Photo:Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/WireImage
Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/WireImage
America Ferreraand her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, have been together for over 15 years.
After dating for five years, theBarbiestar and the director got engaged in June 2010. A year later, the pair married in Chappaqua, New York, at the home of herUgly BettycostarVanessa Williams.
They went on to welcome a son, Sebastian, in 2018 and a daughter, Lucia, in 2020. Though the couple typically don’t share much about their kids, they frequently express their love for each other online.
To mark their 12th wedding anniversary and 18 years together in 2023,The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsactress shared an adorable throwback photo from their wedding day.
“Happy Anniversary to my emergency contact. My person and home for 18 years,” shewrote on Instagram. “Damn we look young here @ryanpierswilliams ❤️#12married.”
Despite being apart during their special day while Ferrera was traveling to promoteBarbie, Williams still surprised her with a gift when she arrived at her destination.
“And of course I arrive in Australia to gorgeous anniversary flowers because you are a King @ryanpierswilliams,” she shared on her Instagram Story along with a selfie of herself posing with the colorful bouquet.
So, who is America Ferrera’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Ryan Piers Williams and his relationship with the actress.
He met Ferrera when casting his short film
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Williams met Ferrera in 2005 when he was casting his first film after grad school, and she was an undergraduate student attending the University of Southern California.Muertasis a short film about the ongoing murders of women and young girls in Juarez, Mexico.
“First and foremost, I want to bring awareness to the issue. I’m trying to put a face to one of the girls who’s been murdered, to give people a better idea of what’s going on in Juarez,” Williams toldEl Paso Inc.in 2005. “You can’t predict how people are going to respond, you can only hope that you’re going to inspire somebody to want to learn more about the issue.”
He and Ferrera got married in 2011
America Ferrera Instagram
After five years together, Ferrera and Williams got engaged in June 2010.
He’s a director
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Williams has written and directedThe Dry Land(2010) andX/Y(2014), both of which Ferrera appeared in, in addition to his first short filmMuertas(2007).
He has also performed as an actor in his own projects,MuertasandX/Y, plusBlues(2008),Tomorrow Comes Today(2013) and1985(2018).
He founded a non-profit with Ferrera
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Ferrera, Williams andWilmer ValderramafoundedHarnessshortly after the 2016 presidential election. The nonprofit aims to create gatherings as a way for artists, influencers and organizers to make a political impact.
“Nothing changes in just one election,” the actress toldVoguein 2019. “We won some important races, but there’s a deeper issue here, which amounts to a crisis of civics in this country: how politicians on both sides are all too ready to have people not be engaged until it serves them.”
“That’s sixteen million viewers,” Williams said. “That can shape the way we view these communities.”
He’s a dad of two
The actress announced the birth of her second child, daughter Lucia Marisol, on Instagram on Mother’s Day.
“LUCIA MARISOL WILLIAMS arrived on May 4th to give me my Mother’s Day hugs and kisses herself,” Ferrera wrote alongside a photo of her daughter’s hand. “Mama, Dada & Big Brother are over the moon to welcome her bright light to our family.”
Ferrera and Williams typicallydo not share muchabout their kids publicly, but theBarbiestar did reveal that herkids are blissfully unawareof her role in theGreta Gerwig-directed film.
“They don’t really have any context for it,” she revealed to PEOPLE. “So one day [they might care]. But not now, they’re still too young.”
He’s an artist
Ryan Piers Williams Instagram
In addition to his work in the film industry and at Harness, Williams is also an artist. He “uses his artwork to examine both the serene and caustic sides of human nature,”according to his website.
These themes can be seen in his Monsters & Landscapes series, which debuted at his first solo art show in New York City in January 2015.
Williams’ “multitude of internal schisms outwardly expressed on canvas” could be seen in his second solo art show, Schismatix, which opened in Los Angeles in November 2015.
He’s supportive of his wife
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Whilehandling the anxietyof being pregnant during a global pandemic in 2020, Williams went above and beyond to make his wife feel special. In honor of her 36th birthday in April 2020, the director threw Ferrera a surprise birthday party on Zoom so she could be with her loved ones while staying physically apart.
“My sneaky and dear husband@ryanpierswilliams surprised me with a zoom birthday party yesterday!” the actresswrote on Instagram. “I have to be honest, I’ve seen a million of these posted and thought ‘how could that be fun?’ But as you can see from these pictures, I was completely overwhelmed with joy & love!”
“I had no idea how much I wanted to be with my community and to see the faces I love so much!” she added. “@ryanpierswilliams you turned my quarantine birthday into one of the most joyous and memorable! You filled me with love and cake and ended it with a virtual dance party!! You are the best.”
He made an appearance inBarbieas Ferrera’s husband
In a brief appearance inBarbie, Williams makes a cameo as the unnamed husband of Ferrera’s character, Gloria. At the beginning of the movie, he is introduced as slowly attempting to learn Spanish through Duolingo courses. Toward the end, he appears again as the pair driveMargot Robbie’s Barbie to the gynecologist.
The script even snuck in an Easter egg when Williams tells Barbie “Si se puede,” meaning “Yes, you can” in Spanish. The phrase is a callback to Ferrera’s 2002 Disney Channel original movieGotta Kick It Up!which followed a school dance team who used their Latin roots to find success in a dance competition.
While talking to PEOPLE in January 2024, Ferrera explained how Williams' cameo came to be. During her first Zoom meeting with theBarbiedirector, she mentioned that the Duolingo scene made her laugh because her real-life husband was “literally in the other room doing his Spanish lessons.”
“Right away she was like, ‘Oh my God,does he want to play your husband?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him,’ " Ferrera said. “When it came time, she was like, ‘Remember when I asked you if your husband would play your husband?’ And he said yes.”
source: people.com
