Full-figured and effortlessly fabulous, Ferrera was 18 when she made her auspicious film debut in the delightful 2002 indie comedy Real Women Have Curves. In addition to winning the Sundance Film Festival's jury award for best actress, she became a hero to spunky zaftig girls of all ethnicities by embracing her sexiness without dismissing her insecurities. A handful of TV guest spots followed, as Hollywood tried to figure out what to do with this charismatic but unconventional player. Meanwhile, the brainy actress studied international relations at the University of Southern California. In 2005 she gave another winning performance in the ensemble chick flick The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and the next year she scored her big small-screen breakthrough, earning Golden Globe and SAG Awards as the lead in Ugly Betty, the hit American adaptation of a wildly popular Spanish telenovela.