From The Archives: Catalina Sandino Moreno – Maria Full of Grace0

by Daniel Robert Epstein

“I’’ve heard of actors that give a better performance just for their close-up and I won’t do that because it’s ridiculous.” – Catalina Sandino Moreno

Maria Full of Grace tells the story of one young woman’s journey from a small Colombian town to the streets of New York. A bright, spirited 17-year old, Maria Alvarez [Catalina Sandino Moreno] lives with three generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia and works stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation. The offer of a lucrative job involving travel – but, in fact, becoming a drug “mule” – changes the course of her life. Maria is transported into the risky and ruthless world of international drug trafficking. Writer/director Joshua Marston is an American but he decided to go to Colombia and cast and shoot the movie there. Moreno is a real find and is sure to be a big star. For her first performance, she is amazingly real.

Read our interview with Catalina Sandino Moreno on SuicideGirls.com.