Ana de Armas cried when she saw herself as Marilyn Monroe for the first time.

The 32-year-old actress is playing the Hollywood icon in the upcoming Netflix biographical drama Blonde, and she revealed that it was an emotional and exhausting experience transforming into the star.

“It was like, three and a half hours every day of make-up. I think I actually cried the first time I saw (the wigs) on. Probably because I was terrified. But, I’m so proud,” she told Byrdie magazine.

The Knives Out star said she also had to undergo extensive work to have her naturally dark hair covered while she was playing the screen siren. “I had to go bald every day, because with the blonde wigs… (Marilyn) went through different shades of blonde from golden to really platinum, so for these wigs that are beautifully made, you can’t have anything dark underneath, so we had to make a bald cap every single day from my forehead to (around) my whole head,” Ana explained.

The Cuban actress said she was honoured to play Marilyn, who tragically died at the age of 36 in 1962.

“It felt incredible, it felt… also very exhausting. It was a lot of hard work to play her in what I think was a really honest way of portraying her. Her life was not simple because you really have to go deep into that period and what happened to her and her story and who she was,” Ana shared.

Blonde, which also stars Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale, is set to be released later this year.

– Cover Media