Career beginnings in Spanish cinema (2006–2013) In her native Cuba, de Armas had a starring role opposite
Álex González in
Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's romantic drama
Una rosa de Francia (2006). The director visited de Armas's drama school and interrupted the sixteen-year-old during her audition to inform her that the role was hers. She travelled to Spain as part of a promotional tour for the film and was introduced to Juan Lanja, who would later become her Spanish agent. he cast her as Carolina in the drama
El Internado, Despite the popularity of
El Internado, de Armas felt typecast and was mainly offered roles as youngsters. After spending a few months living in New York City to learn English, and in the drama
Por un puñado de besos (2014). During a long period without acting work, she had to start her career again "from scratch." Despite giving a positive review of the film, Randy Cordova of the
Arizona Republic found de Armas to be "unconvincing" in her role. Reeves then telephoned de Armas to invite her to star in a Spanish-language role in the thriller
Daughter of God which he acted in and produced. Producer Mark Downie hoped the film would be a star vehicle for de Armas, but due to executive meddling,
Daughter of God was severely edited with de Armas' former starring role reduced. The film was ultimately released as
Exposed in 2016.
Frank Scheck of
The Hollywood Reporter noted that while she was "appealing" in her part, de Armas was unable to demonstrate her "character's intense emotional demands." De Armas had a supporting role in
Todd Phillips's
War Dogs (2016), acting opposite
Miles Teller as the wife of an arms dealer, and again learned her lines phonetically.
David Ehrlich of
IndieWire found her to be "memorable in a thankless role". She starred opposite
Édgar Ramírez in the biopic
Hands of Stone (2016) as the wife of Panamanian boxer
Roberto Durán. Despite its delayed release,
Hands of Stone was the first Hollywood film de Armas had filmed. While still living in Madrid, she was contacted by director
Jonathan Jakubowicz, who had watched her in
El Internado, In
Denis Villeneuve's futuristic thriller
Blade Runner 2049 (2017), de Armas had a supporting role as Joi, the
holographic AI girlfriend of
Ryan Gosling's character, a blade runner. Mark Kermode of
The Guardian said she "brings three-dimensional warmth to a character who is essentially a digital projection." Anthony Lane of
The New Yorker found her to be "wondrous": "Whenever Joi appears, the movie's imaginative heart begins to race." While the performance was initially discussed as a breakthrough role, Stephen Dalton of
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she "radiates more kick-ass charisma than her thankless sidekick role might suggest." In 2018, de Armas starred opposite
Demián Bichir in
John Hillcoat's medical drama
Corazón. She played a Dominican woman with
congestive heart failure in the short film, funded by
Montefiore Medical Center to raise awareness of organ donation. While de Armas's scenes opposite
Himesh Patel in the 2019 romantic comedy
Yesterday were included in the film's trailer, they were cut from the final product. The director
Danny Boyle said that, while de Armas was "really radiant" in her scenes, the introduction of a love triangle subplot did not test well with audiences. De Armas' role as an immigrant nurse in the ensemble murder mystery film
Knives Out (2019), written and directed by
Rian Johnson, was widely praised and marked a breakthrough for the actress. When first approached about the project, she was unenthusiastic about the idea of playing a stereotypical "Latina caregiver" but soon realized that her character was "so much more than that." Tom Shone of
The Times remarked, "The film's standout performance comes from its least well-known member, the Cuban de Armas, who manages the difficult task of making goodness interesting." Benjamin Lee of
The Guardian said her "striking" performance left a "lasting impression." The film was a major box office success. De Armas was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical with her also winning the
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and the
National Board of Review Award for Best Cast with the cast.
Leading roles and mainstream recognition (2020–present) in 2022De Armas starred in four films released in the United States in 2020. She had a supporting role in the crime thriller
The Informer as the wife of
Joel Kinnaman's character. Guy Lodge of
Variety found "her thin role all the more glaring in the wake of her
Knives Out stardom." She appeared as a
femme fatale in the noir crime drama
The Night Clerk. Brian Tallerico of
RogerEbert.com said the film had "no idea" what to do with her "blinding charisma" while Katie Rife of
The AV Club remarked that it would be remembered, "if at all, as a movie de Armas was way too good for." She starred opposite
Wagner Moura in the Netflix biopic
Sergio (2020) as Carolina Larriera, a U.N. official and the partner of diplomat
Sérgio Vieira de Mello. John DeFore of
The Hollywood Reporter found her "magnetic" while Jessica Kiang of
Variety said she imbued the part "with an intelligence and will that makes her more than just de Mello's romantic foil." De Armas reunited with Moura to play the wife of one of the
Cuban Five in
Olivier Assayas's Netflix spy thriller
Wasp Network. The film was shot on location in Cuba; it was de Armas's first work in her home country since leaving as a teenager. Glenn Kenny of
The New York Times found her "superb" while Jay Weissberg of
Variety described her as "a joyous, bewitching presence whose career seems destined for the big time." In 2021, de Armas reunited with Daniel Craig to play a
Bond girl in
Cary Joji Fukunaga's
No Time to Die. Fukunaga wrote the character of a Cuban CIA agent with de Armas in mind. She described the character as bubbly and "very irresponsible".
No Time to Die was a commercial success, grossing $774.2 million worldwide, and earned positive reviews.
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian praised de Armas' "witty and unworldly turn". De Armas starred in
Adrian Lyne's erotic thriller
Deep Water, based upon the
novel by
Patricia Highsmith. She and
Ben Affleck play a couple in an open marriage. In 2022, de Armas starred in the
Russo brothers' Netflix action thriller
The Gray Man. Neither
Deep Water nor
The Gray Man were particularly successful with critics and audiences. De Armas portrayed
Marilyn Monroe (as Norma Jean) in the
Netflix biopic
Blonde (2022), based on the
biographical fiction novel of the same name by
Joyce Carol Oates. Director
Andrew Dominik noticed de Armas's performance in
Knock Knock and, while she went through a long casting process, Dominik secured the role for her after the first audition. In preparation, de Armas worked with a
dialect coach for about nine months, read Oates' novel and also said she studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, and films to prepare for the role. Despite criticism towards her casting, due to her having a notable Spanish accent, de Armas' performance was praised; Catherine Bray of
Empire labeled de Armas' performance as "powerful", while
Richard Lawson of
Vanity Fair remarked that "De Armas is fiercely, almost scarily committed to the role, maintaining high and focused energy through every torrent of tears and screams and traumas." She received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for the
BAFTA,
Golden Globe and
SAG Award in the same category. She became the first Cuban to be nominated for the first of these. in 2024 De Armas next starred with
Chris Evans in the
Apple TV+ action comedy film
Ghosted (2023). Benjamin Lee of
The Guardian panned the film and the lack of chemistry between de Armas and Evans. She appeared alongside an ensemble cast in
Ron Howard's survival thriller
Eden (2024). She then starred in the
John Wick spin-off action thriller
Ballerina (2025)
, in which she portrayed a vengeful assassin. ==Personal life==