The 96th Academy Awards is a few days away, and Latinas can't wait to watch
America Ferrera shine. For the first time in her more than two decade-long career, the actor is nominated for an Oscar for her performance as
Gloria in Barbie. For many of us, Ferrera’s characters were the first time we ever saw someone on the screen who reflected our realities without playing into gross,
misguided stereotypes about our communities. While Latine actors are often limited to playing villainous gang members,
dangerous drug dealers, untrustworthy maids, and mistresses who typically lack any sort of character development, Ferrera has portrayed a young woman wrestling with competing cultural ideals in
Real Women Have Curves, the everyday Latina high schooler in
Gotta Kick It Up!, a heroine in
Cesar Chavez, and, more recently, an unfulfilled, insecure working mom who is retiring sexist ideas around femininity and self-sacrifice
in Barbie. For 22 years, her roles have made us feel our stories as Latines, many of us children of migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, are worthy of being told.