Ana de Armas in “Blonde”: The Cuban who has conquered Hollywood

Everyone seeks the American dream, but few achieve it. To do this, you have to work hard and overcome any kind of obstacles that appear along the way, something that Ana de Armas has been achieving since she arrived in the United States eight years ago. Her talent has evolved so much that she is already beginning to conquer Hollywood.

At this point, the Cuban actress is one of the great representatives of the Latin American community in the film industry. Embodying a figure of pop culture like Marilyn Monroe is not easy at all. However, this challenge has only put her name among the most sought-after actresses.

With all that, it is worth noting that the detail that has most caught the attention of producers, directors and co-stars is her dedication and commitment when interpreting a character. Beyond the physical preparation that she usually has for action films, Ana was once again up to the task with her transformation in the Netflix production, "Blonde", in the filming of which she had to spend many hours of makeup to look identical to Marilyn.

The final result? An almost perfect characterization. The craftsmanship of the team of stylists occupied up to four hours of a workday. And not only with makeup, but also in hairdressing, since to show off her blonde hair, Ana had to become bald to wear a wig, as she herself explained on her Instagram account. The effect in the photos ended up being quite realistic, and a large part of that was also due to the work of photographer Chayse Irvin.

On the other hand, a negative situation that she had to overcome was criticism for her accent. Despite her effort to improve his character's dialect, some people on social networks expressed their disgust because his Cuban accent was noticeable. In fact, Ana revealed in an interview that she took dialectics classes for nine months to face this challenge, something that for her was "a great torture and very exhausting."

However, both the heirs of Marylin Monroe and Authentic Brands Group (ABG), a company that manages the image rights and assets of the deceased actress, defended Ana's performance. Since then, everything has been good news for the production. The Netflix original was applauded for 14 minutes at the recent edition of the Venice Film Festival.

"Blonde" is based on the homonymous novel (2000) by Joyce Carol Oates and shows a unique vision of who today is still an important figure in pop culture. Director Andrew Dominik is able to transport us from Norma Jeane's volatile childhood to her rise to Hollywood stardom as Marilyn Monroe.

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The evolution of Ana de Armas through the years

At the age of 12, Ana began to take her first steps in the world of acting, but the limitations of her native Cuba forced her to emigrate to Spain at 18. Although she had no luck in her first auditions, soon after she managed to a role in a series that changed his life: "El Internado". In this way, the popularity of the actress grew remarkably, to the point of putting her in the sights of many directors.

After eight years working between movies and series, the Cuban headed to Los Angeles to climb another step in her career, not knowing that there she would be underestimated for her origin, her image and her accent. However, her development in the film "Knock Knock" (2015) caught the attention of Keanu Reeves, who became a kind of godfather to her. 

By 2016  she was already seen in films like "Exposed", "Manos de Piedra" and "War Dogs", but it was the following year when she participated in her first blockbuster: "Blade Runner 2049". From then on, she evolved by leaps and bounds, and in the blink of an eye she was already working for Netflix with "La Red Wasp" (2019), in addition to sharing the screen with great figures such as Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and Jamie Lee Curtis in "Knives Out" (2019).

Ana continued to overcome any obstacle that was in her way and was living the American dream, although that was only the beginning. Perhaps she had never imagined being a Bond girl, but thanks to "No Time To Die" (2021) she made it possible. In fact, she is quite good at the action genre, and a large part of that is thanks to her passion for kick boxing and the training regimen that goes with it, which allowed her to star in "The Gray Man", Netflix most ambitious project this 2022.

Now, all of Hollywood is bowing down to the 34-year-old actress, who just played the role of a lifetime in "Blonde." To say that he has reached the ceiling is not correct, because her future looks promising with projects like "Ghosted", with Chris Evans, and "Ballerina", a spinoff of "John Wick". So there is no other choice but to sit down and continue enjoying the talent and beauty of Ana de Armas for years to come.