Martha Higareda: biography
Fans nicknamed Martha Higareda "The Mexican Sweetheart" after her film debut. During her career, the woman managed to try her hand at different spheres. She has worked as an actress, screenwriter, producer. The star of Mexican cinema conquered Hollywood, which became the main achievement in her life.
Childhood and youth
The birthplace of the actress is Villahermosa, the administrative center of a state in Mexico. At birth, the parents named her Martha Elba Higareda Cervantes, combining their surnames. The father and mother belonged to the creative bohemian. Jose Luis Higareda gained fame as a talented artist, and actress Martha Cervantes played in films and on the theatre stage.
It was impossible to remain unknown in such a creative family. Martha, along with her younger sister, was meant to become an actress in the future. As a child, the girl was fond of dancing. She studied jazz, flamenco, and folk dances and was a member of children's groups. At the same time, she tried to play on the stage.
At the age of 14, the young Mexican moved to Mexico City. The capital of the country provided great opportunities for the development of her talent, and soon Martha Higareda shone in the local theater.
The girl was also an advanced student, so at the age of 15, she began studying Communications at El Tecnologico de Monterrey. The novice actress had a hectic schedule. From the early morning, Martha pounded the books, she improved acting skills in the drama school in the afternoon and spent the weekends on the theater stage.
In her youth, Martha starred in commercials. In 1999, the dark-haired woman made her television debut when the girl was invited as an anchor hostess on the Disney Channel.
Films
Higareda could have started her acting career in 2000. At that time the beautiful young lady was offered the leading role in the erotic movie Y Tu Mamá También (English: And Your Mother Too), which Alfonso Cuarón was going to shoot. The girl auditioned successfully and was selected to play the girlfriend of the hero of the film. But suddenly the creators of the project learned that Martha was underage. It was out of the question that the 17-year-old girl would be nude in front of the camera. The filmmakers replaced the novice actress with an older one.
Experienced and perspicacious Cuarón didn’t let Higareda go. Moreover, he encouraged her to enter the faculty of performing arts and said about her excellent acting talent.
Martha made her film debut in 2002. The girl was incredibly lucky because, at the beginning of her career, she got the leading role. It was not an insignificant project, but the interpretation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by Fernando Sariñana. In the film Amarte Duele, the aspiring actress starred with the daughter of the director, Ximena Sariñana. Luis Fernando Peña, whose character was born in a poor working family, became the lover of Martha’s heroine, a high society girl.
After the premiere, the girl won the hearts of viewers, especially men. These were male fans who nicknamed Martha "The Mexican Sweetheart," which has long been associated with the actress.
The following year, Martha was showered with offers of directors. She was busy filming in four movies Enamórate, Mujer Dormida, El Sueño de Elias and Casa de los Babys. In the last one, she was lucky to meet the Hollywood actresses, Daryl Hannah and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The young actress did not wait long for the movie awards. In 2005, Higareda received The Silver Goddess award, established by Mexican cinematography, for the leading role in the film Sexo, Amor y Otras Perversiones. She was nominated for the prestigious Mexican Academy Awards for the film Fuera del Cielo.
In 2007, Martha Higareda became a teen idol, portraying an impudent, wild and stubborn punk teenager in Fernando Sariñana's Niñas Mal.
At the same time, the Mexican actress began to conquer the Hollywood cinema. The girl first played in the American film Borderland. At the premiere of the thriller directed by Zev Berman, she met the future agent, who persuaded her to leave Mexico and move to Los Angeles. Higareda followed his advice.
Hollywood welcomed the actress with open arms. Martha immediately got the role in the crime thriller Street Kings, featuring the outstanding actors such as Keanu Reeves, Chris Evans, Forest Whitaker. The movie was a success, making three times its production cost.
After the Hollywood debut, she had to return to her homeland, where Martha managed to become more popular appearing in the melodrama Te Presento a Laura. The young woman played the leading role and worked as a screenwriter of the film, which was a smash hit in Mexico for three months.
In 2012, Higareda included in her credentials the Mayahuel Award for the brilliant work in the comedy Mariachi Gringo directed by Tom Gustafson.
The actress did not give up the profession of a screenwriter and later created a script for the film Casese quien pueda (2014). This film is remarkable because, for the first time, her sister appeared in the movie alongside Martha.
Latin American viewers praised the film highly, and it became the smash hit. The best praise was the invitation from the Americans to take part in the medical TV series Royal Pains, in which Martha Higareda played in eight episodes.
In 2015, director Niki Caro decided to turn to the recent past and shoot the true story of the victory of the school team, which happened in the late 1980s. Martha appeared in the film McFarland, USA.
The latest prominent works of the actress are the comedy No manches Frida (2016), which she also produced, and 3 Idiotas (2017). The grosses of the first film surpassed all expectations, making nine times its production cost. The second film is a remarkable parody of the Bollywood movie of the same name.
Personal life
In 2007, the press spread rumors that Martha Higareda had a love affair with handsome Keanu Reeves, with whom she appeared in the film Street Kings. But a few months later, fans were disappointed when this romantic relationship was not confirmed.
Now, the charming brunette is married. Her colleague, Cory Brusseau, became her husband. The young people met in Los Angeles in 2011. The newlyweds decided to keep the wedding ceremony out of the public eye, marrying secretly in the late spring of 2016 in Hawaii. Fans and even representatives of show business found out about such an important event, only when the couple appeared on the red carpet after the premiere of the film No manches Frida.
Martha Higareda now
In the winter of 2018, the first episode of the sci-fi series Altered Carbon premiered on Netflix. The project is based on the novel of the same name by the British writer, Richard Morgan. Martha Higareda got one of the leading roles.
Her partners on the set were Joel Kinnaman, James Purefoy, Dichen Lachman, Kristin Lehman. The fantasy saga takes place in the year 2384 when the bodies of people exist separately from the consciousness which is kept in special storage devices. When people need it, consciousness is implanted in their bodies.
The woman will play the leading role in the horror-comedy film Deadtectives. Chris Geere, Tina Ivlev, Nuria Blanco joined the main cast.
Viewers are also waiting for the release of the comic fantasy film Tod@s Caen directed by Argentinean Ariel Winograd. Martha will play with Miriam and Omar Chaparro. The film is also remarkable because Higareda did not limit herself to acting. She created the script and produced the movie.
Filmography
- 2002 – Amarte Duele
- 2003 – El Sueño de Elias
- 2003 – Casa de los Babys
- 2004 – Volver, Volver
- 2006 – Sexo, Amor y Otras Perversiones
- 2006 – Fuera del Cielo
- 2007 – Niñas Mal
- 2008 – Street Kings
- 2010 – Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball
- 2010 – Te Presento a Laura
- 2014 – Casese quien pueda
- 2014 – Royal Pains
- 2015 – McFarland, USA
- 2016 – No Manches Frida
- 2017 – 3 Idiotas
- 2017 – Steven Universe
- 2018 – Altered Carbon
