Gabriel Luna Biography

Gabriel Isaac Luna (born December 5, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his leading roles as Tony Bravo on the El Rey Network action drama series Matador (2014) and Paco Contreras on ABC's crime drama series Wicked City (2015). On film, he has starred in the black comedy Bernie (2011), the sports comedy Balls Out (2014), the drama Freeheld (2015), the horror comedy Gravy (2015), and the thriller Transpecos (2016). In 2016, he joined the cast of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Robbie Reyes/Ghost Rider.

Personal life

Gabriel Isaac Luna was born in Austin, Texas to Deborah Ann (ne Perez) and Gabriel Lopez Luna (1962-82). His father died aged 20, shortly before Luna was born. He was raised in Austin, Texas. Luna attended St. Edward's University, where he made his stage debut as Romeo Montague in a production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Luna graduated from St. Edward's in 2005.

He has been married to Romanian actress Smaranda Luna (ne Ciceu) since February 2011.

Career

Luna made his screen acting debut as Kristofer Rostropovich in the drama film Fall to Grace, which premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2005. He then provided voice-over work for the science fiction video game BlackSite: Area 51, which was released on November 12, 2007. Luna is a founding member of the Austin-based Paper Chairs Theatre Company. On stage in Austin, Luna has portrayed Sergei Maxudov in Black Snow (2009), the title character in Orestes (2009), and Clov in Endgame (2010). For these three performances, he received the Austin Critics Table Best Lead Actor Award in 2010. Luna then starred as the lead character, Nate Hitchins, in the drama film Dance with the One, which was selected for South by Southwest and premiered on March 20, 2010. The following year, he had a supporting role in the black comedy film Bernie, directed by Richard Linklater, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 16, 2011. Luna's television credits include minor roles on Fox's serial drama Prison Break (2008), HBO's television film Temple Grandin (2010), Fox's drama-thriller Touch (2013), and CBS' action procedural drama NCIS: Los Angeles (2013).

In 2014, he was cast in the leading role of Tony Bravo on the El Rey Network television series Matador. The series premiered on July 15, 2014 and ran for one season of 13 episodes, ending on October 7, 2014. That same year, he co-starred as Vinnie in the sports comedy Balls Out, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2014. Luna next recurred as Miguel Gilb, a former lover of Taylor Kitsch's character, on the second season of the HBO anthology drama series True Detective, appearing in 3 episodes. He then co-starred in the Julianne Moore and Ellen Page-led drama film Freeheld, directed by Peter Sollett, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13, 2015. Luna subsequently had a supporting role in the comedy film Gravy, directed by James Roday, which was released in the United States on October 2, 2015. Luna was cast as Paco Contreras, a detective searching for a serial killer on the Sunset Strip, on the ABC crime drama series Wicked City. The series premiered on October 27, 2015, but was cancelled following its third episode; the remaining episodes were later released through Hulu.

The following year, he starred as border patrol agent Lance Flores in the thriller film Transpecos, opposite Clifton Collins, Jr. and Johnny Simmons. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 13, 2016. Luna next appeared as motorcycle racer Eddie Hasha in the Discovery Channel miniseries Harley and the Davidsons. In July of the same year, it was announced that he would be joining the cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in season 4 as Robbie Reyes, an incarnation of Ghost Rider.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Noteselder
2005	Fall to Grace	Kristofer Rostropovich
2010	Dance with the One	Nate Hitchins
2011	Bernie	Kevin
2012	Spring Eddy	Eddy
2014	Balls Out	Vinnie
2015	Freeheld	Detective Quesada
2015	Gravy	Hector
2016	Transpecos	Lance Flores	NaFF Special Jury Award for Best Actor

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Prison Break	Eduardo	Episode: "Dirt Nap"
2010	Temple Grandin	Student Wit	Television film; uncredited
2013	Touch	Ted	Episode: "Ghosts"
2013	NCIS: Los Angeles	Geology Student	Episode: "Descent"
2014	Matador	Tony Bravo	Main role; 13 episodes
2015	True Detective	Miguel Gilb	3 episodes
2015	Wicked City	Paco Contreras	Main role; 8 episodes
2016	Harley and the Davidsons	Eddie Hasha	Episode: "Amazing Machine"
2016-present	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Robbie Reyes / Ghost Rider	5 episodes
2016	Rosewood	Eddie Lunez	Episode: "Eddie & the Empire State of Mind"

Video games

Year	Title	Notes
2007	BlackSite: Area 51	Voice

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Location
2009	Black Snow	Sergei Maxudov	Salvage Vanguard Theater, Austin
2009	Orestes	Orestes	The Off Center, Austin
2010	Endgame	Clov	Larry L. King Theatre, Austin