America Ferrera had to "find the permission" to "keep loving" Barbie as an adult.

The 39-year-old actress stars as Mattel employee in Gloria in the new movie based on the toy giant's iconic fashion doll and admitted she was "so excited" that Greta Gerwigs's script allowed for the exploration of "navigating womanhood" in the real world.

She told Vanity Fair: "I was just so taken by the fact that Greta chose to make an adult woman's perspective factor in in a big way. I think when we think of Barbie and who has a relationship to Barbie, we think of young children playing with toys and not necessarily the adults they grow up to become.

"So many of our thoughts and ideas about Barbie, positive or negative, that we project onto it are about that long-term influence that we imagine her having on the culture.

"I was just really excited that there was room in the story for that perspective of an adult woman navigating womanhood in the real world, and also feeling connected to what Barbie stands for. And, in a way, trying to find the permission to keep loving it."

The former 'Ugly Betty star delivers a monologue about the perceived trials and tribulations of being a woman in the summer comedy - which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the leading roles of Barbie and Ken - and explained that she had to do so many takes that her on-screen daughter Ariana Greenblatt could even recite it back to her.

She added: "It felt like 500 [takes]. I'm sure it wasn't. It was probably 30 to 50 full runs of it, top to bottom. By the end, Ariana recited the monologue to me because she had memorised it because that's how many times I had said it."