Sofía Espinosa Carrasco (born September 22, 1989) is a Mexican actress, writer and director. She began her artistic preparation at the National Conservatory of Music, and followed with studies at Casazul in Mexico, Claudio Tolcachir's school in Argentina, the Stella Adler Studio in New York City, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She received recognition for her role of Mati in the Mexican film La Niña en la Piedra (Nadie Te Ve) (2006), for which she was nominated for an Ariel Award for Best Actress. She subsequently starred in the TV series Capadocia (2010) and Bienvenida Realidad (2011).
Espinosa is also featured in several other films including Sea of Dreams (2006), La Vida Inmune (2006), El Brassier de Emma (2007), The Kid: Chamaco (2009), I Miss You (2010), Vete Más Lejos, Alicia (2010), and Asteroide (2014). She also co-produced, co-wrote and starred in Los Bañistas (2014). For her lead performance in the biopic Gloria, based on the life of Mexican singer-songwriter Gloria Trevi, she received the Diosa de Plata and the Ariel Award for Best Actress.
Background
Espinosa was born on September 22, 1989, in Mexico City, to Mario Espinosa, a theatre director, and Gloria Carrasco Altamirano, an art director. Espinosa has a younger brother named Sebastián, and is the niece of Diódoro Carrasco Altamirano, a former Governor of Oaxaca and Secretariat of the Interior. At age 4, she joined the National Conservatory of Music, and at age 13 she enrolled in Casazul, a Mexican drama school, both in Mexico City; while in Casazul, she performed in the chamber theatre version of the play Romeo and Juliet. She continued her studies at the Claudio Tolcachir school in Argentina, the Stella Adler Studio in New York City, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 2011, she earned a scholarship by the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA) for upcoming performers.
Career
Early career and first lead role
Espinosa appeared in the short film Cuidado con el Tren, written and directed by Ignacio Ortiz in 2004, and in the films Sea of Dreams and La Vida Inmune, in 2006. At age 15, after six months in a workshop with Maryse Systach and Clarissa Malheiros, Espinosa starred in her first lead role in La Niña en la Piedra (Nadie Te Ve), which was co-directed by Systach and José Buil and is the last chapter of the trilogy about teenagers in Mexico that started with Perfume de Violetas (Nadie Te Oye) (2001) and Manos Libres (Nadie Te Escucha) (2003). Espinosa was nominated for the Ariel Award for Best Actress for her work in the film. Espinosa and Systach re-teamed for the film El Brassier de Emma.
In 2006, Espinosa performed in the short film Ver Llover by Elisa Miller, which was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the Short Film Palme d'Or. Miller and Espinosa worked together again five years later in the film Vete Más Lejos, Alicia (2011). She was also featured in Capadocia playing the character Paty, and also joined the cast of the telenovela Bienvenida Realidad, produced by Epigmenio Ibarra for Cadenatres in 2011, in which she played Vanessa, a lesbian teenager.
Breakthrough role with Gloria
Espinosa landed the lead role of the film Gloria in 2014. The film is a biopic about singer-songwriter Gloria Trevi, and her relation with her manager, record producer . The movie chronicles the rise and fall of the singer's career, detailing Trevi's first encounter with Andrade (who became her mentor), her brief tenure in a band, her rise to musical stardom, a sex scandal involving minors, and her imprisonment in Brazil. Espinosa won the role after a month-and-a-half casting process, stating that "I do not know how many actresses were [on the castings], or who they were, but once I got the role I knew it was a big responsibility, because it is a character who is alive and has a lot of fans, I had to do it well. It is a very complex character, full of nuances, with great force". Espinosa took singing lessons and had to learn Trevi's accent. Also, to fully prepare for the role, the actress was assigned a choreographer and worked with the film director to find the right tone for the scenes. Espinosa watched Trevi's interviews, concerts and films to be able to play her. "The role was meant for me", Espinosa said to Noticine.