This Trailblazing Model Is Poised to Become TV’s Next Big Thing
Barbie Ferreira has always lived by her own rules. The 22-year-old model shook up the fashion world when she burst onto the scene four years ago when her unretouched campaign images for Aerie, American Eagle's wildly popular lingerie brand, went viral. Ferreira has been a fearless champion for body positivity ever since, challenging beauty standards with her refusal to accept the boundaries placed on plus-size talent. Rather than take the traditional route (with catalogs or commercial fashion campaigns, say), she beat her own path as a model multitasker with her Webby Award–winning Vice video series focused on self-care, How to Behave becoming a sensation on social media along the way. And that makes her next move all the more exciting.
Ferreira hits the small screen this year, starring opposite Zendaya, Maude Apatow, and Storm Reid in the forthcoming HBO production Euphoria. Executive-produced by Drake and based on the groundbreaking Israeli drama of the same name, the show promises to put a new spin on the coming-of-age narrative. For Ferreira, who plays Katherine Hernandez, a high schooler on a journey of self-discovery, the experience of working on the project has been transformative. “I love my character [because] as I’m working on understanding her, I better understand myself,” shared Ferreira on the phone from Los Angeles. “I’m a sensitive person. I’ve always been brimming with emotion—it feels good to let it all out!”
Performance has been Ferreira’s preferred mode of self-expression. Since her days as a 13-year-old in Mount Vernon, New Jersey, making playful Tumblr videos in her bedroom, she’s channeled her feelings into her creative process. And in the eight months that it took to film the new show, she had time to develop the most emotional facets of her character. “Kat and I really similar,” she says. “She’s exploring herself and what it means to be a girl who doesn’t fit in the same boxes as the people around her. I based it on how I was at 16.”
A fan of everything from art-house classics (think Tilda Swinton’s Orlando) to the escapist fantasy of the Harry Potter series, Ferreira is eager to try her hand at comedy and drama. She’s been impressed by the way Euphoria tackles the realities of teenage life. “It’s like walking into a cafeteria—it really puts you in that mind-set,” she says. “It’s been a lesson, a boot camp for actors, and a great safe space where we’ve all been learning and growing.”
In her personal life there’s been a lot to unpack, too—a cross-country move from New York to California, an agency switch to Ford Models, and delving into the notoriously competitive acting world. While she admits some initial apprehension, the changes have all been positive. “I feel like I am growing up,” she says. “I love L.A., and I love working on something that mentally challenges me while having the full support of my team. That’s probably a big aspect of it.”
Even with a TV debut under her belt, fashion remains an important part of Ferreira’s life, only now she’s free to enjoy it on her own terms. “I don't want to be one-dimensional and say I don’t have an interest in fashion, because that’s a lie—I love it,” she says. A fan of ’90s-influenced styles, she currently has tiny sunglasses and fanny packs in heavy rotation. She’s also not afraid to pull seemingly disparate pieces together—in her hands, a ruffled top and track pants make perfect sense. And these days her instincts for experimental fashion are only getting keener. “When I was modeling a lot, I had no time to have my personal style evolve or really get pieces that I liked because I was just on the go the whole year,” she says. “Now that I’m focusing on acting, fashion can be fun, something that I have control over for myself, which is going to be a great new journey.”
Throughout all the changes, Ferreira’s candid online presence has remained a constant. Many of her half a million Instagram followers have been there since the very beginning, cheering her on through each evolution. For Ferreira, who has always approached social media with long-term objectives, her success serves as an example of what’s possible. “I hope they see that if you really work hard, treat people well, [and] take risks things can happen, and it’s not like only a select few people who already have a one-up that can get where they want to be,” she says. “I’ve been talking about wanting to be an actor since I was literally 13 on the Internet. Now I get messages from friends saying, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe you did that because you’ve been talking about it for almost 10 years,’ and I’m like, yeah, and I worked my butt off to get here! I think it’s not as unheard of as people make it seem.”
