Aimee Carrero plays Sofia on Freeform’s Young & Hungry every Wednesday at 8p. Her character is a strong woman, who has her stuff together, and the actress is just the same in person. OK, well maybe Sofia is looking for a job and she just started dating her roommate’s ex, but other than that, she has her stuff together.
I recently visited the set of the scrumptious sitcom and I got to talk to her about it. Her character deals a lot with her roommate Gabi (Emily Osment), and she described their relationship as “I always say that, ‘Sophia is like the Ricky and Ethel to Gabi’s Lucy.'” Later on she added, “Sofia, sort of, brings to Gabi, a feeling of home, a feeling of centeredness and being grounded. And Gabi sort of pushes Sofia to be a little more romantic and a little more of an idealist.”
How does she describe her character? She told me, “She is definitely the realist. She is also not afraid to get her hands dirty when it comes to the plot and stuff like that it. It Is really fun to play Sofia and it is fun to play a character that is genuinely happy with who she is and comfortable in her own skin. That is really refreshing I think.” It is and it is empowering to the little girls who watch it every week.
She also likes that Sofia and Gabi, “do a lot to advance the role of women because the core audience is teenage girls. If we can show two women who are living alone and not crying about a boy or their bodies all the time, it is really great. It is just what we need and I am really proud of that.”
She is also proud that she will be playing Princess Elena of Avalor, Disney’s first Latina Princess. The Disney Junior animated show will spin off of the very popular Sofia the First later this year, and her character is described as “a confident and compassionate teenager in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore.” This means a lot to her as she shared with me, “One thing that really struck me is their commitment to making a great story. They do a great job of representing a lot of the Latin cultures because there are so many nuances in every country and every city. They do a good job of spreading it around evenly.”
What is it like to be the first Disney Latina Princess? Carrero said, “It is a huge responsibility, in a way you can’t process it all the time because I wouldn’t be able to do the job.” She does the job and it means a lot to her. She revealed that, “I think back to when I was growing up and watching these movies, I thought, I couldn’t see myself or my own story represented.” Then she added, “I am hoping that this will be a wonderful way for a new generation of boys and girls to, you know… If we can inspire a little bit of tolerance and a little bit of interest in something that is different than what somebody knows, I think they have succeeded.” If it is anything like Sofia the First, then they will be making a huge difference. I see it my 2 year old niece’s eyes every time she watches it and I can’t wait for her and all the little boys and girls to watch Princess Elena of Avalor. A show that will truly be making a difference and I can’t think of a better actress to voice that than Aimee Carrero.
Tune in to Freeform tonight at 8p to see her on Young & Hungry and later this year on Disney Junior’s Princess Elena of Avalor.
Before Emily Osment was Young & Hungry, she was left young & hungry on Friends when Rachel ran out of candy on Halloween. How precious was the 9 year old in that 2001 episode?
Before Emily Osment was a Chef on Young & Hungry, McDonald’s prepared a Happy Meal for her. How awwwwwwdorable was the 6 year old in that 1998 commercial?
Young & Hungry is a comedy about a man and a woman who should be together, but just can’t seem to make it happen. On the first episode, Josh (Jonathan Sadowski) hired Gabi (Emily Osment) to be his personal Chef. The first night she cooked for him, they had a little too much to drink and slept together. Only problem, he’s engaged. The two of them decided to keep their relationship strictly a professional one.
As the season went on, Gabi and Josh started to grow feelings for each other, but he was getting married. She wound meeting a new guy and Josh set the date for his nuptials. Then as his big day approached, he realized he was with the wrong woman, but it was too late because Gabi left on plane with that other man.
She finally returned to San Fransisco, but she was still with that other guy who was half way around the world. Eventually, she realized she still liked Josh. But it wasn’t enough, so they continued to date other people…a lot of other people.
Then when last season ended, she was dating a new guy, Josh’s brother. But a grand gesture on Josh’s part made her re-evaluate how she felt about him. So when he showed up where she was at, she knew what she had to do. And that gets you caught up to tonight’s episode on Freeform at 8p.
Does Emily Osment want Josh and Gabi to get together and make it work? She recently told me when I visited the set, “I don’t want them to get together because I feel like it is that Rachel and Ross old tale of once they are together, the audience is satisfied and then what? Then you are just in a happy relationship and that is not good TV.” Then she added, “I think the writers are doing a very smart of job of planning when they get together, planning how long they are going to be together, what is going to tear them apart and who is going to be next. With Gabi there is always somebody, which I find very hilarious.”
Another thing she is enjoying, is the changes to the show since ABC Family became Freeform a few weeks ago. She revealed how it has changed the show, “We are pushing the limit now that we are on Freeform. The things we are able to do, the bracket has widened a little bit and we are taking that to our full advantage.” What does that mean? She said, “Well there’s a little more nudity. It’s a little more suggestive. It’s played more real.” Explaining, “If you think about it, anybody who’s dating in their 20’s and 30’s, come across a lot of topics that are sex related. I think we are kind of exploring that a little bit more. Which is funny because obviously we are a comedy and we are not going to play anything to real but the jokes that we make involving sex are pretty hysterical.”
If you thought Young & Hungry was pretty hysterical beforehand, it is even going to be even more hysterical this season. I don’t know how they are going to make this hysterical show even more hysterical, but I know that they will. That is enough of a reason to tune in.
Before Jonathan Sadowski was running to the airport to declare his love for Gabi on Young & Hungry, he was asking for asylum in the United States because he was gay on LAX. He looks the same now as he did when he was 24 in that 2004 episode.
