Today we’d like to introduce you to Martin Peña.
Martin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am originally from Houston, Texas, and upon finishing high school, I received a full academic scholarship to Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. I graduated in 2005 with a BS in Chemical Engineering with minors in Business Administration & Theatre. I returned back to Houston after graduation, where I worked as a Process Engineer until 2009 when the recession hit and I was let go from my company. My brother at the time insisted I take my nephew to a local modeling agency, which the talent agent had more of an interest in me.
I started with print modeling and traveling nationally and internationally, and only had plans to do this until I was offered my next Engineering position. But my agent had other plans for me and insisted I get into acting. I started training and booked local commercials, industrials, and I decided to leave Engineering altogether, and study TV/Film, so I moved to Atlanta in 2o13 to train and it wasn’t until 2017 when I booked my first feature film and TV episodic role. I have been a working actor since and have managed to maintain an active lifestyle as an Actor.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Being an aspiring actor was not easy at all. Trying to maintain ‘survival’ work while pursuing your dream is very challenging. You invest so much in yourself and your craft, it can be very easy to lose yourself, especially when you find yourself not booking work. I had gone broke, I had turned into drinking, and I reached my lowest. But If you reach the lowest in your life, you can only go up. And that’s what I did. I changed my habits, got rid of the negative energy in my life, and moved up and every day I became a better version of myself.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Being a TV/Film Actor has been a wonderful journey so far, especially being in Atlanta, where there is so many productions shooting. I have been fortunate enough to have been a co-star on MacGyver, recurring on Queen of the South, and supporting roles in The Fanatic with John Travolta, Assassin 33 A.D, and upcoming films in 2021 with supporting roles in Drama Drama, Blindsided, and Princess Cut sequels.
Although I am of Mexican descent, my ethnically ambiguous looks have helped my career. I audition for different roles of different backgrounds all the time and have learned many accents and dialects. Working on my voice has definitely helped out my career, and I am very proud to portray people from around the world.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have been more mentally prepared, so I can take on the challenges at hand. We learn and we grow from our mistakes, so perhaps the bumps in the road helped me become stronger.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 7133017822
- Email: mpena.actor@yahoo.com
- Instagram: mrmartinpena
- Facebook: mrmartinpena
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