The havana actress Ana de Armas disputes the attention of Cubans who are up and down with their national baseball team, and this Sunday many will also have their eyes on the 95th anniversary ceremony Oscar awardsthe most pedigreed awards in the film industry.
The Oscars 2023 will be held starting at eight o’clock at night (Cuban time) this March 12 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, and De Armas could be considered the “Rookie of the Year” among the feature film candidates for Best Actress .
But for her, who left Cuba at the age of 18 and is already turning 35, having come here for her role as the American icon Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde” is already a confirmation among the international stars with the greatest worldwide projection. .
Ana competes against the two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, in her role in “TÁR”; Michelle Williams, who has been nominated for four Oscars in her career, this time for starring in “The Fabelmans”; Michelle Yeoh for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; and “To Leslie” star Andrea Riseborough.
Despite being in front of legends, the renowned firm Parrot Analytics affirms that the Cuban leads the scene with almost 38 times the average demand for talent, according to data that takes into account consumer research, streamingdownloads and social networks, among other aspects.
This company measures the global supply and demand for entertainment, capturing more than 2 billion audiences that express the demand for content and talent in more than 100 languages, on all platforms, in more than 200 countries.
The Caribbean actress heads the list of “The 25 Most Powerful Women” of 2023 of the People in Spanish publication, which has interviewed her.
“It is a joy and a shared pride. I think a lot about all the people who have written to me, who are so happy, who have celebrated with me, ”she told that medium.
“I think of my dad who is no longer here and how happy and proud he would have been to hear the news,” he added about his father, who died before “Blonde” premiered.
“I think of all the people, all the Cubans, all those who have followed my career and are my friends, the ones who pushed me to leave Cuba and then to leave Spain and get ahead,” added the actress.
Her greatest happiness is being able to share her triumphs with her mother, with whom she traveled to Italy in September 2022 to accompany her at the premiere of “Blonde” (Netflix) at the Venice Festival.
“It is a great emotion, it is something that I would never have imagined, being nominated for an Oscar. For me, the Oscar, when I grew up or was in Cuba and watched American cinema, was something that happened to other people in my head,” admitted De Armas. “It wasn’t a reality that I could associate with myself or my career,” she said.
Regarding his mother and brother, he said that they “are in the clouds, they are super proud. Having the title Blonde and my name in the cinema in Cuba, seeing all those people, all the Cubans wanting to see the film and with so much pride and emotion was a feeling, an incredible thing.”
“It’s my home, it’s my house, I have all my memories, my childhood, the good things, the not so good things,” he reflected on his country. “It is the formation of my life and my values, of who I am. All my friends are there, part of my family is there. Even though I don’t live there anymore and only go at certain times of the year when I have the time, the connection is very strong. I speak daily with people in Cuba, with my friends, my godchildren, my mother. I am not, but I am, ”she expressed in the extensive interview.
Ana De Armas’ nomination is the fifth for a Latina actress at the Oscars. The last time it happened was in 2018, when the Mexican Yalitza Aparicio was nominated for “Roma”. Previously, the Colombian Catalina Sandino Moreno (2004) had been nominated for her work in “María, full of grace”, the Mexican Salma Hayek (2002) for “Frida”, and the Brazilian Fernanda Montenegro (1998) for “Estación Central”.
So far, no Latin American has taken home the trophy. Will Ana be Cuban, the first?
