• Took acting classes at a Bogot? (Colombia) theater before getting "discovered" by an anonymous supporter who referred her name to the casting agent for Maria Full of Grace (2004).
• Studied advertising at a college in Colombia before moving to New York City around 2003.

Born in Bogota, Colombia in 1981, Catalina Sandino Moreno became interested in theater and stage at an early age. In 1997, while still in high school, she enrolled in the Ruben Di Pietro theatre academy in Bogota. During her four years at the academy, she acted in such productions as "Acuerdo para Cambiar de Casa" by Griselda Gambaro, "The Dark Room" by Tennessee Wiliams, and "Laughing Wild" by Christopher Durand.