Salma Hayek's Ugly Betty is beautiful

Vanessa Williams, America Ferrera star in ABC show

Salma Hayek is a celebrity whose personality oozes from the hilarious new show Ugly Betty.

Right after the TCA session in Pasadena, the actress hung out in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chatting about her latest creation. She couldn't be more than 4'11", but stood confidently in high heels and a black-and-white houndstooth dress, holding court as journalists buzzed around her.

In the pilot, Hayek has a cameo - on a TV show within the show -as a maid. She wears a ridiculous costume and overacts and is breathtakingly funny. Though viewers will see just a few seconds of Hayek in the first episode, she said that she and her fellow actors raised the stakes and the unseen scene ended with the maid on the floor and her dress being torn. She says she'll reprise the role as much as posible because it was so much fun to shoot.

Hayek also couldn't stop singing the praises of actress America Ferrera. "I thought I was going to cry when America was talking," she enthused about Ferrera, who plays title character, Betty Suarez. "I am so proud of her. I just love her!"

Ferrera held her own as she was peppered with questions about playing a physically unattractive character with a huge heart.

She plays a quietly feisty girl who is down to earth and full of flaws but ultimately likeable.

But the show isn't just going to follow the trials and tribulations of an underdog in the cutthroat publishing world in New York. It's going to include Betty's homelife, friendships as well as her career arc. It's sassy and funny and portrays very real situations - OK they're a little hyperbolic -but they're a hoot to watch.

Vanessa Williams is brilliantly icy as Wilhelmina Slater, the woman who was passed over for the editor's job so the publisher could give hand it to his son.

If you like chick-lit you're really going to dig this series. It's got all the elements, romance, humour, fashion, back-stabbing, plus great writing. I'm not ruining the ending by saying Betty reigns supreme.

Few shows since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended have managed to portray girls who are tough, smart and kind and don't take crap from anybody. (Veronica Mars is the exception.)

Hayek, Willams, and Ferrera are the creative trinity to watch this fall on Ugly Betty.