Welcome back to the article that lets you take a peek behind the animation and see the voices of the characters you know and love! It's time for "Hey, It's That Voice!" Today, we are looking at the voice of the silent muscle for Aquamarine, Topaz!
Topaz is far more than what she seems. On the surface, the Topaz soldiers look are distant, aloof, and very powerful. Using fusion and other clever tactics when fighting against Steven and Connie was perhaps one of my favorite fight scene in all of Steven Universe so far. She's big and imposing, and she almost went as far as to killing Jamie to get information about the location of "my dad". And yet, Topaz has a soft side. In fact, upon listening to Steven and Lars talk to each other, she started to break down in tears. There is so much depth to the Topaz soldiers we have seen and I would love to see more of them. But who voices these big softies? Why, that would be Martha Higareda!
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| What would Topaz do without Topaz? |
Martha Elba Higareda Cervantes was born August 24, 1983 in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico to actress Martha Cervantes and Jose Luis Higareda, an artist and therapist. Her older sister, Miriam Higareda, is also an actress. She began acting on stage at a young age along with studying dance, jazz, flamenco, tap, and folk. At the age of 15, Higareda entered college early at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education to study communications. While attending school in the morning, she would attend acting classes at night and continue to perform theater on the weekends. Shortly after, she would change her study focus to performing arts.
In 2002, Higareda landed her first starring role in the film Amar te duele as Renata. The film was well-received, was a box office hit, and nominated for several awards. Higareda herself was nominated for several awards including the Silver Goddess award for Best Newcomer and MTV Movie Award for Favorite Actress. Quickly, she was given the nickname "The Mexican Sweetheart".
Other roles Higareda would have following her debut include Enamórate, Casa de los babys, Las Juanas, Gitanas, Al otro lado, 7 días, Sexo, amor y otras perversiones, Fuera del cielo, Así del precipicio, Bad Girls, Hasta el viento tiene miedo, La leyenda de la Nahuala and All Inclusive.
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| Grace Garcia (Higareda) and Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) in Street Kings. |
In 2007, Higareda starred in her first American film, Borderland, a horror film that is loosely based on a true story. In the film, she portrays the bartender and love interest Valeria. The next year, she would star along with Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Common, The Game, and various others in the film Street Kings.
Following her American debut, Higareda continued starring in other films and television serires. These included Tiempo final, Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball, Carlos, Sin memoria, Lies in Plain Sight, Te presento a Laura, CSI: Miami, Mariachi Gringo, Malaventura, Hello Herman, The List, Go for Sisters, Hawaii Five-0, Cásese quien pueda, Royal Pains, El Mariachi, McFarland, USA, No Manches Frida, 3 Idiotas, and Altered Carbon.
And that will do it for this edition of "Hey, It's That Voice!" Join me next time when we go into the courtroom to look at the the lawyer gems!
