Adria Arjona went skydiving to get over the heartbreak of missing out on a coveted role.
âItâs a little extreme, but it worked,â Arjona, 32, says on the phone days before the crime-fueled romantic comedy âHit Manâ debuted Friday on Netflix. âWhile I was on the plane, I thought, âIâm going to leave all this negativity [here]. Iâm going to jump off, ground myself and completely forget about it. Whatâs up in the air doesnât belong to me anymore.â â
With âHit Man,â the actor has certainly landed on her feet. The critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser is the latest from prolific Texan director Richard Linklater and has already become a breakthrough project for Arjonaâs rising profile in Hollywood.
âI find her amazing,â said Linklater, describing Arjona as a âwonderfully smart and hard-working collaborator from the first rehearsal until her last shot of production.â
In the film, Glen Powell plays a psychology professor who works for a police department undercover, pretending to be a killer for hire. Arjona plays Madison, who seeks out his services to eliminate her abusive husband. The two become entangled in a high-stakes, morally complicated, fiery relationship.
The daughter of famed Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, she was born in Puerto Rico to a Boricua mother but spent her childhood in Mexico City when not on the road with her touring father.
The chemistry is palpable between Madison (Adria Arjona) and Gary (Glen Powell) in âHit Man.â
(Brian Roedel / Netflix)
âItâs a funny little debate that happens online,â Arjona says. âEveryone is like, âSheâs Guatemalanâ or âSheâs Puerto Rican,â and Iâm like, âIâm very much both and I carry my two flags very high up. I canât pick.â
Despite growing up around music, Arjona was never inclined to follow in her fatherâs footsteps. âI canât sing! I wouldâve embarrassed our last name,â she said, jokingly.
âIâve always thought my dadâs job is coolest job in the world, but I wanted to do something different. I rebelled against music, and got away from it. If Iâm honest with you, itâs a pretty big regret of mine now.â
As a teenager, Arjonaâs family relocated to Miami. Struggling to adjust to her new environment, she began taking acting classes on her fatherâs suggestion. Performing, she says, helped her come out of her shell.
âIf I donât hide behind a character, itâs really hard for me to perform or be the center of attention,â she said. âI feel comfortable putting on a costume and being on stage, but I could never, and I still canât speak in public. I had to give a speech for Glen a couple of weeks ago when we were in Austin, and I was trembling like a chihuahua.â
As an adult, Arjona moved to New York to study at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, working as a waitress to pay her bills.
âI feel really lucky that I have a father who gave me the biggest gift in the world, which is not giving it all to me. He made that a point in raising me and my siblings,â she said. âHe grew up really poor in Guatemala and he had to work to get to where he is.â
Arjona initially tried to break into theater but felt there wasnât much space for a Latin American actress. She decided to try her luck in film and television instead, landing a small part after her first audition. Over the last decade, Arjona has built up her resume by landing parts in high-profile productions.
(Brian Bowen Smith / Netflix)
Among her most notable films are the Netflix action movies â6 Undergroundâ and âTriple Frontierâ â in the latter, she shared the screen with another actor with Guatemalan roots, Oscar Isaac. Arjona was also cast as bride-to-be Sofia Herrera in the 2022 Latino remake of âFather of the Brideâ and portrays mechanic Bix Caleen in âStar Wars: Andor.â
âGetting the jobs wasnât hard, but it was getting the roles that really served me as an actress thatâs been the struggle,â she said. âI want to show the world that a Latin American woman has so many dimensions and we can be so many things.â
Arjona says she is now at the point in her career where she is being offered opportunities she wouldnât have gotten a few years back. She recalls Linklater telling her she was the only person he spoke to for the role of Madison in âHit Man.â
âWe were nervous because Madison demanded so many qualities in one person,â said Linklater. âSmart, funny, vivacious, mysterious, and of course so smoking hot youâd totally believe somebody would risk everything they had and had worked for all their life, including their potential freedom, just to be with. Adria is all those things.â
After meeting Arjona over video call, the filmmaker arranged for her to connect with Powell, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The two actors got along so well that by the end of their five-hour dinner, they had broken their âdry Januaryâ vows by drinking tequila.
âGlen was like, âCan we please do this together? I want you to be Madison,â she said.
Within days Arjona was on Zoom with Linklater and Powell writing Madisonâs part.
âThatâs how Rick works. He invites the actors into the collaborative process and youâre in the writerâs room with him and youâre creating your character with your director, and your co-star. Youâre writing lines, youâre pitching ideas,â she said. âThatâs never happened to me.â
The process gave Arjona a creative autonomy and ownership over her character that she believes were crucial for her to craft and ultimately understand Madisonâs personality.
âI loved the idea that she was constantly role-playing,â says Adria Arjona of her character, Madison, in âHit Man.â In a scene with Glen Powell as Gary.
(Brian Roedel / Netflix)
âI loved the idea that she was constantly role-playing. Sheâs this woman that is seeking reinvention at every turn of the page. Sheâs her own idea of a femme fatale, but sheâs not a femme fatale,â Arjona said. âSheâs playing a character within being a character. And that I found really interesting and had a lot of fun playing that.â
For Arjona, âHit Manâ represented an opportunity to truly show off her acting chops.
âThanks to this movie I feel just so much more confident of what I can bring to the table,â she says. âRick and Glen did that for me.â
And whatâs next? Arjona is slated to star in âEl Sobreron,â the new genre tale from Guatemalan auteur Jairo Bustamante. Later this year, she can also be seen in the thriller âBlink Twice,â opposite Channing Tatum. Her strategy of not having a set plan seems to be paying off for her, successfully avoiding being pigeonholed by an industry that still has a limited view of who Latinos are.
âIâm so much more than where I was born. I have it in my veins. I carry that with me proudly, but Iâm also a human,â she said. âYou are your experiences, and being a Latina is definitely part of my experience, but thereâs also a lot more. Iâm just a woman.â