Betty Suarez

Infobox character | colour = #FC0FC0
name = Beatriz "Betty" U. Suarez


caption = America Ferrera as Betty Suarez
portrayer = America Ferrera
creator = Silvio Horta (based on the character created by Fernando Gaitán)
gender = Female
first = Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux)
last =
cause =
age = 24
born = April 1984
occupation = Executive Assistant
title =Personal Assistant to Daniel Meade at "MODE" (and briefly at "Player")
Former Personal Assistant to Wilhelmina Slater at "MODE"
Former Personal Assistant to Sofia Reyes at "MYW"
family = Ignacio Suarez (father)
Rosa Suarez (mother; "deceased")
Hilda Suarez (sister)
Justin Suarez (nephew)
spouse = Walter (ex-boyfriend)
Henry Grubstick (ex-boyfriend)
Giovanni "Gio" Rossi (briefly dated)
Jesse (love-interest)
children =
relatives = Yolanda Sálazar (maternal grandmother)
Mirta (paternal aunt)
Clara (paternal cousin-in-law)
religion = Roman Catholic
footnotes =

Beatriz "Betty" U. Suarez is a central fictional character and heroine of the American dramedy series "Ugly Betty". She is portrayed by America Ferrera, who won a 2007 Golden Globe and 2007 SAG award for her portrayal of the character, as well as the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy award for the role at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated again in the same category at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Background

Betty Suarez lives in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. There she attended Queens borough High School, graduating in 2002, where she was salutatorian and received a Regents diploma. She never went to the Senior prom, staging an anti-prom with her best friend Trina, who later got invited. Betty and Trina never spoke again until 2007. A member of the Music Association; she received an award for playing the cymbals and triangles. Betty also performed as a mascot for the basketball team, for which she was named "Most Inspirational Basketball Mascot"; as she was the yearbook editor, it is possible she gave this title to herself.Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .]

She attended Queens College, in Flushing, Queens, described as "one of America's best value colleges" [Sarcastically said by Marc, in episode 2.] She graduated QC in December 2005, with a BFA in Media, Cum Laude. She was treasurer of the Latina Women's League, yearbook editor, and a contributor for the school newspaper, the "Knight Journal".Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .] It should be noted that her real goal is to become a magazine publisher, which explains her journalistic credentials.

For the summer before attending college, and two summers during college, she worked at Corona Cones as a "Soft Serve Specialist/Weekend Night Manager". There she "managed a crew of 2 (including self)", "initiated and maintained soft-serve machine during the double-scoop crossover", and fulfilled "party clown duties as needed".Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .]

Suarez then worked at Pro-Buy store #8474 as a part-time human resources coordinator, from summer 2004 to August 2005. She designed the monthly "What's Up, Pro Buy!" employee newsletter.Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .]

Suarez then had two internships. In the summer of 2004, she was at the weekly magazine "Politics & More", collaborating on research for the July 2004 cover article on Presidential hopefuls and their wives. [Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] . Note that this can be perceived as a slight error in continuity, that the cover article date suggests a monthly, while the publication is described as weekly.] Next summer, she interned at "Daily Dermatology Magazine"; her stay at this Flatbush, Brooklyn publication focused on research for a five-part series of articles on pores for the then upcoming Wide World of Skin convention.

Suarez is fluent in English and Spanish, and can speak some Mandarin Chinese.Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .] She can also speak some Portuguese, as she called a spa in Brazil for one episode.

She is a "yearly fundraising participant", won the 2004 Rotary Club Speech Contest, coordinates the Neighborhood Watch program for her area, was a math tutor, a County Chamber Singers, honorary member of the local Historical Society, and even at one point the New York Mets baseball team's batboy.Cited from Betty Suarez's resume, from [http://www.bettysuarez.com/ BettySuarez.com] .]

At "Mode"

, was killed by having her brake lines cut. Despite Daniel's less-than-enthusiastic reaction to working with her, Betty does win him over and together they become an unlikely team in the world of fashion. Despite their working relationship, Daniel is known to be a womanizer, and Betty offers him no temptation. She keeps her job because of her attitude and skill. Despite having a majority of her first check being taken out for taxes, Betty's earnings at "Mode" is around $37,810 a year. [ [http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/msn/careeradvice/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=911&SiteId=cbmsnhp4911&sc_extcmp=JS_911_home1&GT1=9965&cbRecursionCnt=5&cbsid=eff393e4570c4f02a8638fb86ad52839-241257732-R2-4 From Career Builder.com] ]

However, at work Betty is not liked by fellow co-workers, who feel threatened by her presence: Wilhelmina Slater, the magazine's Creative Director, who wanted the job Daniel got, her cohort Marc St. James, and magazine receptionist Amanda Tanen. All three are determined to make sure that they sabotage Betty and Daniel at any cost but for different reasons, even though at times they have no choice but to work with Betty when last minute plans threaten "Mode" before the issue goes to press. But not all co-workers are like the previous mentioned three, as Betty finds an ally and a best friend in Christina McKinney, a seamstress whose knowledge about what goes on at "Mode" will play a part in their alliance. Betty's fashion sense, glasses, hair, her short 5"1 stature and working-class roots in Queens are often mocked by her co-workers although she becomes popular after punching unconscious annoying assistant Nick Pepper, who kept picking on her. Betty is also slightly clumsy, often knocking into things, most notably plexiglass windows. Despite her faults, Betty has no problem putting people in their place, like threatening Marc with a Queens-style beating and exposing his favorite explicit gay websites if he didn't remove the photos he took of Betty's aforementioned clumsy moments.

Betty has also found herself embroiled with the Meade family in more ways than one. Bradford trusts her because she can keep Daniel's financial responsibilities intact while Daniel trusts her because she can deliver and take charge. She is also aware of Claire Meade's problems with alcoholism (she slapped a bottle right out of Claire's hands), but learned later that Claire was the person who killed Fey; when Claire told Betty that she wanted to leave the country rather than face murder charges, Betty talked her out of it and convinced Claire to turn herself in, and does just that. Betty was also impressed by Alexis Meade's recent sex-change to the point of where she asked Alexis about where she can buy a hormone patch so she wouldn't use bleach to get rid of her mustache. When Daniel and Alexis began feuding over the ownership of Meade Publications, Betty stepped in and played mediator and forced them to talk it out in front of their mother while in bumper cars at Coney Island. Thanks to Betty, both Daniel and Alexis agreed to a truce until the matter over the company was settled.

Since she started working alongside Daniel, she has helped him with his sexual and drug addictions, repair his trust with family and improve his abilities as a Editor-In-Chief, along with getting him out of trouble, like exposing a Mother/daughter team that was trying to blackmail him. Daniel in turn has also help Betty with her own faults, mostly in the romance department and trying to open up her talents as a writer. However, there were a couple of incidents that almost ended that: When Betty tried to protect Daniel from a tell-all writer, Daniel lashed out at her, resulting Betty giving Daniel the cold shoulder. The second time came when she witnessed Wilhelmina sleeping with her bodyguard while trying to get the mock-up from Wilhelmina's apartment. When Wilhelmina bribed Betty into not telling Daniel about her romp, Betty agreed and betrayed Daniel, only to be fired at Wilhelmina and Bradford's wedding after she came clean. He would later regret that after Ignacio went straight to the hospital and told Daniel the reason Betty did it. As Betty told Daniel that she wasn't the same person that walked into "MODE" and that she wanted to give up her job, it would be Bradford that would tell her not to, first at the hospital prior to his passing and later as her subconscious.

Betty would be the one to help Claire and her murder conviction, first by making sure that Alexis and Daniel would continue as owners of Meade Publications and reconcile with Bradford before his death. In the episode Odor in the Court, as Claire goes to trial for murdering Fey, some new evidence surfaces in the Love Dungeon, along with a bottle of perfume Claire gives to Betty for safekeeping during the trial. Fey's diary reveals that in an attempt to kill Claire, Fey had sent a bottle of poisoned perfume to Bradford to give to Claire as a 'souvenir' that would drive her to madness and kill her. By a stroke of fate, Claire's insanity resulted in Fey's own death instead. However, Amanda chooses to withhold this evidence as she blames Claire for killing her mother. After Betty nearly kills herself with the perfume, and after Amanda is convinced to hand over the evidence to Betty, Claire is found not guilty and freed. Therefore, MODE is now back in Claire's control, and thanked Betty for clearing her name.

As of the second season finale, Wilhelmina Slater became the editor-in-chief at "Mode". Wilhelmina tried to once again manipulate Betty by luring her back to working with her, and succeeded. Unfortunately, this sudden turn of events, along with a attempt to mold her into the next "Wilhelmina" didn't set well with Marc, so he gave Betty a bag of letters sent to Daniel that would set the stage for Betty's decision to resign as Wilhelmina's assistant, Daniel returning to his EIC job at "Mode" and his rehiring of Betty, and Wilhelmina's demotion back to Creative Director.

Family and personal life

At home in Queens, Betty has to deal with her father Ignacio and sister Hilda, who feel that she's been taken for a ride at her job and are concerned that she's being used like a puppet because of her appearance. However, her nephew Justin is the only person who supports Betty and thinks she should continue pursuing her dreams.

Interestingly enough, Betty believes her job will help solve the legal hassles she has to deal with in trying to get an HMO provider for her father, who has a heart condition and has been told not to drink any products that contain caffeine, like coffee. But those efforts have Betty questioning the real reason why her father has avoided the doctor when it is discovered that he has been using a Social Security number and name of a deceased person who, if he had lived, would've been 117 years old. She would later learn that her dad fled Mexico after he fell in love with her mother, who was married at the time to a wealthy banker who was abusing her while he was working for them as their chef. When she left her husband to be with Ignacio, the banker then threatened to kill Ignacio with a knife, but Ignacio in turn beat the man to death in self-defense (it was later learned that the banker was alive). Ignacio's admission could raise consequences for the family if he is deported back to Mexico and in the process could face prison time in that country. It would be through her bribe with Wilhelmina that Betty would get Ignacio back to the United States.

Romantically, the unattached Betty also had to deal with her ex-boyfriend Walter Tabachnik, who dumped her but wanted back in whether she liked it or not. Betty and Walter were once an item and her family thought that he would be the person who would marry her, but he dumped her for Gina Gambarro, the Suarez's next door neighbor. When Betty found out that Gina used him just to get a TV (which she later broke), Betty decided that she wanted nothing to do with Walter, despite Gina's explanation of what happened. However Betty did take him back and was willing to work out their relationship, which was hampered by Betty's family being more supportive of Walter, especially Hilda, who wanted to keep the two together. But that became more difficult after Betty exhibited feelings towards Henry Grubstick, the accountant that works at Betty's workplace.

When Betty found out that Henry left the message with Hilda during the holidays, she lashed out at Hilda, who told her that she thought Betty would have her heart broken, but came to realize that Betty was capable of making her own decisions. Unfortunately, after getting hints that her romance was over as evidenced by Ignacio and Claire Meade, Betty finally parted ways with Walter after he decided to take a job as the assistant manager of new Pro-Buy store in Maryland. However, after saying goodbye to Walter and just as she was finally about to ask Henry out now that she is a single woman, Henry stuns her by telling her that his ex-girlfriend Charlie has come to New York to work things out, thus breaking Betty's heart. As a result of this, Betty told Henry that it would be best to remain friends despite their attraction to each other. In Secretaries' Day, a semi-conscious Henry told Betty that he loved her. In the following episode, A Tree Grows in Guadalajara, Betty believes she sees Henry in Mexico. She follows the apparition and discovers her grandmother's house. Her grandmother, mistaking Betty for her mother Rosa, encourages her to fight for her love. Betty resolves to fight for Henry.

In the season 1 finale, Betty and Henry seem to be off to a good start in a relationship, when Charlie comes back into the picture, saying she is pregnant with Henry's baby. Henry decides to move with her to Tucson, and he tearfully and regretfully says goodbye to Betty. However, later, while getting a filling done at her dentist, the dental technician blurts out that Charlie had been cheating on Henry with Dr. Farkas for two months and urges Betty to go after Henry. This plan, however, is shoved aside when the police show up at her door, telling her that Hilda's fiance, Santos, was killed in a robbery. Betty chooses to go tell Hilda, thus letting Henry go with Charlie to Arizona.

By season two, Henry returns and get his job back in order to support Charlie, which made Betty feel uneasy because was afraid to tell him about Charlie, but at the same still had feelings for him. Despite mixed feelings from Ignacio and Daniel, both Betty and Henry decided to continue their romance for the next six months before Henry returned to Arizona, now that he learned that the baby might be his after all. Unfortunately, Betty has also attracted the interest of Giovanni "Gio" Rossi, a deli shop owner. This development has resulted in a semi-close relationship, as Hilda and Henry has witnessed, even though Betty has yet to noticed any sparks, believing that she and Gio are just friends. This would put Betty in a unsual predicament. Gio wanted her to travel to Rome with him. Henry wanted her to marry him. In the season 3 opener it is revealed that she chose niether Henry or Gio, instead she took a trip across the country to find herself.

After she returns she asserts herself as "more adult" but, she is shocked to see that now Daniel is Editor-in-Chief of "Player" magazine, but after she accepted Wilhelmina's offer to work at "Mode" again, she realizes that Daniel wanted his old job again and after she showed him letters from disgruntled readers, he reclaims his job and rehires Betty again.

She decides to get her own apartment but is schmoozed over by a real-estate agent and leases a complete dump of an apartment with out ever seeing it. She then deals with her old bully, Kimmie Keegan, as she is now her fathers boss. After a fight in the fast-food restaurant in which they work her and Kimmie make up. Things then begin to look up after her family, who initally were against it, help her clean-up and renovate her apartment. She then meets Jesse her new neighbor and obviously new love-interest.

Other interests

Betty is a fan of Madonna, and went as far as making a YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBYJ47G6APg videoclip] in which she asked the singer for a autographed copy of "Hard Candy" so she can give it to Justin as a birthday gift.

References