Golden Globe-winning actor America Ferrera will make her directorial debut with the adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.

The film, which is backed by Anonymous Content and MACRO, will be released on Netflix.

Linda Yvette Chavez will adapt the screenplay from the 2017 book, written by author Erika Sanchez, who will serve as a co-producer.

The story is about Julia Reyes, the precocious and strong-willed teenaged daughter of first-generation Mexican immigrants. "She often clashes with her more traditional parents, who wish she were more like her sister Olga, the platonic ideal of a Mexican daughter. However, when Olga is killed in a tragic accident, it is up to Julia to hold her family together," the official plotline reads.

Ferrara, best known for starring in the popular series Ugly Betty, said she fell in love with the book when she read it for the first time. "The depth, wit, and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honoured and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chavez's beautifully adapted screenplay," she said.

"The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can't wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world," she added.