A popular actress and director of Spanish-language television as well as a respected drama coach, Mexico-born Barraza was virtually unknown on this side of the border until her devastating turn as an illegal immigrant nanny in 2006's Babel. Her second collaboration with fellow countryman Alejandro González Iñárritu after 2000's Amores Perros, Babel required Barraza to put on 35 pounds and endure the blazing desert heat, no mean feat for a woman who had survived two heart attacks. But the emotional journey of her character was even more taxing as Barraza gave a face and soul to the countless illegal aliens who struggle in the U.S., deservedly earning Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar nominations for her work.