MEXICO CITY — If you like "Ugly Betty," a certain Mexican-Uruguayan-Japanese actress is hoping that you'll take a shine to Ugly Barbara as well. That would be Barbara Mori, a household name in Mexico for her high-profile turns in "Rubi" and other popular Spanish-language soap operas.
Generously endowed with genetic good fortune, Mori could've been one of those comely ingenues who streak across the Mexican prime-time firmament, then vanish into obscurity. But rather than trading on her looks to land another telenovela gig, Mori ditched the soap opera circuit years ago in search of assignments that have stretched her beyond typecasting.
Now she's taking self-deglamorization to a new level by starring in "Ugly Me," a Spanish-language romantic comedy in which Mori plays Amanda, a love-scarred woman who decides that her best defense against future heartbreak is to disguise her physical assets with prosthetic buck teeth and a fat suit. The feature film debut of Chilean director Claudio Dabed, "Ugly Me," which was originally titled "Pretendiendo" (Pretending), will open Friday in Los Angeles and Orange County (in Spanish, with subtitles). When screen sirens transform themselves into plain Janes, they tend to get either Oscar awards (e.g. Charlize Theron in "Monster") or Bronx cheers for what's perceived as a gimmicky act of false modesty. (By contrast, a Hollywood leading man is more likely to be praised for his professional daring if he deliberately subverts his hunk credentials.)
Mori readily admits that her natural endowments have opened doors professionally. But she insists that "physical beauty is a double-edged sword" for any actress who wants to be taken seriously. "At the beginning of my career, my green eyes or my pretty face helped me get onto the screen. You get on screen thanks to physical beauty," she says in Spanish during an interview at a hotel rooftop lounge here.
"But in the moment in which you want to show that inside yourself there is something more than green eyes, than a pretty face, it's like very difficult. . . . I very much wanted to work to show the people that I also had talent, that I wasn't just the girl with the pretty face, but rather that I was an actress. And it was very difficult. Finally, I obtained it, thanks to the work that I did."
