The curious case of Ana de Armas: What you need to know about the Cuban actress’ up-and-down career

Ana de Armas stars as Eve Macarro, a ballerina who gets herself emtangled in the criminal underworld in Len Wiseman’s new neo-noir action thriller, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina which is released today, June 6, 2025.

The Cuban actress will be hoping that this movie, which has been made on a modest $50-80 million budget, wins over critics. She certainly needs a bit of positive feedback. Her most recent projects were universally panned, which has prompted one movie goer to open up a discussion on Reddit: The Curious Case of Ana de Armas in an attempt to find out why the 36-year-old actress is still waiting for the break that will propel her career to the next level.

Does Ana de Armas select bad movies?

As the Reddit LetterBox member notes, De Armas’ case is a baffling one as it’s clear she has the talent, the looks and the experience...

The OP writes: “I enjoy when I see Ana de Armas on the screen. She has a magnetic presence that extends past being just beautiful. HOWEVER, is there anyone this famous who’s most popular movies are this bad? Her top 15 films average out at a 2.8. 11/15 are a 3.0 or lower.

“Is this just a bad run? Does she have trouble identifying good projects? Poor agent? How much of the blame (if any at all) is her own? I’m having trouble rectifying this. Not sure I’ve seen an A-list celebrity be known for this amount of poorly received films.

“Not suggesting she herself is solely to blame. But I would like to hear what you all think is up”.

One response, from No_Tomorrow7180 suggested that the issue is quite simple - the problem isn’t De Armas, it’s the material. She chooses projects that are either poorly written, badly produced or art house productions that might be just too left-of-center or weird for mainstream consciousness.

“She picks some really awful projects,” No_Tomorrow7180 argued. “Whether it’s a case of that’s all she’s offered, or she actively goes after them because she has terrible taste, I don’t know. Blonde is an odd one because people decided they hated it before it was even released".

LetterBox member Deserterdragon chips in: “The majority of these are forgettable thrillers with weird production histories or mega budget blockbusters that she comes out of looking fine”, while another puts the blame on the directors she has worked with: “Most films she’s in just don’t know how to use her”.

Could it be that De Armas suffers from constantly being typecast as a Latina character, as one commentator points out, “often in thankless roles”.

Ana de Armas’ awards and recognition

Whether De Armas has poor judgement when it comes to selecting projects or not, it’s not as though she hasn’t received any positive recognition at all. She won several awards and nominations for her performance in Knives Out, and her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde earned her the Best Actress award at the Capri Hollywood International Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination.

It would be a stretch to claim that De Armas is underrated as an actress but nevertheless it’s a mystery why she is still relatively unknown and not managed to carve out her place among Hollywood’s elite - at least not yet.

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