February 9, 2020

America Ferrara's Oscars dress has hidden meaning

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America Ferrara used the Oscars red carpet as an opportunity to pay tribute to an indigenous people.

Before walking the red carpet, Ferrara, whose film "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" is nominated for best animated movie, explained that her dress was an homage to the Lenca tribe of Honduras, the native country of her parents.

According to the Sustainable Development Goals Fund, which is part of the United Nations, there are approximately 600,000 Lenca people in Honduras as of 2016; the Lenca tribe can also be found in El Salvador.

Ferrara also included a photo in her post of Lempira, a chief of the tribe, for whom the Honduran currency is named.

"#Oscars for the final farewell to 12 years of How to Train Your Dragon & my Berkian Warrior Queen Astrid. Tonight, I bring my own warrior ancestors with me, the indigenous Lenca tribe of Honduras," Ferrara wrote in a social media post.

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For the past decade, Ferrara, 35, has voiced Viking warrior Astrid in the "How to Train Your Dragon" films.

The mother and actress announced on New Year's Eve that she is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Piers Williams this year.