Diego Luna
Quick Facts
Biography
Diego Luna Alexander (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdjeɣo ˈluna]; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, producer and director. After starring in telenovelas early in his career, he has appeared in many films, including Y tu mamá también, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Rudo y Cursi and the Star Wars anthology film Rogue One. He also provided the Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations.
Early life
Luna was born in Mexico City. His mother, Fiona Alexander was a British costume designer, who worked in the film industry and made sure that it was a life in which he would be immersed. Fiona died in a car accident when Luna was two years old. His father, Alejandro is one of the most acclaimed living theatre, film and opera set designer, who reinforced the importance of theatre and the arts in his life. When Luna was a child, Alejandro 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
Luna made his film debut in an uncredited role for Antonieta (1982). His next role was in the telenovela El Abuelo y Yo (1992) with his childhood best friend, Gael García Bernal. In 1995, he played Laura León's troubled son Quique in the Mexican soap opera El premio mayor. Luna and García Bernal starred in the critical acclaimed film Y tu mamá también (2001).
Luna has 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 Tom Golden), jointly produce a number of television documentaries about the unsolved murders of over three hundred women in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.
In 2011, Luna played the male lead in Katy Perry's music video for "The One That Got Away". In June 2012, he directed his first English-language film Cesar Chávez, a biopic about the life of the American labor leader, who founded the United Farm Workers. During the same year, Luna and Bernal starred together for the fourth time, this time in the American Spanish-language film Casa de Mi Padre with Will Ferrell.
On 20 March 2015, he joined the cast for Ana Lily Amirpour's cannibal 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 Cassian Andor in the Star Wars anthology film Rogue One.
Personal life
Luna married Camila Sodi on 5 February 2008. They had a son, Jerónimo (born 12 August 2008), and a daughter, Fiona (born 1 July 2010), named after Luna's mother. They announced their separation in March 2013 and later divorced. He has been dating English actress and model Suki Waterhouse since 2015.
He and García 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 prestigious Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) 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 when seeking refuge in the United States.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Antonieta | N/A | Uncredited |
1999 | A Sweet Scent of Death | Ramón | |
2000 | Before Night Falls | Carlos | |
2001 | Y tu mamá también | Tenoch Iturbide | |
2002 | Frida | Alejandro 'Alex' | |
2002 | Vampires: Los Muertos | Sancho | |
2003 | Nicotina | Lolo | |
2003 | Soldados de Salamina | Gastón | |
2003 | Open Range | Button | |
2004 | Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights | Javier Suarez | |
2004 | The Terminal | Enrique Cruz | |
2004 | Criminal | Rodrigo | |
2006 | Only God Knows | Damián | |
2006 | Fade to Black | Tommaso Moreno | |
2006 | Un mundo maravilloso | Reportero en Estocolmo | |
2007 | El Búfalo de la Noche | Manuel | |
2007 | Mister Lonely | Michael Jackson | |
2008 | Just Walking | Gabriel | |
2008 | Rudo y Cursi | Beto | |
2008 | Milk | Jack Lira | |
2010 | Abel | N/A | Director |
2012 | Contraband | Gonzalo | |
2012 | Casa de Mi Padre | Raul | |
2013 | Elysium | Julio | |
2014 | César Chávez | N/A | Director and producer |
2014 | The Book of Life | Manolo Sanchez (voice) | |
2016 | Blood Father | Jonah | |
2016 | Mr. Pig | N/A | Director |
2016 | The Bad Batch | John | |
2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Cassian Andor | |
2017 | Flatliners | Ray | post-production |
2018 | Scarface | Tony Montana | pre-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Carrusel | N/A | Episode #1.1 |
1995 | El premio mayor | Quique Domínguez | 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 |
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 García Bernal) | Y tu mamá también | Won |
MTV Movie Awards | Best Insult (shared with Gael García Bernal) | Won | ||
Best Kiss (shared with Maribel Verdú and Gael García Bernal) | Nominated | |||
2004 | MTV Movie Awards | Favorite Actor, Best Performance and Worst Smoker | Nicotina | Won |
Best Turn-On Performance | Nominated | |||
Best Performance | Open Range | Nominated | ||
2009 | Cinema Writers Circle Awards | Best Actor | Just Walking | Nominated |
Goya Awards | Best Actor | Nominated | ||
Silver Ariel Award | Best Actor | Rudo y Cursi | Nominated | |
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Ensemble | Milk | Nominated | |
Critics Choice Award | Best Ensemble | Won | ||
2012 | Imagen Award | Best Supporting Actor/Feature Film | Casa de mi Padre | Won |
2014 | Audience Award | Narrative Spotlight | Cesar Chavez | Won |
2017 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Film | Rogue One | Pending |