DIEGO LUNA
Date of Birth: December 29, 1979
Diego Luna Alexander's first big break was in the Oscar-nominated film Y tu mamá también (2001). Along with his co-star, his best friend/fellow actor Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego won Best Actor at the Vadivia Film Festival and the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival. Just 21 when he played the role of a teenager in the film, Diego already had 13 years of acting experience under his belt. Born in Mexico City, Mexico, his mother died in a car accident when Diego was only two. His father, an acclaimed Mexican theater and film set designer, introduced his son to the world of entertainment.
Diego's first role was on stage at the age of seven. He made his screen debut in the short film El último fin de año (1991) and his television debut at eleven with a recurring part in the soap opera El abuelo y yo, starring his best friend, Bernal. Work in a variety of Mexican films and TV shows followed, and in 2000, Diego made his American film debut in Before Night Falls, starring Johnny Depp. After the success of Y tu mamá también, Diego found himself in demand, with offers coming in from America as well as Mexico. He completed three more Mexican films before taking on the role of Alejandro in the Oscar-winning film Frida (2002), produced by and starring Salma Hayek.
He won rave reviews for his role as the likeable young sidekick Button in Kevin Costner's Open Range (2003), filmed in Alberta. Diego traveled to Puerto Rico to play the starring role as Latino heartthrob Javier, a salsa dancer who sweeps an American teenager off her feet in Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing 2 (2004). Also for 2004, he appeared in Dreamworks' The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks, and Warner Bros. Independent Pictures' Criminal, starring John C. Reilly. In 2008, he starred alongside Sean Penn in Milk and with Kate Beckinsale and Mark Wahlberg in Contraband (2012).
For his work on stage, Diego won the 1996-1997 "Masculine Revelation Award" from the Association of Theatre Reviewers for his role in El Cantaro Roto and the 2001-2002 "Best Comic Actor" award for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which he also produced.
He met his wife, actress Camila Sodi, on the set of Déficit (2007). They were married in February 2008 and welcomed a son on August 12, 2008.