From Bond girl to Marilyn Monroe, Ana de Armas has spent the past five years ascending Hollywood’s A-list at speed. Now, with the long-awaited John Wick spin-off Ballerina, the Cuban-Spanish star proves she can fight, fall and rise with style… even if it leaves her black and blue.
She’s bruised, breathless and back. Ana de Armas stars in Ballerina, the long-delayed John Wick spin-off that sees the Cuban-Spanish actress throw herself, literally, into the most physically demanding role of her life. “Every joint, every muscle, especially my back… I was in pain every day,” she admits. “But looking back, I don’t remember the pain. I remember what we created.”
Set between John Wick chapters 3 and 4, Ballerina casts de Armas as Eve, a grieving assassin trained through the brutal ballet school of the Ruska Roma. Shot in Prague over five months, and kept under wraps for more than two years, it reunites her with Keanu Reeves, her co-star from Knock Knock and The Gray Man. “Keanu is relentless,” she says. “He never complains, so I couldn’t either. He sets the tone. You just try to keep up.”
Preparation began six months before filming with daily jiu-jitsu, weapons training and classical dance drills with the Wick stunt team. “It was brutal,” she says. “I was icing my knees in the hotel bathtub most nights. But I became obsessed with making her believable. She’s not just another female assassin. There’s grief. There’s rage. It’s character-driven violence.”
Now 37, de Armas is more reflective and philosophical these days. After the global spotlight of Blonde, where she took on the haunting role of Marilyn Monroe, and the slick blockbuster turn in No Time To Die, she’s choosing projects carefully with an eye on art and drama, over box office collateral. “I’ve said no to three good scripts recently,” she says. “I didn’t want to disappear again. I’m craving balance. A small house, Italian lessons, dinner with friends. Not everything has to be fast or loud.”
Born in Havana during Cuba’s ‘Special Period’, de Armas grew up with barely any access to film or television. “Maybe one movie a week,” she recalls. “That scarcity probably made me more curious.” At 18, she left Cuba for Spain, avoiding three years of mandatory community service and landing her first film roles before learning English. “That wasn’t easy,” she says, “but I wanted to support my family. That was my goal.”
Today, she’s among the most photographed women in the world, though her style remains low-key. “Minimal but not boring,” she says. “High-waisted jeans, a Totême tank, flats. I don’t change outfits five times a day.”
And though Ballerina is blood-soaked and bruising, she smiles when she speaks about it. “It’s beautiful and terrible. I think people will be surprised. I know I was.”
