Diego Luna Biography

Diego Luna Alexander (born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, producer and director known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mam tambin and supporting roles in American films, including Rudo y Cursi, The Terminal, Elysium and Milk. He also starred with Romola Garai in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights and provides the Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations. In 2016, he starred as Captain Cassian Andor in the Star Wars Anthology film Rogue One.

Early life

Luna was born in Mexico City, the son of Fiona Alexander, a British costume designer, and Alejandro Luna, a Mexican set designer, who is one of the most acclaimed living theatre, cinema and opera set designers in Mexico. His mother died in a car accident when he was two years old. She had worked in the film industry and had made sure that this was a life in which Luna would be immersed. His father also reinforced the importance of theatre and the arts in his life. When Luna was a child his father would bring him to the sets and mentor him in different aspects of art, furthering in him a desire to become an actor and uphold the family tradition.

Career

From an early age, Luna began acting in television, film and stage, his film debut was Antonieta (1982). His next role was in the telenovela El Abuelo y Yo (1992) with his childhood best friend, Gael Garca Bernal. In 1995, he played the role of Laura Len's troubled son Quique in the Mexican soap opera El premio mayor. Luna also starred in the critically acclaimed film Y tu mam tambin (2001), once again alongside Garca Bernal.

He currently made a name for himself in the United States market, having starred alongside Jon Bon Jovi in Vampires: Los Muertos (2002) and the Academy Award-winning Frida (2002). He also starred in Open Range, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Terminal and Criminal. In 2008, he starred in the Harvey Milk biopic Milk as his emotionally unstable lover, Jack Lira. Luna and Bernal own Canana Films which, along with Golden Phoenix Productions (owned by producer Tom Golden of Hot Springs, Arkansas), jointly produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Ciudad Jurez.

For the fourth time, Luna and Bernal starred in the American Spanish-language comedy film Casa de Mi Padre with Will Ferrell. In 2011, Luna played the male lead in Katy Perry's music video, "The One That Got Away". In June 2012, he began directing his first English-language film Cesar Chvez, a biopic about the life of American labor eponymous leader, who founded the United Farm Workers.

Luna voiced the main character, Manolo, in the 2014 animated film The Book of Life. In March 2015, he joined the cast for Ana Lily Amirpour's cannibal romance film The Bad Batch. In 2016, he was a member of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. He played Captain Cassian Andor in the 2016 Star Wars spin-off film Rogue One.

Personal life

Luna wed Mexican actress Camila Sodi on 5 February 2008 and they had a son Jernimo (born 12 August 2008) and a daughter, Fiona (born 1 July 2010) who is named after Luna's late mother. They announced their separation in March 2013, and later divorced.

He and Gael Garca Bernal co-founded Ambulante A.C., their organization and film festival that works to bring documentary films to places where they are rarely shown. Ambulante was awarded the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) prestigious Human Rights Award in 2011. Luna now sits on WOLA's Board of Directors, and in January 2015 he narrated a WOLA video examining the barriers that Mexican migrant children fleeing violence in their home country face to seeking refuge in the United States.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Antonieta		Uncredited
1999	A Sweet Scent of Death	Ramn
2000	Before Night Falls	Carlos
2001	Y tu mam tambin	Tenoch Iturbide
2002	Frida	Alejandro 'Alex'
2002	Vampires: Los Muertos	Sancho
2003	Nicotina	Lolo
2003	Soldados de Salamina	Gastn
2003	Open Range	Button
2004	Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights	Javier Suarez
2004	The Terminal	Enrique Cruz
2004	Criminal	Rodrigo
2006	Only God Knows	Damin
2006	Fade to Black	Tommaso Moreno
2006	Un mundo maravilloso	Reportero en Estocolmo
2007	El Bfalo de la Noche	Manuel
2007	Mister Lonely	Michael Jackson
2008	Just Walking	Gabriel
2008	Rudo y Cursi	Beto
2008	Milk	Jack Lira
2010	Abel		Director
2012	Contraband	Gonzalo
2012	Casa de Mi Padre	Raul
2013	Elysium	Julio
2014	Csar Chvez		Director and producer
2014	The Book of Life	Manolo Sanchez (voice)
2016	Blood Father	Jonah
2016	Mr. Pig		Director
2016	The Bad Batch	John
2016	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story	Captain Cassian Andor
2017	Flatliners	Ray	post-production
2017	Scarface	Tony Montanna	pre-production
2017	Ferdinand	Matador (voice)	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Carrusel		Episode #1.1
1995	El premio mayor	Quique Domnguez	Recurring
2002	Fidel	Renato Guitart	Television film
2010	Great Migrations	Narrator	Miniseries
2013	American Dad!	Mauricio (voice)	Episode: Poltergasm
2015	Casanova	Giacomo Casanova	Amazon Studios pilot

Music video

Year	Title	Role
2011	"The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry	Artist Boyfriend

Awards

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
2002	Premio Marcello Mastroianni Award	Best Actor (shared with Gael Garca Bernal)	Y tu mam tambin
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Insult (shared with Gael Garca Bernal)
		Best Kiss (shared with Maribel Verd and Gael Garca Bernal)
2004	MTV Movie Awards	Favorite Actor, Best Performance and Worst Smoker	Nicotina
		Best Turn-On Performance
		Best Performance	Open Range
2009	Cinema Writers Circle Awards	Best Actor	Just Walking
	Goya Awards	Best Actor
	Silver Ariel Award	Best Actor	Rudo y Cursi
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Best Ensemble	Milk
	Critics Choice Award	Best Ensemble
2012	Imagen Award	Best Supporting Actor/Feature Film	Casa de mi Padre
2014	Audience Award	Narrative Spotlight	Cesar Chavez