Name: Catalina Sandino Moreno

Birth Name: Catalina Sandino Moreno

Birthdate: April 19, 1981

Birthplace: Bogota, Colombia

Not every actress is as lucky as Sandino Moreno: She received a call from a secret admirer, telling her of an American director looking to cast a 17-year-old Colombian girl for his film, Maria Full of Grace. After 800 tapes, the director found his Maria in Sandino Moreno, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination in 2005. Following her success with Maria, Sandino Moreno was cautious when choosing roles, eschewing offers for maids and/or spicy Latinas. In 2006, she played an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation. She sparked a friendship with co-star Ethan Hawke, who later cast her in his directorial debut, The Hottest State, where the actress portrays a quirky singer-songwriter. In late 2006, she worked on the adaptation of one her favorite books, Love in the Time of Cholera, shot in her home country of Colombia.


1. She met her husband, lighting technician David Ewell, on the set of Maria Full of Grace, and they have lived together since 2002.
2. In the future, she says she'd like to work with director Pedro Almódovar or star in an action movie like House of Flying Daggers.
3. Her favorite actors are Javier Bardem, Gael García Bernal, Cate Blanchett and Frances McDormand.
4. She was one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2005.
5. She doesn't consider herself a Method actor.


Relating to Fast Food Nation: "I stopped eating meat once when I got a big steak, and I opened it, and it was just like an artery, just full of blood. I decided not to eat meat after that. It just grossed me out."
— Interview, 2006


Husband: David Elwell, camera/electrical technician, married April 15, 2006

2005: Oscar nomination: Best Actress, Maria Full of Grace

 

FILMS

Love in the Time of Cholera - (2007) - Actor
The Hottest State - (2006) - Actor
Maria Full of Grace - (2004) - Actor