Indigenous Actor Yalitza Aparicio Martínez Nominated For Best Actress Oscar

Roma breakout star, Yalitza Aparicio Martínez, has made history as one of the first Indigenous actresses to be nominated for Best Actress.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma landed many nominations. Some being Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound Mixing.  Now Roma can add Best Actress to its list as Aparicio is the second-ever Native Mexican actress to be nominated for lead actress at the Oscars. The last was Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace in 2005. She’s also the fourth Latina actress to be nominated for the overall category and the second Mexican-born actress since Salma Hayek in 2002.

Cuaron reached out to Aparicio for the role of “Cleo” just after she graduated with a teaching degree. The film was a personal project for Cuaron as it follows Cleo, a young domestic worker for a middle-class family in Roma, Mexico City. The vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy has created an international wave for Aparicio. After hearing news about her nomination, Aparicio posted an emotional response with happy tears and many thanks to her on-screen and real-life best friend, Ale A. Garcia. Prior to the film, Garcia taught Aparicio Mixtec, the Native Mexican language.

Sumamente feliz, cuando desperté hoy tan temprano, (claro, a la hora de aquí) no esperaba está noticia, gracias Ale A. García y @marielmmayorga por despertarme 😊 pic.twitter.com/PdziTnDKxh

— Yalitza Aparicio Martínez (@YalitzaAparicio) January 22, 2019

You can watch Roma exclusively on Netflix.