The 95th Annual Academy Award nominations was full of good surprises and firsts: five first-time nominees in the Best Actor category, the first Irish-language filmThe Quiet Girl nominated, and Michelle Yeoh earning her first nomination for her role Everything Everywhere All At Once. Now, there is another first to add to the list: Ana de Armas being the first Cuban actress in history to be nominated for a leading role.
de Armas earned an Academy Award nod for her role in Blonde as Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, a performance that has also earned de Armas SAG and BAFTA nominations. While the film was widely panned, her performance as the blonde bombshell has also been praised by both critics and actors alike, and while this may be her first Academy Award nomination, she is no stranger to the nomination stage in general, as she also previously earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Rian Johnson's murder mystery whodunit, Knives Out.
When it comes to de Arma's movies, she has been in several recognizable ones: Knock Knock, War Dogs, and Hands of Stone, but her breakthrough performance was as the holographic projection Joi in the sci-fi film and sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049. After her performance as nurse and caretaker Marta Cabrera in Knives Out, she was Bond girl Paloma alongside her fellow Knives Out castmate Daniel Craig in the twenty-fifth Bond film No Time to Die and will next be in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina. Now, with her performance and first-time Academy Award nomination, we look forward to seeing if she wins and what is in store for her in the future; de Armas' turn as the famous blonde bombshell is a performance worthy of a nomination.
Blonde is an American biopic written and directed by Andrew Dominik, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. The film is a fictional take on Marilyn Monroe's life: the highs, the lows, and the struggles she endured, struggles that eventually led to the star's death. The film also stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, and Julianne Nicholson.
If you want to see de Arma's turn as Monroe in Blonde, you can stream the movie on Netflix, and if you want to see her on the red carpet, tune in to the Academy Awards on March 12, at 7:00 p.m. Central on ABC.