Spotlight on actor Michael Peña
The veteran actor talks about his new crime series and tough upbringing
DRUG WARS Netflix’s addictive drug-trafficking drama Narcos moves into new territory with Narcos: Mexico, in which Michael plays Kiki Camerena, a family man and undercover agent who’s sent to Guadalajara to take up a new post and soon finds himself up against sophisticated cartel boss Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna). The 42-year-old actor, who most recently appeared on the big screen in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, says his character is based on a real-life figure. “He was an agent in the mid-’80s when the Drug Enforcement Agency was in its infancy. He goes to Mexico to try to make a difference and sees things coming to a head; tensions forming that would eventually grow into the cartel.”
FIRST GENERATION AMERICAN He grew up in Chicago in the US where his Mexican parents both worked in a button factory. “I grew up in the ghetto and I remember I had my first bike at 13 and I had it for like half an hour. Then a gang took it. That’s how I grew up. But we also had a lot of fun, lots of family gatherings – it was a really Mexican upbringing.”
ACTING AMBITIONS After high school he moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting but couldn’t afford lessons, so he taught himself. “I went into a bookstore and asked for the best acting book. I’d work on one technique at a time and go to auditions. I had nothing to fall back on. At times I was flat broke. I slept on couches and in a friend’s van. I was like, I’m going to stick it out.”
HOLLYWOOD SUCCESS He’s been in the industry for almost 25 years and had plenty of roles before getting a major break in the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby (2004). He’s since starred in a string of movies and TV series and says his toughest role was in Oliver Stone’s World Trade Centre, in which he played a cop. “I just really wanted to do right by it. There was a sense of responsibility to my country and the families of those who fell on 9/11. On top of that, there was Oliver Stone.” Michael plays a DEA agent in Narcos: Mexico.