Mitzi Mabel Martínez Cadena (born 23 September 1990) is a Mexican actress known for starring in the 2020 films Dance of the 41 and La diosa del asfalto, as well as the 2019 television series Hernán. She made her Hollywood debut playing Namora in the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
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Early life and education
Mabel Cadena was born in Atizapán de Zaragoza on 23 September 1990, and grew up in Minatitlán, Veracruz. She studied for a licentiate in psychology at the Universidad Veracruzana. She began her acting training at the CasAzul Artes Escénicas Argos academy in Tlalnepantla de Baz.
Career
After acting in some plays, Cadena shifted to television in 2012, playing the role of Adela Rosa Chávez in the HBO series Capadocia. Her TV career continued in productions such as Camelia la Texana (2014), El Señor de los Cielos (2014), Érase una vez (2017), Las Malcriadas (2017), El Vato (2017), Ingobernable (2017), Por la máscara (2018), La Bandida (2018), and Monarca (2019). Despite some initial misgivings, she learned to speak Nahuatl to play the role of Tecuelhuetzin in the 2019 series Hernán.
Just when I had the first rehearsal with the director, I panicked. I came home to cry, because it is not the same to act in a language that is yours; you master and you know it.
She ventured into cinema with The Eternal Feminine (2017), La diosa del asfalto (2020) by Julián Hernández, and Dance of the 41 (2020) by David Pablos. The latter gained her fame in Mexico when she portrayed Amada Díaz, stepdaughter of Porfirio Díaz. Among the short films in which she has appeared are Menage à trois (2015), Cuatro Minutos (2021), and Venganza póstuma (2022).
Cadena made her Hollywood debut in 2022 with the Marvel Studios film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in the role of Namora, cousin of Namor. She will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday (2026).
