Why Five From 6 Underground Looks So Familiar
6 Underground made a splash when it was announced on Netflix, thanks to having both Ryan Reynolds attached as lead and Michael Bay as director. It represented a sea change in the streaming service's interests in creating original films – it wants to be taken seriously as a full-fledged production studio with film projects like this and The Irishman. That also means acquiring up-and-coming talent, and casting Adria Arjona as Five in the film is representative of these bolder choices.
Arjona is an American citizen born in Puerto Rico, but spent the majority of her formative years living in Mexico. Her father is a professional musician, which means she grew up living a troubadour's lifestyle and wanted to make a creative path of her own in life. By her own admission, she cannot sing like her father can, so, as she came of age, she struck out on her own in pursuit of acting, instead. She's only been active for a few years, but has already landed roles in both the prestige television world and high-octane popcorn action movies. You've seen her before, and you will only see more of her as time goes on if she keeps this aggressive, ascendant pace. Here's why Adria Arjona, who played Five in 6 Underground, looks so familiar.
Adria Arjona landed prestige TV work right out of the gate
In 2014, at just 24 years old, Arjona landed her first significant role (besides a few tiny television gigs) right out of acting school as Emily, Officer Paul Woodrugh's (Taylor Kitsch) girlfriend on the second season of the critically-acclaimed crime anthology series True Detective. It wasn't a lead role, but landing any job on a show that took home a boatload of Emmys the previous year is a big deal. She reflected on it as being her big break in an interview with Vanity Fair, saying, "I was blown away by the first season – I knew I had to be part of the second. There were really big names up for my role, but I knew I was going to get it. Not in a cocky way, I had to fight for it, but I felt like I earned it." She hardly needs to downplay her pride, since it shows an impressive work ethic to go that hard for your very first professional acting job, playing opposite the likes of Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch.
Adria Arjona put a foot in the Netflix door
6 Underground was not Arjona's first Netflix joint. She started strong with the company, being cast in 2016 as Leandra in The Belko Experiment, James Gunn's office thriller about coworkers being locked into their workplace and forced to hunt each other for sport. 6 Underground wasn't even her first project for the streaming giant in 2019 as, in March of that year, she appeared in Triple Frontier, another action-adventure film. To a certain extent, Triple Frontier is the bigger movie for her, as she co-starred with Ben Affleck, Oscar Issac, Charlie Hunnam, and Pedro Pascal. Arjona took extra delight in sharing the screen with Issac, since they are both of Guatemalan descent, describing the experience of getting to work with him as "powerful". The Vanity Fair article even had a short pull quote from Issac praising Arjona's stratospheric success: "As a Guatemalan myself, to see her knock it out of the park is thrilling." Impressive words from a guy with a résumé dotted with hits and critically-acclaimed performances.
Adria Arjona acquires geek credentials with Good Omens
2019 will probably go down as a significant year for Arjona's career because, besides the two big Netflix gigs, she began collecting nerd cred by appearing in one of the biggest fantasy adaptations in recent memory. Arjona appeared on Amazon Prime's Good Omens miniseries as Anathema Device, an occultist descended from the witch that prophesied the apocalyptic event that is the heart of the narrative. After decades of demand from fans for a movie or miniseries to be adapted from the novel created by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, the arrival of Amazon Prime's version, executive produced by Gaiman, himself, marked a climactic moment.
Arjona clearly doesn't intend to stop there with geeky content, as she has been cast in her biggest role yet: Leading lady in a superhero film. Arjona will appear in 2021's Morbius as Martine Bancroft, main love interest of the doctor-turned-living-vampire Michael Morbius (Jared Leto). Morbius is a very niche franchise character even for comics, so we'll be very curious to see what Arjona will bring to the table in this gritty sci-fi take on the blood-sucking undead. If being cast as co-star in blockbuster superhero films is only the first part of her still-early career, there's no telling to what peaks she'll ascend from here