Ana de Armas – Cuban beauty – is a familiar name in Hollywood after many notable projects.
She plays actors Chris Evan and Ryan Gosling in the action movie The Gray Man released on July 22. Armas plays Dani Miranda – a CIA agent who follows the rules and is dedicated to her mission.
Co-star Chris Evans praised: “She is at the same level as real female stuntwomen. Ana does everything so simply and easily.” The actor also commented on her acting skills in Elle’s July article: “Ana has the ability to transform, showing danger and gentleness and sensitivity in the same scene.”
When asked about the filming process, the actor told VnExpress: “Filming action scenes is very fun.” She also shares training videos on her personal Instagram. In the video, she practices shooting, performs wrestling scenes, and controls weapons fluently. Screenrant page thinks that she deserves to have her own action movie with this performance.
Previously, No time to die (2021) helped Armas shine and be sought after for projects of the same genre. Playing the role of a female CIA agent named Paloma, she is considered the highlight of the film as she not only shows off the seductive beauty of a Bond girl but also “entertains” the audience with eye-catching action scenes. The actress said she wanted to portray a character who is not simply a “decoration” next to agent 007. USA Today called Armas a “breath of fresh air” even though she only appeared on screen for more than 10 minutes.
Armas has two other projects in the same genre – Ghosted and Ballerina – in production.
She has enough potential to become an action movie star, but she doesn’t want to frame her image. The actor told Elle reporters on July 13: “It’s not my forte and it’s not something I want to focus on.”
Armas has acted in many genres. She won the Saturn Award “Best Supporting Actress” for her role as nurse Marta in the detective work Knives Out (2019). According to the Independent, because he was so impressed with Armas’s performance, star Jamie Lee Curtis introduced him to director Steven Spielberge to play the role of Maria in his film West Side Story. This role later went to Rachel Zegler.
Armas is also known for her role as Joi – the girlfriend of Ryan Gosling’s character in the science fiction film Blade Runner 2049 (2017). In 2018, the work won two Oscars for “Outstanding Visual Effects” and “Outstanding Cinematography”. In addition, Armas worked with actor Keanu Reeves in the 2015 horror film Knock Knock. This year, she starred in the psychological horror film Deep Water with ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck.
In the Blonde project released on September 23, she received high expectations when she transformed into sexy symbol Marilyn Monroe. Blonde carries many ambitions of director Andrew Dominik. Not only does it recount the life and recreate moments of a Hollywood legend, the work delves deeply into the late star’s inner self. Director Dominik said on the Netflix Queue page that he felt lucky to work with Armas because she was able to grasp the emotional flow quickly and understand his instructions. “The footage can be so vivid thanks to Ana,” he said.
As for Armas, she devoted herself to preparing for the role of Marilyn Monroe the same way she “exerted” herself for action movies. According to Variety, Armas read the original novel, watched hundreds of tapes, recorded material about Marilyn Monroe and spent nine months practicing with a voice coach, incorporating ADR (post-production dubbing) techniques to has a voice like a star. During 47 days of filming, she spent nearly three hours in makeup before performing a series of emotional scenes.
Not only stopping at acting, Armas also has the ambition to venture into the production process. She executive produced Ghosted and recruited the screenwriter herself for the future project Ballerina – the film is a branch of the world of assassin John Wick played by actor Keanu Reeves. Armas told Elle reporters: “When I joined the project, there was director Len Wiseman and another guy. At that time, I thought to myself that this is not good.” Armas grew up in a male-dominated culture, so finding female screenwriters was important to her. She then interviewed five or six people and chose to work with Oscar-winning British female writer Emerald Fennell.
Ana de Armas grew up in a coastal city in Cuba – where there were almost no computers and Internet service. At the age of nine, after his grandmother died, Armas moved to Havana to live with his grandfather. Although she felt out of place in a large city, she said this is where her acting career began.
She attended art school at the age of 14. After completing three films in Cuba, Armas went to Spain at the age of 18 and settled in Madrid, receivingroles from television shows. At the age of 26, she had the opportunity to move to Los Angeles. Here, her previous acting experience was not appreciated by the directors. Furthermore, Armas also encountered a language barrier. She had to study English intensively from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for four months. Although she can now communicate fluently, her voice is still mixed with her native timbre.
Armas’s personal life received excessive attention when she publicly dated actor Ben Affleck two years ago. In an interview with Elle, Armas admitted she left Los Angeles because she was being bothered too much. Currently, she lives in New York with her boyfriend Paul Boukadakis – a senior manager of the Tinder application and keeps her personal life away from public and press attention.
