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Spotlight: Stephanie Sigman

Portraying a Bond Girl, no matter how small the part, grants you access to the elite club of talented actresses who appeared in the James Bond series. The latest Bond joyride “Spectre” amazes with three gorgeous women and one of them is Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman.

Stephanie Sigman was born in 6 November 1987 in Obregon, Sonora, Mexico and is of American descent through her father who was a scout for the New York Yankees. After having moved to Mexico City at the age of 16, she first pursued a modeling career before setting her sights on acting.

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Actress Stephanie Sigman in the recent ad campaign by Belvedere Vodka for Spectre

Her first film appearance came with Pablo Aldrete’s anti-colonialist western “Rio de Oro” (“River of Gold”) in 2010. With the Mexican-American War serving as the backdrop for the film’s story, a carrier decides to leave his homeland to seek better life in Mexico, for it is forced to cross the land of the Chiricahua in search of gold. Through this first film, Sigman realized that her passion was acting which was very important on a personal and professional level. “The most important thing was realizing that I really wanted to do this and that fascinated me. I had studied acting but  was not sure what I wanted to do in life.” Highlighting the film’s nice story as well as beautiful cinematography with Sonora being wonderfully portrayed she added: “It made me learn more about my country and that’s why I have great affection for the film.”

The following year, Sigman had her big break by playing Laura Guerrero in the critically acclaimed Mexican drama “Miss Bala” which was directed by Gerardo Naranjo. After entering a beauty contest in Tijuana, a young woman witnesses drug-related murders and is forced to do the gang’s bidding. The character of Laura Guerrero was loosely based on Mexican model and beauty queen, Laura Zúñiga. On December 22, 2008, Laura Zúñiga was arrested along with seven men for narco-trafficking ties in Zapopan, Jalisco.

Her next role was that of Francisca Ortiz in the Mexican history drama “Morelos” under the direction of Antonio Serrano. The film portrays the last years of the life of Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon (1812-1815), leader of Mexican independence who after circumvent the siege of General Calleja in Cuautla, reorganized his troops and takes the city of Oaxaca. The film captures two inseparable facets of the life of Mexican hero: his contradictions and passions.

After a quick excursion into Music Videos for the Arctic Monkeys single “Snap out of It”, Sigman appeared in 14 episodes of American crime drama TV series “The Bridge” which was developed by Meredith Stiehm and Elwood Reid and broadcast on the FX network. Subsequently, Sigman landed a major role in the drama TV series “Narcos”, a serialized portrayal of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel, as well as United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. Sigman plays journalist Valeria Velez who is loosely based on a real person – writer and media personality Virginia Vallejo who had been in a relationship with Escobar for five years. “Valeria is in love with power—as is Escobar. Their egos fell in love with each other”, says Sigman.

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Stephanie Sigman as Valeria Velez in “Narcos”

Her appearance in the 2015 Bond thriller “Spectre” might have been a short one, but it is nothing less than glamorous. With the colorful Pre-Title sequence set in her native Mexico, Sigman was very happy but also nervous when approached by the Bond casting office. In a recent interview with ESQUIRE, Sigman revealed the story of how her casting went: “When I auditioned for Bond, the director asked me to be sexy. I was like, “Oh man. What is sexy for you?” It’s subjective. I was trying to understand what he wanted because when you have to be sexy, that’s when you don’t feel sexy. Like you’re so self-aware of how you’re moving and how you look that it’s just—I think I’m kind of shy when it comes to that. So he laughed and he was like, “You’re probably right.”

estrellaAbout working with Daniel Craig, Sigman added: “He’s an amazing actor. It’s really impressive to see him working because he’s so passionate. We were doing this sequence, but it was very hard in the technical aspect because it was a long shot, and we needed to move a lot with the camera. So whenever it was not completely right, he got a little bit upset, like frustrated, and he was like, “No, no, no—this needs to be perfect. Every move.”

As an actress, Stephanie Sigman dazzles with a fresh mixture of talent and beauty and we will certainly see a lot more of her in the near future.

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