As the holiday season kicks off, so does awards season in Hollywood. And one of the first big trophies went to Blonde star Ana de Armas, who received the actress award at the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television held on Nov. 13. Earlier this year, she also won the Deauville American Film Festival’s Hollywood rising star award, also for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s biopic Blonde.

In her video acceptance speech, the actor, who began her career in her native Cuba, expressed gratitude to Netflix, her director, producers, and co-stars as well as her hair and makeup team, costume designer and dialect coach. She also spoke about what she hoped her work on the project might inspire. “Blonde is the movie I always dreamed of making, and very often in my career I thought I was never going to get the chance to do something like this — and I’m not just talking about playing Marilyn Monroe, which was unthinkable for many,” de Armas said from Prague, where she’s just begun filming the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina. “I’m talking about the opportunity, an opportunity that would really make me feel that I was breaking free from labels, that would allow me to push myself to my limits, [make me feel] that I was doing something groundbreaking that would prove to me and other Latinos that we can do anything if we’re given the chance. And that not only I’m changed after the experience but that also things might be changing because of it.”

 In Blonde, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 novel of the same title, de Armas charts Monroe’s transformation from pinup model to celluloid superstar and, ultimately, tragic legend in a performance that was celebrated immediately after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival with a 14-minute standing ovation. The movie also features impressive turns from Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody and Julianne Nicholson (as Marilyn’s troubled mother, Gladys). New York wrote, “Ana de Armas doesn’t inhabit the role of Marilyn Monroe. Rather, the role of Marilyn Monroe inhabits Ana de Armas.” 

 After wowing audiences in 2019 in Knives Out, de Armas went on to an acclaimed performance alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond in 2021’s No Time to Die before teaming up with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in the Netflix film The Gray Man.