Meet Benjamin Bratt’s stunning Bond girl wife of over 20 years who quietly stepped away from acting

Talisa was signed by Click Model Management at the age of 15, and within a year she had become the first Latina to cover British Vogue. Later, in April 1989, she became the first Latina to grace the cover of American Vogue.

Alongside modelling, Talisa moved into acting in 1988, and soon landed a role as a Bond girl in the movie Licence to Kill, alongside Timothy Dalton. She also starred in films such as The Mambo Kings, Mortal Kombat and Vampirella.

It was in the early 1990s that Talisa and Benjamin first met at a movie audition. But they didn’t become a couple until a decade later when they co-starred in the film Piñero together, and their relationship became very serious very quickly.

“She was a very famous model and actor; she was a Bond girl. Within six months after consummating our affair, I got down on a knee and proposed,” Benjamin recalled to Esquire in 2022.

The couple married in San Francisco in April 2002, less than a year after Benjamin’s high-profile split from Hollywood actress Julia Roberts. Soon after, Talisa retired from acting to focus on family life, and her last film appearance was in the 2009 movie La Mission, directed by her brother-in-law Peter Bratt.

Although Talisa and Benjamin share few details about their private life, they are parents to two children daughter Sophia, born in 2002, and son Mateo, born in 2005.

“Falling in love with Talisa cemented what I’ve instinctually always known: Above being an artist, even above defining myself as an actor, I see myself as a husband and a father first,” Benjamin said. “I don’t know if that’s been a hindrance or a help in terms of the professional path I’ve been on, but at this point it’s hard to really care too much about it.”

In a 2022 interview, Benjamin revealed that their daughter had experienced a brain injury at birth, which had impacted their lives together and many of the decisions they had made. “Almost everything we do, every decision we make personally and professionally, is informed by our daughter, Sophia, and her needs. She incurred a brain injury at birth, so she faces a host of challenges,” he said.

Singing his wife’s praises, the actor added of Talisa: “Raising children, especially one who is as challenged as our daughter, is physically and emotionally exhausting. My wife carries the brunt of it because when I go off to work, she is left behind. She’s my hero.”

In 2022, Benjamin also disclosed that Talisa had been diagnosed with breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had encouraged him to share her story in an effort to encourage women to “get your screenings yearly, that you have to self-advocate for yourself and take care of yourself.”

After a 25-year relationship, it’s clear that Benjamin and Talisa’s relationship is incredibly strong, and he appreciates her dedication to their family more than ever. “Most people don’t know her. If they see her, what they see is a spectacularly beautiful woman who worked in the business. But to know her is to really love her,” Benjamin told Esquire in 2022.