Adriana Barraza

Adriana Barraza was an established actor, producer and director in her native Mexico and in the Spanish-language television world before coming to American attention in acclaimed dramas from fellow countryman, Alejandro González Iñárritu. Barraza's two-plus decade career in Mexico included a great deal of directing on telenovelas, as well as on the influential television series, "Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real," (Televisa, Univision, 1985-2007). However she also earned a reputation as a distinguished stage and screen actress. Barraza's first English language role - playing the nanny of an American couple who finds herself trapped on the other side of the border with her young charges in "Babel" (2006) - earned the actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations and piqued the interest of a slew of international directors. Following her American film breakout, Barraza appeared in British director Sally Potter's "Rage" (2009) and Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (2009), and continued to offer powerful, multi-dimensional portraits of the types of immigrant women often reduced to clichéd stereotypes by Hollywood.