47 Fun Facts About Ugly Betty

Who plays Betty Suarez?

America Ferrera tried on about 200 pairs of glasses before the pilot; when the show ended she kept Betty's poncho and glasses but thinks she stomped on the braces.

Which British singer played herself in a season-three episode of Ugly Betty, modelling for a magazine shoot?

Adele appeared a few months after winning the Best New Artist Grammy, and at the cast's 2016 reunion the show's star joked, "We made Adele famous."

Ugly Betty is based on a telenovela from which country?

Colombia: the American showrunner first pitched Betty as an undercover FBI agent, but the producers told him to stay with the Colombian original because it had worked.

Ugly Betty is based on which telenovela?

Yo soy Betty, la fea was such a hit after its 1999 debut that it was remade around the world, and it even spawned a children's cartoon.

Which actress's production company, Ventanarosa, produced Ugly Betty?

Salma Hayek also recruited the lead herself: the future star had heard nothing about the show when Hayek ran up to her and said, "You are my Ugly Betty!"

Who developed Ugly Betty for American television?

Silvio Horta wrote his own life into it: Betty's sister shares a name with his real sister, Hilda, and he said Justin's story reflected his own growing up.

In which New York borough does Betty live with her family?

Queens: her home turf pays off in season one, when she uses her neighbourhood connections to land an in-demand photographer for the magazine.

Which magazine does Claire Meade start herself in season two of Ugly Betty?

Hot Flash is the magazine for the over-50s that Claire starts after finding herself bored and neglected by her children, inspired by other restless women she meets.

Why does Bradford Meade hire Betty to work for his son?

To stop Daniel sleeping with his assistants: Bradford picks someone he assumes his son will not find attractive, and Betty only hears the real reason later through office gossip.

Who plays Daniel Meade, the editor-in-chief of Mode?

Eric Mabius still has Daniel's wardrobe: when the costumes were sold off after the cancellation, he bought all his suits for about a tenth of their cost.

Whose death opens the editor-in-chief job that Daniel is handed?

Fey Sommers dies in a car crash before the series begins; it later emerges that a perfume she poisoned for her lover's wife set off the events that killed her.

Who plays the scheming creative director Wilhelmina Slater?

Vanessa Williams later shared scenes with her real-life ex-husband, Rick Fox, who turned up in season two as Wilhelmina's bodyguard.

What was Wilhelmina's name before her transformation into a fashion queen?

Wanda Slater, a senator's daughter, was an editor's assistant in 1981; she kept her boss's pregnancy secret in return for cosmetic surgery and a new life as Wilhelmina.

Who plays Wilhelmina's loyal assistant Marc St. James?

Michael Urie long said Wilhelmina was meant to get a new assistant every week, but the showrunner later admitted the guest-star billing was just a way to fit him into the budget.

Which actress played Kimmie Keegan, Betty's former high-school bully, in season three of Ugly Betty?

Lindsay Lohan first appeared as Kimmie in the season-two finale, and the six-episode run she had signed for was then cut short.

Betty's ally Christina McKinney works at Mode as what?

A seamstress: Christina is Betty's first friend at Mode and its keenest gossip, and it is she who tells Betty the real reason she was hired.

Why was Christina McKinney made Scottish?

The producers liked Ashley Jensen's accent: on holiday in America, she auditioned as a fast-talking New Yorker until they told her to use her own voice, and the part was rewritten.

What is the job of Betty's love interest Henry Grubstick?

Accountant: Henry works in the Meade accounts department, and at the end of season one he leaves for Tucson when his ex-girlfriend Charlie announces she is pregnant.

Who plays Betty's father, Ignacio Suarez?

Tony Plana has said he felt a duty to get Ignacio right, and that the show portrayed a Latino immigrant family in a way television had not done before.

Ignacio Suarez emigrated to the US from which country?

Mexico: he fled with Betty's mother, Rosa, after a fight with her abusive first husband, and then lived in the US without papers for 30 years.

What business does Betty's sister Hilda run?

A beauty salon: Hilda retrains as a beautician after the company she sold for goes under. Ana Ortiz, who plays her, first auditioned to be Betty.

Who is Justin Suarez?

Betty's fashion-loving nephew: Mark Indelicato was 12 when the show began and says he was discovering his own sexuality at the same time as Justin, so the two "really helped each other".

Which former Who's the Boss? star plays Claire Meade, Daniel's mother?

Judith Light had starred in the showrunner's unsold pilot, Sold; he promised to find her something else, and Claire Meade was it.

Rebecca Romijn joined Ugly Betty in 2007 as Alexis Meade, who turns out to be whom?

Daniel's transgender sister: believed dead for two years, Alexis returns first in bandages and then in person, bent on revenge against the father who had rejected her transition.

Which former Neighbours actor plays publishing magnate Bradford Meade?

Alan Dale's Bradford is killed off in season two, just as his tycoon Caleb Nichol had been killed off in the second season of The O.C.

How does Bradford Meade die?

A heart attack at his wedding to Wilhelmina: he collapses at the altar and dies in hospital an episode later, after his fugitive ex-wife Claire risks recapture to say goodbye.

In season two of Ugly Betty, Amanda decides that which rock star is her long-lost father?

Gene Simmons of Kiss eventually appears as himself, but the hunch is wrong: in the final season her real father turns out to be someone else entirely.

After Ugly Betty moved production to New York, which state passed a tax credit nicknamed the "Ugly Betty Bill"?

California: after two seasons in Los Angeles the show left for New York's tax credit, so the state legislature answered with $500 million in incentives of its own to keep productions at home.

Which 1980s film star played Archie Rodriguez, the city councilman who dates Hilda in Ugly Betty?

Ralph Macchio, the original Karate Kid, played Archie in seasons three and four, though Hilda ends up marrying her old high-school boyfriend, Bobby.

ABC briefly announced the show under what other title before it premiered as Ugly Betty in 2006?

Betty the Ugly was the network's idea: the showrunner found out from a newspaper and kept typing "Ugly Betty" on every script until the name was changed back.

Ugly Betty's final episode shares its title with which Beatles song?

"Hello, Goodbye" lends its name to the April 2010 finale, which closes with the word "Ugly" fading from the title because, the showrunner said, it never should have been there.

At the January 2007 Golden Globes, Ugly Betty won best comedy series and which other award?

Best actress in a comedy went to the show's 22-year-old star, who used her speech to talk about being a role model for young fans and was back on set meeting critics the next morning.

Which honour did Ugly Betty win in 2007 "for demonstrating that wit and humanity never go out of style"?

A Peabody Award: the citation insisted that Betty "isn't actually ugly", just fuller figured than the "twig-lets" of the fashion office and given to a garish outfit or two.

Which activist has named Ugly Betty among her childhood inspirations?

Malala Yousafzai said that amid the violence in Swat the show's fashion-magazine world looked like a dream; meeting its star in 2013, she said, "she's not Ugly Betty, she's Pretty Betty".

How is Betty and Marc's contest for an editor's job settled in season three?

Daniel and Wilhelmina flip a coin after each backs a different candidate, and Betty becomes features editor, a job that only came open through the sudden death of the editor who held it.

In the series finale, Betty leaves Mode for a job in which city?

London: she leaves to help run a new magazine there, and when Daniel turns up in Trafalgar Square she jokes that she is the one looking for an assistant.

Which slot was Ugly Betty moved to in October 2009, worrying fans it was being killed off?

Friday nights were where ABC had first scheduled the show in 2006, until its star talked the network chief into Thursdays; three months after the move back, it was cancelled.

Amanda's dog in Ugly Betty shares its name with which fashion designer?

Halston's death leaves Amanda grieving through the final episode, in which her long search for her real father finally ends.

Which UK broadcaster launched Ugly Betty in January 2007?

Channel 4 launched it against celebrity shows on both BBC One and ITV1, and Ugly Betty still opened with more than four million viewers.

In Ugly Betty's first episode, Walter dumps Betty for which woman?

Gina Gambarro, the girl next door, only wanted Walter's staff discount on a plasma TV, which Betty accidentally destroys as she storms out of Gina's house.

Who agrees to be the surrogate mother for Wilhelmina's baby in Ugly Betty?

Christina McKinney accepts because Wilhelmina will pay for her estranged husband's medical treatment; the baby she gives birth to during Fashion Week turns out to be her own.

Who plays Amanda Tanen, Mode's sharp-tongued receptionist, in Ugly Betty?

Becki Newton and her on-screen partner in crime became friends for real: they recapped the show in a podcast during its run and reunited in 2025 for a rewatch podcast, Still Ugly.

Which Ugly Betty character is shot during a convenience-store robbery in the season-one finale?

Santos had just proposed to Hilda; she spends the season-two premiere imagining him recovering before she can admit that he is dead.

Which of Betty's love interests turns out to be the son of a billionaire?

Matt hides it at first: Betty only learns the truth when an anonymous cheque sent to her family turns out to be his, and his father later bails out Meade Publications.

Which Broadway star played Marc's mother, who visits in season one unaware that her son is gay?

Patti LuPone played Jean Weiner; Betty poses as Marc's girlfriend for the visit, then pushes him to tell his mother the truth, and she appears to disown him.

What does Betty's season-two admirer Gio Rossi sell for a living?

Sandwiches: Gio dreams of opening his own shop, and in the season-two finale he asks Betty to come to Rome with him on the same day that Henry proposes.

What was the title of Ugly Betty's season-one finale, a play on a famous musical?

East Side Story: the episode is built around Justin's school production of West Side Story, in which he plays the romantic lead, Tony.