Monica Barbaro.
Monica Barbaro, 34, who grew up in Mill Valley and went to Tam High, (home of the Bay Area’s M Ill Valley Film Festival) just scored a nomination for best supporting actress for her role in “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic.
The Bay Area isn’t a feature film superpower, but it pulls its weight in awards season, according to SFGate.
The region also scored a well-deserved nomination for “Inside Out 2.
The Bob Dylan biopic scored eight Oscar nominations, including a best picture nod and an actor nomination for Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of the icon.
Barbaro plays the legendary folk musician Joan Baez, who becomes romantically entangled with Dylan as they tour together.
Barbaro danced at Marin Ballet in San Rafael and went to NYU to study dance before transitioning to acting.
In the 2010s, she appeared in a smattering of television roles before making her breakthrough in “Top Gun: Maverick,” where she appeared alongside Tom Cruise.
This is her first Oscar nomination.
Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts.
In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Barbaro revealed that she spent less than a year learning Baez’s guitar style and how to mirror her voice. The process involved a phone call with the 84-year-old folk musician, who now lives in Woodside, California. “It was just an overhaul of training,” she told the Chronicle. “… Joan has an impossibly perfect voice!” (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)