Rising Stars: Meet Alex Peña of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Peña.

Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started doing theater very early back in México, we used to do Pastorelas (mexican theater plays reenacting catholic topics, usually the birth of baby Jesus). After that I started doing more theater in high-school, after that, at university. Then, one day I decided to leave to devote myself to acting, and I started with musical theater.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My family didn’t have enough money to pay for private schools. That’s part of the reason I left university. I eventually got some good scholarships for international schools like AMDA, but even then with that we could not afford me going outside of the country on my own. I eventually found ways of paying for my own studies and managed to get a hold of a 100% scholarship at Casa Azul where I studied my second acting career, now specializing in Dramatic Arts.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been a professional actor for the last 11 years, with two full careers and a lot of workshops behind me. I love to keep myself learning and up to the task. I specialize in acting for film, but I am an all-around actor. I keep working in all, if not, most of the acting areas. I love to keep myself busy and active. I’m known for a Mexican film on Netflix called “Four Centuries of Miracles”, a new film that just came out to theaters called “Autos, Mota & Rocanrol”, on Hulu you can find me on “UFO Factory” and probably a lot of commercials. The most recent is a Hyundai Palisade one. One interesting note is that on my second year here I got to do a scene with Jason Schwartzman in HBO´s Film “Mountainhead”. There are a lot more projects on the way, but I will be sharing those with you when the time is right.
The thing I’m the most proud of is that I’ve kept true to my dreams, my goals and specially myself. I’m capable of living off of acting even in LA. Though I couldn’t do it without the help of my family, friends and loved ones. You know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I believe the world is changing and the only way we can stop just surviving and start living is by: Making ourselves responsible of our own lives and by helping each other out, because it’s way easier to help each other than to be afraid of each other.
Love, empathy and community are the answers.

Contact Info:

• Website: m.imdb.com/name/nm3521241/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexpactor/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-pe%C3%B1a-7245aa103/

Image Credits
Photo by Danielle Masucci