and to some degree everyone has to have a game face that you put on to face attacks and challenges.

I understand that people want a president they feel they can relate to, that they can like and who could possibly be their next-door neighbor. But I'm more interested in a president who is smarter than me, a president who is more experienced than me, a president who I don't necessarily want to be my best friend. I want a president who can turn this country around and lead.


I did feel very lucky to meet Hillary and feel that warmth and that genuineness. This is who she is; it's not an act. And I got more of that from Chelsea. Spending time with Chelsea makes me admire [Hillary and Bill] even more, as parents who raised this incredibly self-possessed, intelligent woman. And you know, good for her for staying out of the public eye. I think it speaks so loudly for who Bill and Hillary are as parents to see how wonderful Chelsea turned out to be. They have raised this wonderful young woman who is a very compassionate, caring person.

ASMA: I saw that you and Chelsea went door-to-door on behalf of Hillary. Is she someone that you could see yourself being friends with?

AMERICA: She has a lot of her friends working on the campaign with her, friends she's known since college and high school. [Chelsea and I] don't sit around and talk about our menstrual cycles. She is just incredibly genuine and has a great, deep appreciation for what she has been given in this world and for her parents.

ASMA: You are the national cochair for HillBlazers, which is Hillary's youth outreach campaign. What do you do specifically on the campaign?

AMERICA: We try to get as much information as we can to the youth community, so we've been going to college campuses and having question-and-answer sessions. Chelsea is so much better than anyone else at answering questions about where her mother stands on issues. I've learned so much traveling with her.

It's been a rewarding experience just getting them to think beyond campaign slogans and beyond what the sound bites are on CNN. Everyone has their opinions. We are just trying to challenge the youth to form their own opinions, rather than accept what's given to them.

ASMA: You studied international relations at the University of Southern California. How does that inform your decision to support Hillary?

AMERICA: [Studying] international relations taught me to think outside of my immediate environment and just the world that I can see. I am inspired by Hillary's outreach to the international community. As First Lady she traveled to more than 80 countries, building relationships not only with leaders but with the people of those countries. And I think that what [this country is] lacking at the moment is a participation in the global community.

I don't know what my future brings. I just know that I am incredibly inspired by people who are so intelligent and who are so brave to put themselves in the line of fire to actually create change. I mean, think about the fact that this is the first woman in the history of the United States to put herself out there in that way*—and once it's done, once that barrier is broken, it's broken forever. I can't imagine what type of bravery it takes to make that step and to be the first person.

When I say I'm not supporting Hillary because she is a woman, that doesn't take away from the step she has taken to put herself out there and break that barrier. It's changed the history of this country forever for every woman. Really, she's running for every single woman in this country, and that is something that I get so much empowerment from.

*Editor's note: Clinton is the first woman to be a viable, major-party candidate for president.