Yalitza Aparicio Martínez ([ɟʝaˈlitsa apaˈɾisjo](); born 11 December 1993) is a Mexican actress who made her film debut as Cleo in Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 drama Roma, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. On October 4, 2019 she was named UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples.
Life and career
Yalitza Aparicio Martínez at the 2019 Forbes Forum, Costa Rica, 2019.
Aparicio was born 11 December 1993, in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca. Her parents are of indigenous origin; her father is Mixtec and her mother is Trique. She is not, however, fluent in the Mixtec language and had to learn it for her role in Roma. Aparicio was raised by a single mother who worked as a maid. She does not have formal training in acting, but rather has pursued a degree in pre-school education while already holding a degree in early childhood education. She won her first acting role just prior to qualifying as a teacher. She also appeared in the Vanity Fair 2019 "Hollywood Issue" cover.
Aparicio is the first Indigenous American woman and the second Mexican woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination, following Salma Hayek for her role in 2002's Frida. Three other Mexican women have been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category: Katy Jurado in 1954 for Broken Lance; Adriana Barraza in 2006 for Babel; and Marina de Tavira in 2018 for Roma. She has also earned nominations in the same category from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, the Hollywood Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Satellite Awards, and the Women Film Critics Circle, as well as recognition from Time and The New York Times.
Yalitza Aparicio appeared on the cover of Vogue México in January 2019. She was given the keys to Panama City, Panama on 8 April, 2019. She is currently enrolled in EF international school in New York City to learn English.
