Adriana Barraza González (born 5 March 1956) is a Mexican actress. She was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performanc ...

for '' Babel'' (2006).

Early life

Barraza was born in

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

, Estado de Mexico, the daughter of Celia (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

González Flores) and Eduardo Barraza Carral, a farmer. Her mother died when she was ten years old from

myocarditis Myocarditis is inflammation of the cardiac muscle. Myocarditis can progress to inflammatory cardiomyopathy when there is associated ventricular remodeling and cardiac dysfunction due to chronic inflammation. Symptoms can include shortness of bre ...

, a heart condition. Barraza herself has experienced two heart attacks. She has a sister named María Eugenia Barraza and three brothers, Eduardo, Porfirio and José.

Career

In 1999 director Alejandro González Iñárritu cast her as the mother of

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and filmmaker. He is known for his performances in the films ''Amores perros'' (2000), ''Y tu mamá también'' (2001), ''Bad Education (2004 film), Bad Education'' (2004), ''The Mot ...

's character in '' Amores perros'', which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. In 2006, she collaborated with Iñárritu again in '' Babel'', for which she received a nomination for the

. Barraza is known in Mexico as ''Master Barraza'' from her partnership with Mexican director Sergio Jiménez, known as ''El Profe''. They created the Actors Workshop in Mexico City, teaching and developing their own version of

Method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...

. Barraza began her career directing telenovela episodes, the actors in which she would also coach. In the 1990s she decided to step in front of the camera. She currently operates her own acting school located in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida titled ''Adriana Barraza's Black Box''. Instructors at the school include her husband Arnaldo and daughter Carolina. In 1985, Barraza moved to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, to work as a theatre director. Since 1985, Barraza has guest starred and directed the Mexican television show '' Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real'', alongside host Silvia Pinal. She has also been a part of the telenovela ensembles of ''Bajo un Mismo Rostro'' playing Elvira, ''La Paloma'' as Madre Clara and '' Imperio de Cristal'' as Flora. In 1997 she took on the role of Nurse Clara Dominguez in ''Alguna Vez Tendremos Alas''. Barraza directed ''Locura de Amor'' (in which she also starred), ''Nunca Te Olvidare'' and ''El Manantial''. Barraza appeared in the films '' Henry Poole Is Here'', '' Drag Me to Hell'', '' And Soon the Darkness''. In 2011, Barraza's latest films included '' From Prada to Nada'' and ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' (in which her part was cut down). She had a recurring role as Guadalupe Elizalde, on the FX television series ''

The Strain ''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire literature, vampire horror fiction, horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by ''The Fall (del Toro and Hogan novel), The Fal ...

''. In 2014 she starred in the film ''

Cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

'' opposite Jennifer Aniston. She is also a professional acting coach and has worked with actors for a number of films and television shows, including the American film ''

Spanglish Spanglish (a blend of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mostly u ...

''. Barraza worked for

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

as an acting instructor, teaching accents to actors and actresses from all over Latin America, giving them a more Mexican lilt and sound appropriate for their character.

Personal life

She became pregnant at age 18 with her daughter, actress Carolina Valsagna (b. 1975). The father of her daughter is not known, as he abandoned her. Her first husband was Carlos Valsagna, whom she married in 1978, and he adopted her daughter and gave her his name. Her second husband is Arnaldo Pipke. Barraza studied acting through the Fine Arts School at Autonomous University of Chihuahua.Adriana Barraza profile
retrieved 25 February 2015

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barraza, Adriana 1956 births Living people Actresses from the State of Mexico 20th-century Mexican actresses 21st-century Mexican actresses People from Toluca Mexican film actresses Mexican telenovela actresses Mexican television actresses Mexican television directors Women television directors