Why Does Maje From Netflix Hit ‘A Widow's Game' Look So Familiar?

Forbes

03-06-2025

Ivanna Baquero in "A Widow's Game."
Ivana Baquero — the star of Netflix's No. 1 movie A Widow's Game — got her showbiz break in 2006 thanks a lead role in a Guillermo del Toro classic. What else has she starred in?
Baquero stars as Maje in the A Widow's Game, which is currently the No. 1 film on the streamer's top 10 list of movies on the platform in the U.S. Netflix reported Tuesday that A Widow's Game also earned spots on Top 10 most-watched movie lists in 90 countries worldwide, amassing 15.4 million views since its debut on the streaming service on Friday, May 30.
A Widow's Game is based on the real-life case known as "The Black Widow of Patraix.' The official summary for the film reads, 'August 2017. In a parking lot in Valencia appears the body of a man, stabbed seven times. Everything points to a crime of passion.
Ivanna Baquero in "A Widow's Game."
'The Homicide Group of the city, with a veteran inspector at the head, starts an investigation against the clock that soon leads them to a suspect that no one expected: Maje, the young widow, sweet and serene, who had been married to the victim for less than a year.'
Born June 11, 1994, in Barcelona, Spain, Baquero made her screen debut in a supporting role in the 2004 Spanish-UK supernatural thriller Romasanta, which was followed by roles in two more feature films and two TV movies.
Baquero's breakthrough role, however, happened in 2006 when del Toro cast the young actor in the lead role in a film that went on to receive six Oscar nominations at the 2007 Academy Awards.
Set in 1944, Pan's Labyrinth stars Ivana Baquero as Ofelia, a 10-year-old girl who moves with her ailing, pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to the Spanish countryside to live with Carmen's new husband, the brutal military dictator Captain Vidal (Sergi López).
As Ofelia befriends a mythical creature known as the Faun (Doug Jones), she learns that she is a reincarnated princess who is saddled with completely three daunting tasks before she can once again assume the throne. Jones also plays the haunting creature the Pale Man in the film.
Director Guillermo Del Toro and cast members Maribel Verdun, Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez ... More and Alfonso Cuaron at the photocall of "El laberinto del fauno" during the 59th Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Eddy LEMAISTRE/Corbis via Getty Images)
Produced in Spain, Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for six Oscars in 2007, including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Score for Javier Navarette and Best Original Screenplay for Guillermo del Toro.
Pan's Labyrinth won Oscars in the three other categories it was nominated in, including Best Makeup, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.
Baquero was also honored for her role as Ofelia, winning the Best New Actress honor at the Goya Awards, which is Spain's equivalent to the Oscars.
Baquero also won a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA and was nominated for Best Young Actress at the 2007 Critics Choice Awards.
Based on the best-selling The Sword of Shannara Trilogy of books by Terry Brooks, The Shannara Chronicles stars Ivana Baquero as Eretria opposites future Elvis and Dune: Part Two star Austin Butler.
In the series, Eretria is a human who teams with the Elven Princess Amberle (Poppy Drayton) and a half-human/half-elf, Wil (Butler) to fend off demons from taking over the environs known as the Four Lands.
Created by Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, The Shannara Chronicles ran for two seasons on MTV from 2016 to 2017. The series also starred James Remar (Dexter) and John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings/Indiana Jones series).
Alejandra Onieva and Ivanna Baquero in "High Seas."
A Netflix original Spanish series, High Seas stars Ivana Baquero as Eve Villanueva and Alejandra Onieva as her sister, Carolina, who while on a luxury cruise from Spain to Brazil in the 1940s investigate a series of mysterious murders aboard the ship.
High Seas ran for three seasons on Netflix from 2019 to 2020. The first and second seasons each featured eight episodes, while the third season concluded the series with six episodes.
Ivana Baquero stars opposite Evil Dead icon Bruce Campbell in the horror comedy Black Friday as Marnie, one of a small group of a large retail toy store who must fight off blood-thirsty shoppers infected with a parasites as the annual day-after-Thanksgiving sale gets underway.
Black Friday also stars Devon Sawa (the first movie in the Final Destination franchise) and Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight).
A Widow's Tale, starring Ivana Baquero, is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.