Ana de Armas may not have done well in acting school, but that hasn't stopped the Cuban-Spanish actress from becoming one of the most sought-after young talents in Hollywood. The 33-year-old star stole the show in Daniel Craig's latest and last James Bond outing, No Time To Die, with her brief but memorable scene in the film earning glowing reviews.
Ana de Armas' has had a stellar three years since her breakout role in 2017s Blade Runner 2049, which came just three years after she moved to Los Angeles from Madrid. She has since received high praise for her performance as an immigrant nurse in Knives Out (2019), but it was her turn as Paloma in the 25th James Bond outing that had everybody talking. Now, with Daniel Craig retiring from the franchise, fans want to know if de Armas will have a chance to return and if Craig's recent words about better roles for women could lead to de Armas receiving her own spin-off.
7 Who Is Ana De Armas?
Ana de Armas is a recognizable face on red carpets around the globe these days, and she has worked hard to get there. Born in Havana, Cuba, de Armas grew up without internet or a DVD player but fell in love with the idea of acting by watching Hollywood movies at her neighbor's house. At age 14 she successfully auditioned for the National Theatre of Cuba where she studied before moving to Madrid at 18, where she would land a lead role in El internado, starring in 56 episodes of the show about students at a boarding school full of mysteries and secrets. She toiled away in the Spanish movie industry for the next eight years before moving to LA in 2014 to pursue a Hollywood acting career.
6 Where Have You Seen Ana De Armas Before?
One year after arriving in LA, Ana de Armas's landed a role opposite Hollywood veteran Keanu Reeves in Knock Knock. Her breakout role came in 2017 as Ryan Gosling's AI girlfriend in Blade Runner 2049, and since then she has shared the screen with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. 2019 saw her star in Rian Johnson's Knives Out alongside Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, and more. For her performance, she was nominated for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. She has since starred in The Night Clerk, The Informer, and the international film Wasp Network.
5 Who Did Ana De Armas Play In 'James Bond'?
No Time To Die finally arrived in theatres at the end of September 2021 after two years of delays brought on by changing directors and theatre shutdowns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The final film starring Daniel Craig as Bond, No Time To Die featured the British spy teaming up with agents from the CIA after a scientist has been kidnapped.
Ana de Armas teamed back up with her Knives Out co-star Craig in the film, playing Paloma, a Cuban agent Bond briefly teams up with, and the role was a last-minute addition to the film. Paloma was originally a contact for Bond in the script, but director Cary Joji Fukunaga wanted the role to be bigger, and enlisted cowriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge to flesh her out. "You could… tell that Phoebe was in there," de Armas told Vanity Fair. "There was that humor and spikiness so specific to her. My character feels like a real woman." And the reactions from the audience prove that the rewrite was the right move.
4 What Was The Reaction To Her Performance?
Upon release of the film, it was clear that Ana de Armas was one of the highlights of No Time To Die. Paloma had less than ten minutes of screentime in the film, but her onscreen chemistry with Craig translated into a powerful action sequence that has left fans begging for her to return in future installments, or even to receive her own spinoff.
3 What's Next For Ana De Armas?
Ana de Armas' turn as the bubbly, inexperienced yet ultimately capable Paloma in No Time To Die was just the beginning of a run of action films for the star. Following 2021's James Bond flick, de Armas will star opposite Ryan Gosling and her Knives Out costar Chris Evans in Netflix's The Gray Man, coming later this year. The action-thriller follows de Armas and Evans' CIA agents trying to track down a rogue former agent, played by Gosling.
Rumors also abound that she will lead the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, about a young assassin who is out for revenge against the people that killed her family. If the film is greenlit and John Wick actor Keanu Reeves joins the cast, it would mark their third time working together. Before then, however, she will be seen in Blonde, bringing Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe to the big screen, and in Deep Water, alongside her former beau Ben Affleck.
2 What's Next For 'James Bond'?
The future of the James Bond films is still uncertain, and Eon Pictures, the production company behind the long-running series, has kept a tight lip. As the end to No Time To Die has left the return of Daniel Craig as Bond a certain impossibility, the search to recast the iconic superspy will reportedly begin in 2022. Countless articles have been written speculating on who the next Bond will be, and after Lashana Lynch's Nomi was promoted to the 007 ranking in the film, reactions poured in from around the world at the idea of there being a female James Bond.
1 Will Ana De Armas Return?
Previous iterations of Bond employed a "reset" style approach, with individual adventures that could swap actors in and out between films, but Craig's outing changed all that, with a continuous story that was played out over the five films, and an ending that makes Craig's return not possible. After Craig's departure, the continuity of the series is uncertain. Will the studio decide to continue the universe and characters and just bring in a new Bond, allowing Paloma to make a return? Or do a hard reset to avoid inconsistencies in the current storyline, and if so, were Paloma's interactions with Bond little enough to allow her to return? Whether de Armas returns as Paloma is still up in the air, but one thing is for sure. If she does return, she will certainly be warmly welcomed.
