Silvio Horta saw himself in Ugly Betty and, as result, we saw ourselves

The Washington Post

The son of Cuban immigrants, who died this week at age 45, Horta was uniquely suited to adapt the popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, La Fea for American viewers. “We had one television growing up, and my mom would be watching the telenovelas every night,” Horta told The New York Times in 2006. “We had no choice. All my friends, first-generation immigrants, would make fun of them, and then become completely addicted.” As Bethonie Butler notes, "Horta wanted to be involved with Ugly Betty so much that he initially pitched a supremely over-the-top version that featured Betty as an FBI agent... But he soon found that his own experience was all he needed to draw on to make the show a success." As Horta put it, “I really just looked into my past, how I grew up with telenovelas and growing up being first generation Cuban American and … that’s the way I found in." ALSO: Horta's death officially ruled a suicide.