Table of Contents

Early life
Career
Acting
Producing and directing
Other work
Personal life
Filmography
Film
Television
Theater
Music videos
Awards
References
External links

Diego Luna

NameDiego Luna
Image
CaptionLuna in 2025
BirthnameDiego Dionisio Luna Alexander
Birth Date1979-12-29
Birth PlaceToluca, Mexico
AliasAlexander García
Yearsactive1987–present
SpouseCamila Sodi (2008 – 2013)
Children2
MotherFiona Alexander †
FatherAlejandro Luna

Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (ˈdjeɣo ˈluna aleɣˈsandeɾ; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in Rogue One (2016) and its prequel series Andor (2022–2025), for which he was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

Following an early career in Mexican telenovelas, Luna had his breakthrough in the critically acclaimed 2001 film Y tu mamá también. During the 2000s, he appeared in both Mexican and American films including Frida, Open Range, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Terminal, Criminal, Milk, Sólo quiero caminar, and Rudo y Cursi. In the 2010s, his films included the science fiction Elysium, comedy Casa de mi Padre, and the animated musical The Book of Life. From 2018 to 2020, he starred as the drug trafficker Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo in Narcos: Mexico.

Luna has appeared in numerous Mexican theater productions and produced both film and television projects, many with Gael García Bernal. Since 2010, he has directed three feature films: Abel, Cesar Chavez, and Mr. Pig. He is the creator and director of the 2013 Fusion TV docu-series Back Home, the Amazon Studios talk show Pan y Circo, which premiered in 2020, and the 2021 Netflix scripted series Everything Will Be Fine (TV series). In 2025, Time magazine listed Luna as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Early life

Luna was born in Toluca and raised in Mexico City. His mother, Fiona Alexander, was a British costume designer of Scottish and English descent. She died in a car accident when Luna was two years old. His father, Alejandro Luna, was a theater, film, and opera set designer. He has an older sister. Luna and his frequent co-star Gael García Bernal have known each other since infancy, as their mothers were friends. They spent time together as young children and developed a close friendship growing up. In 1994, Luna participated in youth-led activism in support of Indigenous rights during the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. Alongside classmates, he helped organize protests, fundraisers, and food drives in response to the movement.

Career

Acting

Luna at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival

Luna acted in his first play at age seven. As a child actor, he appeared in several telenovelas and films. In 1992, he had arcs on Televisa's El abuelo y yo and Ángeles sin paraíso. As a teenager, Luna was part of the main casts of El premio mayor (1995–1996) and La vida en el espejo (1999–2000), playing the main characters' son; he also starred in the films Un hilito de sangre (A Trickle of Blood; 1995), El cometa (The Comet; 1999), and Un dulce olor a muerte (A Sweet Scent of Death; 1995), all which made him a teen star. He had small roles in the films Todo el poder (Gimme the Power; 2000) and Before Night Falls (2000).

Luna starred as Tenoch Iturbide alongside Gael García Bernal in Y tu mamá también (2001), a Mexican road trip film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. A critical and box office success, the role brought him international stardom. The film was the beginning of a series of high-profile collaborations with childhood friend García Bernal, with whom he would costar in several films and go on to establish Canana Films. For these roles and others, the two are considered to be faces of the Nuevo Cine Mexicano film movement.

In the following two years, Luna acted in Mexican films along with English-language productions like the miniseries Fidel, Vampires: Los Muertos, the Kevin Costner western Open Range, and the Academy Award-winning Frida. He starred in the 2003 film Nicotina, which was critically and commercially successful in Mexico. 2004 was a significant year for Luna as he starred in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal alongside Tom Hanks, the film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (a Cuban-based reimagining of Dirty Dancing), and the indie crime film Criminal alongside John C. Reilly. He subsequently had starring roles in the films Fade to Black (2006) and Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely (2007), and also appeared in the critically acclaimed biopic Milk (2008). In Spanish-language film, he starred in Sólo Dios sabe opposite Alice Braga (Only God Knows; 2006), crime thriller Solo quiero caminar (Walking Vengeance; 2008)—for which he was nominated for a Goya Award—and the soccer comedy Rudo y Cursi (2008), one of the highest grossing Mexican films of all time.

Luna and Felicity Jones at the premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in Japan
In the early 2010s, Luna co-starred in the Will Ferrell Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre (2012) and appeared in the action films Contraband and Elysium. He appeared opposite Katy Perry in her music video for "The One That Got Away;" as of 2024, the music video has over 1 billion views on YouTube. He starred in the animated musical comedy The Book of Life (2014) whose soundtrack charted in numerous countries. In 2015, the pilot episode of the Amazon Studios series Casanova, in which Luna stars as Giacomo Casanova. The show was not picked up to series.

In August 2015, it was announced that Luna was part of the cast of what was then known as Star Wars: Rogue One. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premiered in 2016, and his portrayal of Cassian Andor, a captain and intelligence officer of the Rebel Alliance, brought him international attention. He reprised the role in Andor (2022–2025), the Disney+ series centered around the character. The show was originally announced in 2018 but production was delayed until November 2020 by the development process and the COVID-19 pandemic. A second and final season began production in Fall 2022 and was expected to wrap up filming in August 2023, however, it was delayed because of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. The second season wrapped in February 2024 and began its release in April, 2025. Luna is an executive producer of the series.

Luna in 2016

In 2017, it was announced that he would star in a Scarface remake; however, the film went through multiple rewrites and directorial changes in the following years, losing Luna as the lead in the process.

Luna starred as Mexican drug cartel leader Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, which premiered in November 2018. He appeared in the first two seasons of the show. Film roles around this time included ensemble roles in the auteur films If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and A Rainy Day in New York (2019), and a starring role in the 2020 indie drama Wander Darkly. Luna had a number of voice acting roles in children's animation, including the 2022 box office hit DC League of Super-Pets; notably, he is part of every installment of Guillermo del Toro's Tales of Arcadia television franchise: Trollhunters (2016), 3Below (2018), Wizards (2020) and the film Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021).

In 2024, he again, starred alongside close friend and frequent collaborator Gael Garcia Bernal, in the Hulu Original miniseries, La Máquina, as the eponymous character's long time friend and manager, Andronico "Andy" Lujan. He received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television in 2025 for his performance in the series.

Producing and directing

Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Jentsch at the 2017 Berlinale

With frequent collaborator Gael García Bernal and producer Pablo Cruz, Luna created the production company Canana Films in 2005. Together, they have produced dozens of Mexican film and television productions. Notably, they executive produced the 2009 Cary Fukunaga film Sin nombre, which was honored by the Sundance Film Festival and Independent Spirit Awards, the 2011 thriller Miss Bala which was submitted as Mexico's foreign-language Oscar submission, and the 2015 drama The Chosen Ones. In 2015, Luna and Cruz launched the branded entertainment studio Gloria for Latin American talent.

Luna and García Bernal departed Canana in 2018, subsequently founding a new production company, La Corriente del Golfo. In October 2019, it was announced that Luna and García Bernal were joining the Creative Advisory Board for the TV and film development company EXILE Content. In 2020, they signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios.

In 2007, Luna directed his first film, a documentary about Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez. His first feature film, a dramedy titled Abel, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.

In 2012, Luna directed the biopic Cesar Chávez; the film starred Michael Peña as Cesar Chávez, the founder of the United Farm Workers, America Ferrera, and Rosario Dawson. The film premiered at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded an Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival. The film received mixed reviews. The following year, he created and directed the docu-series Back Home, which follows celebrity guests on a journey to their family homelands. The show was broadcast on Fusion TV.

His next feature film was Mr. Pig, also known as Sr. Pig, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Danny Glover and Maya Rudolph whose characters travel on a road trip through Mexico.

It was announced in 2019 that Luna and García Bernal would executive produce an epic miniseries Cortes for Amazon starring Javier Bardem as conquistador Hernán Cortés, then described as "the largest Spanish-language production of all time." Two weeks into production in 2020, the production was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Luna created the Amazon Prime Video talk show Pan y Circo, which he produced, directed, and hosts; the following year, he received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish Language Program. He created his first scripted television series, the satirical drama Everything Will Be Fine (TV series), which was released on Netflix in 2021. Luna is also an executive producer of his series Andor which premiered in 2022. In 2023, it was announced that Luna is set to executive produce and star in a 'The Boys: Mexico' spinoff alongside his frequent collaborator and friend, Gael García Bernal.

In February 2025, he began shooting A Mouthful of Ash, which he produced, directed and co-wrote based on the novel by Brenda Navarro.

Other work

Luna in 2020

Luna, García Bernal, and Elena Fortes co-founded Ambulante, also known as the Ambulante Documentary Film Festival, an organization and film festival whose mission is for documentary films to be used as tools for transformation. The organization received the prestigious Washington Office on Latin America's Human Rights Award in 2011. In January 2015, Luna narrated a video of theirs about the obstacles faced by children migrating from their home countries and seeking refuge in the U.S.

Luna was a repeat host of the 2000s-era MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica, hosting in 2002, 2003, and 2007; he presented an award at the 2006 ceremony. In 2004, he co-hosted the 18th Goya Awards with Cayetana Guillén Cuervo. He has also presented at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards, Premio Lo Nuestro 2014, 2014 MTV Fandom Awards, 74th Golden Globe Awards, 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards, 91st Academy Awards, and 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Luna was a jury member at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. He was a member of the 2016 jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2017, he was part of the International Jury at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Personal life

Luna married Camila Sodi in February 2008; they divorced in March 2013. They have two children: Jerónimo (b. August 12, 2008), and Fiona (b. July 1, 2010), named after Luna's mother. Since 2019, he has been in a relationship with Marina de Tavira; they made their first public appearance together in 2021.

Luna previously resided in Los Angeles; since 2017, he and his family have lived in Mexico City.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994ÁmbarMuni Frahabarana
1995MorenaDos
A Trickle of BloodLeón
1997The Comet (film)The CometVictor
1999A Sweet Scent of DeathRamón
2000Before Night FallsCarlos
Todo el PoderEsteban
2001Y tu mamá tambiénTenoch Iturbide
2002FridaAlejandro Gonzalez Arias
Vampires: Los MuertosSancho
The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in HollywoodHimself
2003NicotinaLolo
CarambolaEl Perro
Soldados de SalaminaGastón
Open RangeButton
2004Dirty Dancing: Havana NightsJavier Suarez
The TerminalEnrique Cruz
CriminalRodrigo
2006Only God KnowsDamiánExecutive producer
Drama/MexExecutive producer
Un mundo maravillosoReportero en Estocolmo
Fade to BlackTommaso Moreno
2007Mister LonelyMichael Jackson
DéficitProducer
CochochiExecutive producer
El búfalo de la nocheManuelCo-producer
J.C. ChávezHimselfDocumentary; director and producer
2008Just WalkingGabrielExecutive producer
Voy a explotarExecutive producer
MilkJack Lira
Rudo y CursiBeto
2009Sin nombreExecutive producer
2010AbelDirector and producer
2011Na Nai'a: Legend of the DolphinsHimself (narrator)Documentary
Miss BalaExecutive producer
2012ContrabandGonzalo
Casa de Mi PadreRaul
Made in MexicoHimselfDocumentary
2013ParaísoExecutive producer
ElysiumJulio
2014César ChávezDirector and producer
The Book of LifeManolo Sanchez (voice)
2015The Chosen OnesExecutive producer
2016Mr. PigDirector and producer
Salt and FireExecutive producer
Blood FatherJonah
The Bad BatchJimmy
Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryCassian Andor
2017FlatlinersRay
Crow: The LegendMoth (voice)Short film
2018If Beale Street Could TalkPedrocito
2019ChicuarotesAssociate producer
Berlin, I Love YouDrag Queen
A Rainy Day in New YorkFrancisco Vega
2020Wander DarklyMatteo
2021Trollhunters: Rise of the TitansKrel Tarron (voice)
2022DC League of Super-PetsChip (voice)
2025Kiss of the Spider WomanValentin Arregui
On the Road (En el camino)Producer
2026Also executive producer
Post-production; director, writer, and producer
Federico CarrascoPost-production

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1992El abuelo y yoLuis
1992–1993Ángeles sin paraísoMóises
1995El premio mayorQuique DomínguezRecurring
1999La vida en el espejoEugenio Román Franco
2002FidelRenato GuitartTelevision film
2010Great MigrationsNarratorMiniseries
Gritos de muerte y libertadGuadalupe VictoriaMiniseries
2010–2012Soy tu fanCo-producer
2011Niño SantoAssociate producer
2013Alguien Más (TV series)Co-producer
American Dad!Mauricio (voice)Episode: "Poltergasm"
Back HomeCreator, director, executive producer
2015CasanovaGiacomo CasanovaAmazon Studios pilot
2018–2020Narcos: MexicoMiguel Ángel Félix GallardoLead role; 20 episodes
2018Trollhunters: Tales of ArcadiaKrel Tarron (voice)Episode: "In Good Hands"
2018–20193Below: Tales of ArcadiaLead role
2020Wizards: Tales of Arcadia3 episodes
Home Movie: The Princess BrideInigo MontoyaMiniseries
Pan y CircoHimself (host)Talk show; creator and executive producer
2021Everything Will Be Fine (TV series)Creator, director, and executive producer
Maya and the ThreeZatz (voice)Miniseries
2022–2025AndorCassian AndorLead role and executive producer; 23 episodes
2024La MáquinaAndronico "Andy" LujanLead role, executive producer; Hulu original miniseries

Theater

Selected credits


Music videos

YearTitleArtistRole
2011"The One That Got Away"Katy PerryArtist Boyfriend
2018"El beso"Mon LaferteMan

Awards

YearAssociationCategoryWorkResult
1997Asociacion Mexicana de Criticos de TeatroBest Debutant Actor in a PlayEl Cantaro Roto
2002Venice Film FestivalMarcello Mastroianni Award (shared with Gael García Bernal)Y tu mamá también
MTV Movie Awards MexicoBest Insult (shared with Gael García Bernal)
Best Kiss (shared with Maribel Verdú and Gael García Bernal)
2004Favorite ActorNicotina
Worst Smoker
Best Diego Luna in a Movie
Hottest Scene
Premios Juventud¡Qué Actorazo
2005
2007Sólo Dios Sabe
2009Cinema Writers Circle AwardsBest ActorJust Walking
Goya AwardsBest Actor
Ariel AwardBest ActorRudo y Cursi
Screen Actors Guild AwardsBest EnsembleMilk
Critics Choice AwardBest Ensemble
2010Morelia International Film FestivalPremio Cuervo Tradicional
2011Ariel AwardsBest Picture (as director)Abel
Best Director
Best Screenplay (with Augusto Mendoza)
2012Imagen AwardBest Supporting Actor/Feature FilmCasa de mi padre
MTV Movie AwardsBest Latino Actor
Premios Juventud¡Qué Actorazo
2014
Audience AwardsNarrative SpotlightCesar Chavez
2017Imagen AwardBest Actor – Feature FilmRogue One
Saturn AwardsBest Supporting Actor in a Film
Teen Choice AwardsChoice Sci-Fi Movie Actor
2018Washington D.C. Area Film Critics AssociationBest EnsembleIf Beale Street Could Talk
Seattle Film Critics SocietyBest Ensemble Cast
2019Critics' Choice Television AwardsBest Actor in a Drama SeriesNarcos: Mexico
Platino AwardsBest Actor in a Miniseries or TV series
2020Imagen AwardBest Actor – Television
2021Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Daytime Talent in a Spanish Language ProgramPan y Circo
Platino AwardsPlatino Honorary Award
2022Peabody AwardsEntertainmentAndor
2024Critics' Choice AwardsBest Actor in a Drama Series
Golden Globe AwardsBest Actor – Television Series Drama
Critics' Choice Super AwardsBest Science Fiction/Fantasy Series
Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama Series
2025Golden Globe AwardsBest Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on TelevisionLa Máquina

References


External links


Category:1979 births
Category:20th-century Mexican male actors
Category:21st-century Mexican male actors
Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners
Category:Hispanic and Latino American male actors
Category:Living people
Category:Male actors from Mexico City
Category:Mexican film directors
Category:Mexican film producers
Category:Mexican male child actors
Category:Mexican male film actors
Category:Mexican male telenovela actors
Category:Mexican male voice actors
Category:Mexican people of British descent
Category:Mexican people of English descent
Category:Mexican people of Scottish descent
Category:Mexican television producers
Category:Marcello Mastroianni Award winners
Category:People from Toluca