Born in Seattle, Washington, to a gringo dad who adored and sold seafood and a Latina lady, my life up to this point has always been somewhat of a struggle. But I’m not here to moan and groan; life is far too short for that. I want to show the world my talents and how I stand out.

My wonderful grandma raised me in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a region known as the home to one of the world’s largest drug-trafficking cartels. At 7, I got my first job as a paperboy, and let me tell you – it was hell. Waking at 5:00 am and cycling 27 miles daily in the intensely humid Mexican morning heat. Grandma had a fresh glass of chocolate milk with a raw egg beaten into it waiting for me when I returned. It was pretty awful, but without a doubt, it turned me from a boy into a man.

My earliest memories of the arts came from a 2.0-megapixel camera borrowed from my aunt. Nearby rivers and fields, my heat-scorched rusty bicycle, family members, and perhaps most vividly, my aunt’s cat ‘Emilio’ all featured in what you might call my earliest ‘portfolio’. These moments have stuck with me, and I now realize they marked the point when my love for modern media developed.

The next step was traveling to the US to pursue my dream of working in media. After quickly learning English (while feasting on mouthwatering patty melts), I enrolled in college and worked jobs to fund my travels around the world and save for further education. I developed plays for the toddlers at family reunions, complete with outfit changes and full cassette soundtracks. This led to getting lead roles in theater workshops, which gave me my first taste of the main stage: a huge open-air theater, right next to the deep blue ocean. I’ll never forget the fresh Pacific wind hitting my face on stage. It was magical, like a spell cast on me. It left me wanting more, which is exactly what I eventually got.

That little boy cycling the streets of Sinaloa would go on to feature in a music video viewed over 1 billion times worldwide, have a role in one of the most anticipated films of recent times releasing in 2023, and – what I can safely describe as one of the biggest achievements of my life. Seeing myself at the VMA’s for those few seconds, as the ‘Video of the Year’ category was broadcast to millions, it’s now almost a reality, and I feel like I’m just getting started.

Outside of school, making techno music and photography remain huge passions of mine, with a portfolio that includes travels to 47 countries. On-screen and modeling is where I truly excel. Make no mistake: I remember my roots and the fate of others, and I’m active in charity work, mostly with HIV-infected children in South Africa, where I spent a semester abroad. I’m also currently finishing my degree at the University of California, Berkeley, after previously attending Santa Monica College, holding a part-time job, amusingly enough, selling seafood…