catalina-sandino-moreno

For an actress with little training and experience, Catalina Sandino Moreno made a seismic impression with her first feature film role. In "Maria Full of Grace" (2004), Moreno played the title character who, sick of working a slave-wage job as a flower dethorner in a small village outside Bogota, Columbia, becomes a drug mule and smuggles heroin into the United States. Powerful and emotional, "Maria Full of Grace" became a hit on the international festival circuit. So gripping was Moreno's performance that she shared with Charlize Theron the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.