Diego Luna facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Diego Luna
Luna in 2018
Born	Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (1979-12-29) 29 December 1979 (age 45) Toluca, Mexico
Other names	Alexander García
Occupation	Actor director producer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Camila Sodi ​ ​ (m. 2008; div. 2013)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Alejandro Luna (father)

Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (born December 29, 1979) is a famous Mexican actor, director, and producer. He is widely known for playing Cassian Andor in the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and the Disney+ TV show Andor (2022–2025). For his role in Andor, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama.

Diego Luna started his career in Mexican TV shows called telenovelas. He became very well-known after starring in the movie Y tu mamá también in 2001. Throughout the 2000s, he acted in many films from both Mexico and the United States. These included Frida, Open Range, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Terminal, and Milk. In the 2010s, he appeared in science fiction movies like Elysium and the animated musical The Book of Life. From 2018 to 2020, he had a main role in the series Narcos: Mexico.

Luna has also performed in many plays in Mexico. He has produced films and TV shows, often working with his friend Gael García Bernal. Since 2010, he has directed three movies: Abel, Cesar Chavez, and Mr. Pig. He also created and directed the docu-series Back Home (2013), the talk show Pan y Circo (2020), and the scripted series Everything Will Be Fine [es] (2021). In 2025, Time magazine named Diego Luna one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Early Life and Family

Diego Luna was born in Toluca, Mexico, and grew up in Mexico City. His mother, Fiona Alexander, was a British costume designer. Sadly, she passed away in a car accident when Diego was only two years old. His father, Alejandro Luna, is a famous designer for theater, film, and opera sets. Diego has an older sister.

Diego Luna and his close friend, actor Gael García Bernal, have known each other since they were babies because their mothers were friends. They grew up together and became very close. In 1994, when he was a teenager, Diego supported Indigenous rights during the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. He helped organize protests and collected food for the movement with his classmates.

Career Highlights

Acting Roles

Luna at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival

Diego Luna started acting in plays when he was seven years old. As a child, he appeared in several Mexican TV shows and movies. In the early 1990s, he had roles in shows like El abuelo y yo and Ángeles sin paraíso. As a teenager, he was part of the main cast in El premio mayor (1995–1996) and La vida en el espejo (1999–2000). He also starred in films such as A Trickle of Blood (1995) and The Comet (1999), which made him a popular teen star.

In 2001, Luna starred as Tenoch Iturbide alongside Gael García Bernal in Y tu mamá también. This Mexican road trip film was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The movie was a big success and made Diego Luna famous around the world. This film also marked the beginning of many important projects with his childhood friend, Gael García Bernal. Together, they later started their own film company, Canana Films.

Over the next few years, Luna acted in more Mexican films and also in English-language productions. These included the miniseries Fidel, the western Open Range, and the Oscar-winning film Frida. In 2004, Diego Luna had a very busy year. He starred in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal with Tom Hanks, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and the independent film Criminal. He also appeared in the acclaimed movie Milk (2008). In Spanish-language films, he starred in Only God Knows (2006) and the soccer comedy Rudo y Cursi (2008), which became one of the highest-grossing Mexican films ever.

In the early 2010s, Luna co-starred in the Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre (2012) with Will Ferrell. He also appeared in action movies like Contraband and Elysium. He was featured in Katy Perry's music video for "The One That Got Away," which has over a billion views on YouTube. In 2014, he voiced a character in the animated musical comedy The Book of Life.

Luna and Felicity Jones at the premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in Japan

In 2015, it was announced that Diego Luna would join the cast of a new Star Wars movie. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released in 2016. His role as Cassian Andor, a captain and intelligence officer for the Rebel Alliance, brought him worldwide fame. He played Cassian Andor again in the Disney+ series Andor, which started in 2022 and is set to finish in 2025. Production for the second season was delayed due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike but wrapped up in February 2024. The second season began its release in April 2025. Diego Luna is also an executive producer for the series.

From 2018 to 2020, Luna starred in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico. He also had roles in films like If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and A Rainy Day in New York (2019). Diego Luna has also lent his voice to several animated children's projects. He was in the 2022 movie DC League of Super-Pets and is part of every installment of Guillermo del Toro's Tales of Arcadia TV series, including Trollhunters (2016), 3Below (2018), Wizards (2020), and the film Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021).

In 2024, he once again starred with his friend Gael Garcia Bernal in the Hulu miniseries La Máquina. He received a Golden Globe nomination in 2025 for his performance in this series.

Producing and Directing Work

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

In 2005, Diego Luna, along with Gael García Bernal and producer Pablo Cruz, started their own production company called Canana Films. They have produced many Mexican films and TV shows. Some notable projects they executive produced include Sin nombre (2009) and Miss Bala (2011). In 2015, Luna and Cruz also launched Gloria, a studio for Latin American talent.

Luna and García Bernal left Canana in 2018 and created a new production company called La Corriente del Golfo. In 2020, they signed a deal with Amazon Studios to develop new projects.

In 2007, Diego Luna directed his first film, which was a documentary about the Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez. His first full-length movie, a comedy-drama called Abel, was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received good reviews.

In 2012, Luna directed the movie Cesar Chávez, which told the story of Cesar Chávez, the founder of the United Farm Workers. The film premiered at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. The next year, he created and directed the docu-series Back Home, where famous guests traveled to their family's home countries.

His next movie as a director was Mr. Pig, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. This film stars Danny Glover and Maya Rudolph as characters on a road trip through Mexico.

In 2020, Luna created the Amazon Prime Video talk show Pan y Circo, where he is the host, producer, and director. In 2021, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on the show. He also created his first scripted TV series, the drama Everything Will Be Fine [es], which was released on Netflix in 2021. As mentioned, Luna is also an executive producer for his series Andor. In 2023, it was announced that Luna would executive produce and star in a new series called 'The Boys: Mexico' with Gael García Bernal.

In February 2025, he started filming A Mouthful of Ash, a movie he produced, directed, and co-wrote based on a novel.

Other Activities

Luna in 2020

Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, and Elena Fortes co-founded Ambulante, also known as the Ambulante Documentary Film Festival. This organization uses documentary films to bring about positive change. In 2011, Ambulante received a Human Rights Award. In 2015, Luna narrated a video for them about the challenges faced by children seeking safety in the U.S.

Luna has hosted the MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica several times (in 2002, 2003, and 2007). He also co-hosted the 18th Goya Awards in 2004. He has presented awards at many other ceremonies, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards.

Diego Luna has also served as a jury member at important film festivals. He was on the jury for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, and the International Jury at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in 2017.

Personal Life

Diego Luna married Camila Sodi in February 2008, and they divorced in March 2013. They have two children: a son named Jerónimo (born August 12, 2008) and a daughter named Fiona (born July 1, 2010), who is named after Diego's mother. Diego Luna used to live in Los Angeles, but since 2017, he and his family have lived in Mexico City.

Filmography

Film Roles

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1994	Ámbar	Muni Frahabarana
1995	Morena	Dos
	A Trickle of Blood	León
1997	The Comet [es]	Victor
1999	A Sweet Scent of Death	Ramón
2000	Before Night Falls	Carlos
	Todo el Poder	Esteban
2001	Y tu mamá también	Tenoch Iturbide
2002	Frida	Alejandro Gonzalez Arias
	Vampires: Los Muertos	Sancho
	The Bronze Screen: 100 Years of the Latino Image in Hollywood	Himself
2003	Nicotina	Lolo
	Carambola	El Perro
	Soldados de Salamina	Gastón
	Open Range	Button
2004	Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights	Javier Suarez
	The Terminal	Enrique Cruz
	Criminal	Rodrigo
2006	Only God Knows	Damián	Executive producer
	Drama/Mex [es]	N/A	Executive producer
	Un mundo maravilloso	Reportero en Estocolmo
	Fade to Black	Tommaso Moreno
2007	Mister Lonely	Michael Jackson
	Déficit	N/A	Producer
	Cochochi	N/A	Executive producer
	El búfalo de la noche	Manuel	Co-producer
	J.C. Chávez [es]	Himself	Documentary; director and producer
2008	Just Walking	Gabriel	Executive producer
	Voy a explotar	N/A	Executive producer
	Milk	Jack Lira
	Rudo y Cursi	Beto
2009	Sin nombre	N/A	Executive producer
2010	Abel	N/A	Director and producer
2011	Na Nai'a: Legend of the Dolphins	Himself (narrator)	Documentary
	Miss Bala	N/A	Executive producer
2012	Contraband	Gonzalo
	Casa de Mi Padre	Raul
	Made in Mexico	Himself	Documentary
2013	Paraíso	N/A	Executive producer
	Elysium	Julio
2014	César Chávez	N/A	Director and producer
	The Book of Life	Manolo Sanchez (voice)
2015	The Chosen Ones	N/A	Executive producer
2016	Mr. Pig	N/A	Director and producer
	Salt and Fire	N/A	Executive producer
	Blood Father	Jonah
	The Bad Batch	Jimmy
	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story	Cassian Andor
2017	Flatliners	Ray
	Crow: The Legend	Moth (voice)	Short film
2018	If Beale Street Could Talk	Pedrocito
2019	Chicuarotes	N/A	Associate producer
	Berlin, I Love You	Drag Queen
	A Rainy Day in New York	Francisco Vega
2020	Wander Darkly	Matteo
2021	Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans	Krel Tarron (voice)
2022	DC League of Super-Pets	Chip (voice)
2025	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Valentin Arregui
0TBA	A Mouthful of Ash	N/A	Filming; director, writer, and producer

Television Roles

Theater Performances

Selected credits:

• El Cantaro Roto (1996)
• Festen (2006–2007) – Teatro Helénico
• The Good Canary / El buen canario (2008–2009) – Teatro de los Insurgentes
• Howl (2012) – Teatro Helénico
• Cada vez nos despedimos mejor (2013, 2014) – Teatro de la Sala Chopin
• Privacy (2017–2018) – Teatro de los Insurgentes
• Cada vez nos despedimos mejor (2022) – Las Naves del Español, Madrid

Music Videos

Awards and Recognition

See also

In Spanish: Diego Luna para niños