Rise to Fame
At 14, she got into Havana's National Theatre and sometimes hitchhiked to get there. She walked away before her final thesis to avoid three years of mandatory service that would've kept her in Cuba. Spanish citizenship through her grandparents got her to Madrid, where she landed El Internado and became a teen TV star. Hollywood required starting over. She arrived in LA not speaking English, learned her early audition lines phonetically, and studied the language by watching Friends. Blade Runner 2049 made her visible as a holographic girlfriend, but Knives Out proved she could anchor a scene against Daniel Craig. The Golden Globe nomination was Hollywood catching up.
In the Spotlight
She played Marilyn Monroe well enough for an Oscar nomination, the first Cuban in the Best Actress category, and has said it didn't change the offers she gets. Parts of the industry still treat it like a fluke. The studio built Ballerina to cement her as an action franchise lead. It grossed $137 million on a $90 million budget, the kind of numbers the trades call a disappointment. She's booking regardless, cycling through genres and A-list co-stars at a pace that doesn't match the 'prove yourself' narrative the industry keeps running.
Side Notes
She bought a $7 million estate in rural Vermont after the Ben Affleck paparazzi era made Los Angeles unlivable. She's called it her cocoon, a place where she's 'off the grid.' It tracks for someone who grew up during Cuba's Special Period with food rationing and blackouts. Her fans don't just watch, they litigate: two of them sued Universal after she appeared in the Yesterday trailer but the studio cut her from the final film. The lawsuit settled in 2024 for undisclosed terms. She left Cuba at 18 with about 200 euros and few contacts. It's a harder road than anyone she shares a marquee with.