Martha Higareda

Martha Elba Guadalupe Higareda Cervantes, born August 24, 1983, is a Mexican actress, producer, and screenwriter. Earning the nickname "The Mexican Sweetheart," she has built a career across film and television in both Mexico and the United States, expanding her work to include writing and producing feature films.

Higareda was born in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, to actress Martha Cervantes and artist and therapist Jose Luis Higareda. She was raised alongside her sister, actress Miriam Higareda. She began performing early on stage while training in jazz, flamenco, tap, and folklore dancing. At age 14, she relocated to Mexico City to pursue acting. She entered El Tecnologico de Monterrey at 15 to study Communications, taking morning classes while attending acting school in the evening and performing in weekend theater. Her mother and sister moved to Mexico City a year later to join her at acting school.

Early in her career, director Alfonso Cuarón cast her as Cecilia Huerta in Y Tu Mamá También, but she could not perform the role due to being underage and the film's nudity. Cuarón encouraged her to continue acting, prompting her to change her college major to Performing Arts. In 2003, she landed her first TV lead in TV Azteca's Enamórate alongside Yahir.

Higareda then returned to film, starring in Siete Días with Jaime Camil. She won a Silver Goddess Award for Carlos Carrera's Sexo, amor y otras perversiones and earned a Mexican Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Fuera del Cielo. In 2007, she starred in Niñas Mal with Camila Sodi and Ximena Sariñana. At age 25, she wrote and produced her first independent film, Te presento a Laura, which stayed in the box-office top ten for ten weeks. In 2014, she wrote, produced, and starred in Cásese Quien Pueda, which became the second highest-grossing film of its time in Mexico.

Higareda made her American film debut in the 2007 Lionsgate film Borderland. After meeting agent Craig Shapiro at the American Film Market, she relocated to Los Angeles. Her international projects included Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball, Hello Herman with Norman Reedus, Lies in Plain Sight, and Disney's McFarland, USA. She won the Mayahuel Award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival for Mariachi Gringo and played Amparo in the miniseries Carlos. On television, she starred as Detective Kristin Ortega in Netflix's Altered Carbon in 2018 and as Marisol in Hulu's Into the Dark episode "Culture Shock" in 2019.

Higareda also produced and starred in the 2016 hit film No manches Frida opposite Omar Chaparro, as well as co-producing the Mexican adaptation of 3 idiots. In her personal life, she was married to actor Cory Brusseau from 2016 to 2020. She began dating former football player and podcaster Lewis Howes in June 2021, and they became engaged in September 2023. Following a 2024 surgery for uterine fibroids, the couple married in Playa del Carmen in February 2025 and welcomed twin girls in November 2025.