04/22/2023
No doubt: soap opera I’m Betty the Ugly – by Colombian librettist Fernando Gaiden- is the most important audiovisual production in recent Colombian history. The love story between Betty and Don Armando can be measured by the impact it had on audiences in different countries, including non-Spanish speaking ones.
Many foreign artists have sometimes declared their admiration for the soap opera First aired between 1999 and 2001.
In an interview on the show The Jess Cagle Show on SiriusXM, actress Elizabeth Olsen – the Olsen duo’s younger sister and best known for her role as Scarlet Witch in the Marvel franchise – admitted. I’m Betty, The Ugly One, was one of the childhood favorite shows before the Gringa version aired.
“My friends and I would watch Ugly Betty on TV and pretend to translate it, so we did a whole Ugly Betty musical in Spanish class,” the 34-year-old actress says with a laugh.
So far, adaptations of Gaiden’s story have been made in the United States, Germany, Israel, Mexico, India, the Netherlands, and Russia. One of the more curious versions is Veto al feo, made in Ecuador.
Elizabeth Olsen confesses her admiration for the story that won Colombian audiences in the late nineties: I am Betty, ugly. Photos: Getty, courtesy of Colebrenza.