María Cecilia Suárez de Garay (Spanish pronunciation: [seˈsilja ˈswaɾes]; born 22 November 1971)[1] is a Mexican actress and activist working with the United Nations and European Union campaigning against femicide and violence against women.

Ignacio Sánchez Prado, a historian of Mexican cinema, writes that she has an "iconic status as an actress in Mexico's most successful movies".

[3] When asked about her experience making Sex, Shame and Tears, she responded that she remembers it very positively, because it is how she "became a part of the story of the cinema of [her] country".

[3][16] After the success of Sex, Shame and Tears, Suárez worked largely in major motion pictures in the early 2000s, including in Hollywood films Spanglish, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and The Air I Breathe.

[3] Suárez worked alongside actor Gael García Bernal on multiple occasions in both mediums,[18] as well as with the director Ernesto Contreras, having acclaimed roles in two of his films.

[12] She also continued successfully working in theater,[13] having roles alongside Juan Manuel Bernal on the stage as well as in film and television during this period.

[17] Suárez starred in the film Nos vemos, papá, which focuses on how grief is expressed, exploring this through her character's response to the death of her father.

[23] In 2017 she joined Netflix again, signing on to play a role in another original created by Caro, The House of Flowers, also beginning work on the American film Overboard.

[31][32] In 2009 she wrote the chapter "Una habitación propia" ("A room of one's own") for the book Gritos y susurros II: experiencias intempestivas de otras 39 mujeres.

[14] In 2018, Suárez was named a Spotlight Initiative Champion[37][38] to the UN campaign against femicide,[3][8] and she gave a lecture to the UN assembly in New York City titled "Enough" in September that year.

[3] She was one of five representatives to give a speech when opening the UN and European Union's 2019 €50 million Spotlight Initiative campaign to end femicide in Latin America.

[16] Suárez met de León in 2009, and they began improvising flirtatious lines when starring together in the play Othello before starting a relationship.

[45] In November 2019, de León spoke about their relationship for the first time since the order, saying that "everything is fine" between the pair, though his other children have not met Teo.

[48] In 2004 and 2005 she was nominated for the Mexican MTV Movie Award, for roles in Sin ton ni sonia and Puños Rosas.

[49] In 2018, Suárez became the first woman to receive the Premio Cuervo Tradicional, Mexico's lifetime achievement award in film and television.

[53] In 2019, Suárez co-hosted the 6th Platino Awards, where she also won for playing Paulina de la Mora in The House of Flowers, in the Best Actress (TV) category.