Ana de Armas: "My heart belongs to Cuba, but I knew I had to leave there to grow"

Ana de Armas She is one of the actresses of the moment thanks to her role as Marilyn Monroe in the film Blonde , which has launched her to fame, although when she started in the world of acting she could not have imagined that she would reach this point in her career.

"My heart belongs to Cuba, but I knew I had to leave there to grow. I was always aware of the very low ceiling that Cuban artists and people in general unfortunately have. I knew I had more to do, more to learn," the actress confessed in a recent interview for AnOther.

"I grew up seeing everything from Titanic until Terminator, but I always knew that reality was very far from my reality. Kids in the United States think they can be princesses because you can buy a princess dress and a princess crown and become one. I never had that. “I didn’t even know what an apple tasted like,” de Armas told that publication.

His childhood and adolescence in Santa Cruz del Norte and Havana were like that of many Cuban children; as he remembered AnOther: "You're in a country where you don't have much contact with the world, you're in a kind of bubble. But somehow that makes you focus on life and friendships instead of all the noise."

"I grew up barefoot, running on rocks by the beach, swimming. My friends and I put on plays for the neighbors. I had a thing for climbing light poles and trees, and I was obsessed with rescuing cats and dogs from the streets - all of them. "every day he came back with a new animal and drove my mother crazy," added the actress.

Living and studying in the capital of the island at the National School of Art, she managed to play, at only 16 years old, a teenager looking to leave Cuba in the film A rose from France. However, at school they disapproved of students entering the world of work.

"But I didn't care. In my opinion, there was no better school than a film set. So I did both: I often fell asleep in class, but I caught up on what I missed," said Ana de Armas. .

The now Hollywood star found her first references in her homeland: “The Cuban actors were more identifiable to me - Daisy Granados, Isabel Santos, Verónica Lynn - those were the actors I admired. I thought I would be doing that, not Marilyn.”

She left the island for Spain, even without finishing her degree, for the same reason as many Cubans, trying to look for a better future: "Being alone in Spain was very hard. It never crossed my mind to return, but it was difficult. "I had never been anywhere else before and it was a big culture shock to be honest, I started eating sweets, chocolate and donuts, everything I had never had when I was younger."

In the Iberian country he achieved a lot of popularity with his performance in the series The intership, but there came a time when she felt stuck and pigeonholed into adolescent roles, and decided to continue to the United States, where there were no shortage of challenges, finding herself alone again and with the language barrier in the way.

Minor roles would come later until reaching more important ones as in Blade Runner 2049, Deep Water and his recent leading role in The Gray Man, but the road to get there was long and difficult, especially for being a Cuban, a Latina trying to succeed in the big film industry.

Perhaps by looking back, to his beginnings, when years later he was asked to audition to play Marilyn Monroe, He thought it was “quite surreal”, but he wanted to take on that challenge and the answer to whether it was worth it is clear.

There may be criticism, but there is plenty of praise for Ana de Armas, who without a doubt has come far, much more than she could once imagine or even dream of.