Michael Peña Biography
Summary
"Michael Anthony Peña" (born January 13, 1976) is an American actor.
Biography
Personal life
Peña, a Mexican American, was born in Chicago, Illinois, where his father worked at a button factory and his mother was an assistant to a social worker. Both of Peña's parents were originally farmers. Peña attended Hubbard High School in Chicago. He has been associated with Scientology. Peña and his wife Brie Shaffer welcomed their first child in September 2008, a boy named Roman.
Career
Though Peña has been a regular in independent productions since 1994, his breakthrough performances came in 2004 in two Best Picture Oscar-winning Paul Haggis penned films, "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash". The latter was also directed by Haggis, while the former was helmed by Clint Eastwood. Though both films are critically acclaimed, Peña received attention for his particularly emotional performance in "Crash". The following year, he appeared on the Golden Globe winning series, "The Shield". In 2006, he starred in Oliver Stone's film based on the September 11, 2001 attacks, "World Trade Center". He also had a small role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe-winning film "Babel". This gives him the rare distinction of having appeared in three consecutive Oscar nominated films. He recently starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in "Shooter" as novice FBI agent Nick Memphis.
In 2006, Peña performed in the HBO film "Walkout" playing the part of Sal Castro, a Mexican-American high school teacher who inspires a group of East L.A. high school students to fight for Chicano rights.
In 2009, Peña played a mall security guard alongside Seth Rogen's character in Jody Hill's "Observe and Report".
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Michael Peña.
