"Ana de Armas Nominated for Best Actress Oscar for Controversial Role as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's "Blonde""

Ana de Armas received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix movie "Blonde." The film is a fictionalized chronicle of the private life of the Hollywood and pop culture icon from the 1950s and 1960s. It has been met with mixed reactions, with some viewers finding the portrayal of trauma and suffering in the movie to be grotesque and difficult to watch. The Cuban-born actor is the first Cuban to be nominated for a leading role at the Oscars, and joins a select group of Latinas who have been nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

De Armas spent nearly a year working on perfecting Monroe's distinctive accent, telling The U.K.'s Sunday Times, “It took me nine months of dialect coaching and practicing and some ADR,” or rerecording. “It was a big torture, so exhausting,” De Armas said. Her performance also earned her her second Golden Globe nomination last year.

De Armas was nominated for her first Golden Globe in 2020 after her breakout role as Marta Cabrera in "Knives Out." Other Latino filmmakers were also recognized in other categories. The award-winning Mexican director and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro landed an Oscar nomination for best animated feature film for his reinterpretation of the classic tale “Pinocchio.” Fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón was also nominated for an Oscar this year, earning a nomination in the Best Live Action Short category for producing Disney+'s "Le Pupille," set in an all-girls Catholic school in 1971. Argentine filmmaker Santiago Mitre's “Argentina, 1985” was nominated for best international feature film.

The 95th Oscars award ceremony will be held March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and air live on ABC.