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LOS ANGELES, Jun 25, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Ugly Betty has become the first South American soap heroine to go global, and now will get the English language treatment courtesy of Salma Hayek.
The Sunday Times of London says Ugly Betty appears in versions of her original program "from Moscow to Bombay."
Hayek's version is expected to be shown in the United States in September and in Britain next year. "Betty the Ugly" will star America Ferrera and air at 8 p.m. on Fridays, ABC Medianet says.
The theme of the worldwide Bettys is similar. In 70 countries she is played by a good-looking actress "who finds scary ways to express what her fellow countrymen find uniquely off-putting in a modern woman," the Times said.
The original show began six years ago in Colombia and was called "I Am Betty the Ugly." A former beauty queen played the part with flattened hair and a mustache.
To say the show was a hit in its home country is an understatement. Three out of four Colombians watched it every evening, and bars and film theaters blamed it for a plunge in business.
Similar complaints have been heard in Russia, the Times said, where the show is called "Born Ugly."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
