How Ana de Armas, star of Ballerina, became the new face of action cinema

By Violaine Schütz.

Ana de Armas’s childhood far from Hollywood glitz and glamour

Born in Havana, Cuba, Ana Celia de Armas Caso, also known as Ana de Armas, grew up far away from Hollywood’s spotlight. Unlike many rising stars who grew up as child celebrities or with families in the entertainment industry, cinema wasn’t part of her lineage.

Her father, who studied philosophy in a Soviet university, did various jobs over the years – teacher, bank director, school principal, and deputy mayor. Her mother worked in human resources at the Department of Education. As a child, Ana spent many years living with her grandparents in Havana, while her parents and her brother lived in the seaside town of Santa Cruz del Norte and visited her only once a week.

Due to the economic crisis known as the “Special Period in Time of Peace” that hit Cuba in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of commercial support from the socialist bloc, her childhood was a frugal, but happy one. It was marked by food rationing and power cuts that could last up to 16 hours. She recalled her early years in Havana in an interview with Men’s Journal: “I grew up close to nature, on the beach, playing in the streets with my friends. I felt very free. We’d run around wildly before heading home for dinner and to watch cartoons.”

No internet access or exposure to US pop culture

As a teenager, Ana de Armas had no internet access, no DVD player, and zero knowledge about international pop culture. She was only allowed to watch a few minutes of cartoons on Saturdays and a film on Sunday mornings. To make up for this, she would visit a neighbor’s house to watch American productions, where she discovered Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks.

Fascinated by these glamorous, action and romance movies, she used to memorize the dialogues and re-enacted the scenes in front of her mirror. A calling was born. By the age of 12, the doll-faced girl knew she wanted to become an actress.

An acting career (with mixed results) in Cuba and Madrid

At just 14, Ana de Armas was hitchhiking her way to classes at the National Theatre of Cuba. She was already appearing in some films when she was still a student. She then flew to Madrid four years later with just €200 in her pocket. Her debut feature films and TV series went unnoticed, even if people would recognise her in the streets in Spain. She appeared in the romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006), in the Spanish boarding school teen show El Internado (2007–2010), and in a coming-of-age comedy Mentiras y gordas (2009).

After a stint in New York to try to learn English, Ana de Armas switched gears with a dramatic historical series (Hispania, la leyenda, in 2010 and 2011) and a handful of horror films, such as Anabel (2015). At that point, she doubted the future of her career, took part in plays with a Madrid theatre company, and eventually found a Hollywood agent before moving to Los Angeles.

Despite her limited command of English, she landed her first role in an American production in Eli Roth’s erotic thriller Knock Knock (2015), starring alongside Keanu Reeves, who became her first guardian angel in the US. This sensual dimension would resurface later in the (bad) erotic thriller Deep Water, where she starred opposite her then-partner, Ben Affleck.

A dazzling Hollywood rise, from No Time to Die to Blonde

In Hollywood, where she learned her lines phonetically at first, Ana de Armas was first cast in the often romantic or sexy roles of the femme fatale or the devoted wife. Although she radiated charm and charisma, substantial roles didn’t immediately come her way.

However, the Cuban-Spanish actress was determined not to let herself be pigeonholed into the roles of the Latin bombshell or objectified woman. It wasn’t until Denis Villeneuve’s metaphysical sci-fi thriller Blade Runner 2049 (2017) that she truly shone in a supporting role. She played Joi, Ryan Gosling’s girlfriend. Even though Joi is merely a hologram born of artificial intelligence, Ana de Armas infused the character with a very sensual and magnetic presence.

Nothing could stop the rising star, who dreamed of a career akin to those of Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, or Penélope Cruz. She proved her depth with her role as an immigrant nurse in Knives Out (2019), alongside Daniel Craig, and exuded a captivating allure in Olivier Assayas’s espionage thriller Wasp Network (2019). But it was her performance as a James Bond girl in No Time to Die that truly made her shine on screen. Dressed in a low-cut evening gown, she embodied Paloma, a CIA agent whose stunts rivaled those of her male counterparts.

Ana de Armas, the new face of action films starring in Ballerina

The intensive physical training she underwent for this blockbuster served her well in her athletic and badass role for Netflix‘s high-budget action thriller The Gray Man (2022), alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Now, all eyes are on the actress who landed the role of Marilyn Monroe in the highly controversial faux-biopic Blonde (2022), based on the best-selling novel of the same name written by Joyce Carol Oates. The film stirred up debate for its explicit, shocking sex scenes.

Hollywood’s new darling will star in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, a spin-off of the adrenaline-charged John Wick franchise, premiering in theaters on June 4th, 2025. She is bound to impress us in the role (and muscles) of Eve Macarro, a young woman traumatized by her father’s death, who joins the Ruska Roma and embarks on a bloody quest for revenge.

Balancing emotional moments, dance sequences, stunts and fights, she even measures up to Keanu Reeves in a duel and has nothing to envy about her male counterparts on screen. Now romantically involved with Tom Cruise, Ana de Armas is carving out her place as the new badass heroine of Hollywood action films – a genre that had been dominated by men for too long… until Uma Thurman reshuffled the deck with the exhilarating Kill Bill.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina by Len Wiseman, coming out on June 4th, 2025.