Mia Maestro
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
"Because I have a very specific Argentine accent, I can get typecast [in Spanish-speaking films]," she explains. "But in English, I can play Europeans, Mexicans, Cubans. Anything I want, really."---Mia Maestro quoted to Interview, September 2004
Biography
This sultry and sexy Argentine actress was most famously known for portraying Nadia Santos, the long lost sister to Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow on the hit spy serial "Alias" (ABC, 2001-05), however Mia Maestro accumulated a selection of impressive film credits since making her silver screen debut in Carlos Sauta's "Tango" (1998) - a film which would receive Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.
Maestro was born on June 19th, 1978 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her mother was a former economist and her father, a businessman. As a young child, Maestro was convinced that she was a boy, perhaps kick-starting the acting bug and starting her initial theatrical training at a young age. When she was 18, Maestro moved to Berlin to develop a vocal repertoire - in German - of the works of Kurt Weill and Hans Eisler and to study Brechtian acting techniques. All of this added to her already rigorous schedule of vocal, dance and music classes. Maestro's experience in Berlin - both inside and outside of school - gave her a renewed spirit and confidence that translated into several noteworthy dramatic performances when she eventually returned to Buenos Aires.
Maestro's first proper acting gig was in the Carlo Goldoni commedia dell'arte, and by 1998 she secured the coveted role of Lulu in Wedekind's "Pandora's Box" at the San Martin Theater. For this, Maestro garnered an Ace Award for Best New Artist of the Year.
In 1998, Maestro made her feature-film debut in "Tango," in which she played an aspiring dancer who gets entangled in a romance with a film director. Just one year later, Maestro traveled to Austria, where she worked with Lauren Bacall and Dennis Hopper in "The Venice Project" (1999). Ultimately, she moved to Los Angeles and quickly landed a supporting role in Mike Figgis' digital video experimental film "Timecode" (2000), alongside Salma Hayek, with whom Maestro would work again with in 2002's "Frida" - Hayek's labor of love biopic about the famed Mexican artist. Maestro also appeared in the HBO biopic of Cuban jazz musician Arturo Sandoval in "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story" (2000), starring opposite Andy Garcia.
In 2001, the stunning Latin beauty was ranked #61 in Stuff magazine's "100 Sexiest Women" newsstand special, as well as #67 on Maxim magazine's "100 Sexiest Women" newsstand special. This, no doubt, led to Maestro's eye-popping appearance in a 2002 edition of Playboy magazine.
After a small role in Ben Stiller's "Duplex" (2003), Maestro played much larger role in Walter Salles Jr.'s "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), a road movie roman a clef that chronicled the early years of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, starring opposite Gael Garcia Bernal. The film premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and the 57th Cannes Film Festival that same year. Next Maestro accepted another supporting role in Lucrecia Martel's coming-of-age drama "La Niña Santa" (2004).
"Hollywood style" stardom came when J.J. Abrams wanted Maestro to appear in his upcoming show "Lost" (ABC, 2004- ), but she ended up nabbing the role of Nadia Santos, the recurring character and eventual series regular in "Alias."
In 2004, Maestro worked alongside Lucas Black on the independent feature "Deepwater" for director David Marfield, and appeared in Venezuelan director Jonathan Jakubowicz's "Secuestro Express," both released in 2005.
In the summer of 2005, Maestro starred in the Hans Christian Anderson musical "My Life as a Fairy Tale" at Lincoln Center in New York. Maestro also starred in the music video for Prince's single "Te Amo Corazon."
After "Alias" wrapped production, Maestro appeared in "Poseidon" (2006), Wolfgang Peterson's ill-conceived remake of the classic disaster film "The Poseidon Adventure" (1974) and in the questionable new TV version of "The Ten Commandments" (ABC, 2006).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1998
Starred in the Argentine drama "Tango"
2000
Co-starred with Andy Garcia in the HBO movie "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story"
2002
Portrayed Cristina Kahlo the sister of artist Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) in biopic "Frida"
2004
Played Che Guevara's (Gael García Bernal) girlfriend in "The Motorcycle Diaries"
2004
Cast as recurring character Nadia Santos on "Alias" (Fox)
2005
Starred in the indie drama "Secuestro Express"
2006
Starred in director Wolfgang Petersen's remake of "The Poseidon Adventure"
2008
Cast in the short-lived NBC series "Crusoe"
2011
Joined the cast of the Bill Condon directed "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" as vampire Carmen Denali
2012
Reprised role in franchise's final film "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," also directed by Bill Condon
Bibliography
Notes
"Because I have a very specific Argentine accent, I can get typecast [in Spanish-speaking films]," she explains. "But in English, I can play Europeans, Mexicans, Cubans. Anything I want, really."---Mia Maestro quoted to Interview, September 2004
