Trivia

She is the first Colombian to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Became the first actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Performance that was spoke entirely in Spanish throughout the entirety of the film.

One of very few actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for their screen debut.

Took acting classes at a Bogotá (Colombia) theater before getting "discovered" by an anonymous supporter who referred her name to the casting agent for Maria Full of Grace (2004).

Reads Spanish-language books because she misses hearing the language as she did when living in Colombia.

She is the first person born in the 1980s to have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, for Maria Full of Grace (2004). Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the award, for Black Swan (2010).

Won Best Actress at the 2004 Cartagena Film Festival in her home country Colombia.

Her favorite actors are Javier Bardem, Gael García Bernal, Cate Blanchett and Frances McDormand.

Invited to join AMPAS in 2005.

Was one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2005.

Studied advertising at a college in Colombia before moving to New York City around 2003.

Attended Saint George's School in Bogotá, Colombia.

She is one of the few actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for their first ever feature film.

Became interested in theater and stage at a very young age.

Mother is a pathologist.

Was in New York when she heard on television that she was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress for her role in Maria Full of Grace (2004).

In the future Catalina would love to work with Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar.

Catalina (in 2004), Yalitza Aparicio (for Roma (2018)), and Ariana DeBose (for West Side Story (2021)), are thus far the only actors of Latin American descent born after 1980 to have been nominated for an acting Oscar; Ariana won.

Is a huge fan of Ang Lee and would love to work with him in the future.