America Ferrara has mixed feelings about the end of Ugly Betty. “The worst part of it for me is I’ll miss the cast and crew. These are people I spend my days with and we’ve grown up together,” says the 25-year-old about the show, which has been cancelled after a four-year run. But she admits there’s also an upside to saying goodbye to the bangs, braces and glasses. “Part of me is really excited to embody other characters,” says America, who does exactly that in Our Family Wedding, which is in theaters now. In the movie, she plays a Mexican-American teacher who angers her father when she gets engaged to an African-American medical student. Love is colorblind for the actress too. “Do I care about race and color when it comes to anything including love? Absolutely not,” says America, who has been dating filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams since 2007. “It’s about how the person treats you above all else. My motto in love is to just follow your heart.”

What was it like trying on all those wedding gowns for Our Family Wedding?
That was torture for me because I’m not girly about these kind of things. And let’s face it, ladies, white is never the most becoming color.

So you don’t like shopping?
I hate it. Trying on clothes is not my idea of fun. You will definitely never find me at the mall on a Saturday with my friends trying on clothes for fun.

Rumor has it that you fell in one of the dresses because it was just so cumbersome!
It’s true! I toppled over in a big wedding gown in front of the entire cast and crew. It was painful and embarrassing but luckily it’s not in the movie. Some of the members of the cast started keeping a tab of how many times I’d fall trying on the dresses. My co-star Lance [Gross] says it was in the double digits, but he lies.

Read Ugly Betty Finale: Big Changes to Come!

Now that Ugly Betty’s coming to an end, what was your favorite part of the character?
I’ve lived with Betty for so long and I love her. I love what she says to women, which is that it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or who tries to stop you. You just need the courage to follow your dreams. I’m sure in a few months I’ll be thinking, “If only I could hear from Betty…”