Catalina Sandino Moreno

Colombian Actress and Model

Profile
Birth name              Catalina Sandino Moreno
Birth date               April 19, 1981
Birth place              Bogotá, Colombia
Height                    5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Occupation            Actress and Model

Biography
Catalina Sandino Moreno is a Colombian actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Maria Full of Grace (2004).

Before becoming an actress, she studied advertising at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. She relocated to New York City in 2004, after she was noticed for her talent at the Rubén Di Pietro acting school in Bogotá. She was then referred to a casting audition for the 2004 film Maria Full of Grace where she beat over 900 girls for the lead role. Sandino's role in this movie made her the second South American and third Hispanic actress nominated for an Academy Award. In 2006 she played roles in Fast Food Nation and Paris, je t'aime. In 2008 she appeared alongside Benicio del Toro in Steven Soderberghs Che Part One: The Argentine and Che Part Two: Guerrilla, playing the role of Aleida March de Guevara. She played the role of female Vampire Maria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), based on the same named novel by Stephenie Meyer.