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Meet Alex D. Lugo of Atlanta, GA

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex D. Lugo

Hi Alex! Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
Sure! I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico into a family of artists. My mother was an actress in Venezuela before I was born and my father, Daniel Lugo, is a renowned Puerto Rican actor whose career spans over 60 years in television and film throughout Latin America. I grew up watching him on TV, on stage, and on set. This is how my love for acting and film really started.

We moved around a lot when I was a kid. We went from Puerto Rico to Venezuela, then to Los Angeles, and finally settled in Miami when I was 10. The arts were naturally very important to me. In school, I was really involved in the music and theatre programs. I was also a very curious child—drawn to math and science.

When I got to college, I had a brief existential crisis trying to figure out what I wanted to study. After a lot of soul searching, I ultimately decided to study math and computer science at FIU while also acting in student and independent films around Miami. The goal was always to pursue acting, but I was deeply influenced by an article that emphasized that for actors, having another area of expertise, another form of income, wasn’t a Plan B, but rather part of Plan A. I was always really good at math and I figured if I studied something in STEM, I could potentially find a flexible job that would allow me to work from home, support myself, and still have time to audition for projects.

This dual path eventually led me to NYC during the summer of my junior year, where I participated in a summer internship program at Goldman Sachs during the day and studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio in the evenings and on weekends. That summer internship eventually led to another one the following summer and after graduating in 2018, I officially moved to NYC and joined Goldman as a full-time Software Engineer.

From 2018 to 2020, I balanced my engineering work at Goldman with theater classes and productions during evenings and weekends. It was a really transformative period for me.

Then the pandemic in 2020, brought about a lot of changes. The frantic state of the situation in the city prompted me to return to Miami and work remotely. During quarantine, I started watching a lot of movies again and reconnected with my love for cinema. Feeling inspired and restless, I decided to start my production company Vitruvian Films and, with my best friend Felipe Castilla, began working on our first film, They Prefer Richards.

Shooting They Prefer Richards became my film school. I produced, co-wrote, and starred in the film – a dark comedy about an ill-fated and awkward guy dealing with heartbreak while simultaneously trying to step out of his more charismatic twin brother’s shadow. As an actor, portraying twin brothers was an exciting challenge, and I fulfilled a lifelong dream of acting alongside my father, who had a cameo in the film. As a filmmaker, it was an incredible learning experience. We overcame numerous obstacles, from figuring out how to believably pull off the “twin” effect with one actor and a low budget to rescheduling the shoot three times due to COVID and a hurricane. In the end, thanks to our incredible team we were able to pull it off and the film went on to have a successful festival run, winning several awards, including my first Best Actor award and Best Dark Comedy at the Independent Shorts Awards in LA.

Towards the end of 2021, after wrapping up our second film The Blood Stone and as the pandemic situation improved, I was ready for new challenges. So within a few months, I left Goldman to join Square, signed with Atlanta Models & Talent (AMT), and moved to Atlanta, where I live today.

Since then, I’ve continued pursuing all my passions. In technology, I’ve focused on artificial intelligence, leading several integration projects at Square and speaking at events like the NYC AI Summit. On the acting/filmmaking side, Vitruvian Films has now produced four short films, with our most recent, Project Penelope, earning me the Best Actor award at the 2024 North Hollywood CineFest and continuing to screen at festivals globally.

Obstacles / Challenges: Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The journey has been anything but smooth, but each challenge has taught me something valuable.

As an artist, rejection becomes a way of life—something you have to learn to accept. For every 20 auditions, I might hear back from one if I’m lucky. The same applies to film festival submissions. The constant rejection can weigh heavily, and it’s why many actors and filmmakers eventually quit. I’ve learned to adopt a stoic mindset and focus on what’s in my control, separating my worth as an artist from whether I get a particular role. In this regard, I’m grateful to have had my father’s example growing up. While helping him prepare for auditions, I witnessed firsthand how he might go a year without booking anything, then land several major projects the next. That’s the reality of an actor’s life—it’s not for the faint of heart.

My career has required several resets and rebuilds: first when moving to New York after college, then returning to Miami during the pandemic, and most recently relocating to Atlanta. Going from being a “big fish in a small pond” in Miami, where the film industry is a bit less established to more developed, competitive markets was challenging, but each move has catalyzed significant personal and professional growth.

And lastly, balancing my work as an actor, filmmaker, and software engineer with my personal life has not always been easy. You have to make sacrifices sometimes and learn to delegate responsibilities when needed. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with so much going on and procrastination/imposter syndrome can kick in. That’s something I’ve had to learn to manage throughout my career and still continue to work on. Learning to say no, prioritizing sleep/exercise and adopting productivity tools like todo list apps have really helped me with this.

Your Work: We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc? What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I’m an actor, filmmaker, and Software Engineer. I’m also the founder of the film production company Vitruvian Films. I love to find the connections between seemingly unrelated things, whether that be disciplines, genres, people, or cultures. I’m specifically passionate about the intersection of the arts & sciences – left brain and right brain. That’s what I seek to explore with my work and what I feel sets me apart.

While I’m often critical of my projects, I’m proud of each one as they collectively tell the story of my growth as an artist and human being. My most recent short film, Project Penelope, stands out as a career milestone. I co-directed, produced and starred in the project. The film is a sci-fi drama that explores the power of love, loss, and the true nature of consciousness. It tells the story of two AI scientists, a married couple, on a mission to resurrect their deceased six-year-old daughter using the power of artificial intelligence. Inspired by works like Ex Machina, Rabbit Hole, Black Mirror, and Love, Death & Robots, we spent over nine months refining our vision and iterating over 25 script drafts, followed by an intensive four-day shoot in Fort Lauderdale and then six months of post-production.

As an actor, Project Penelope was the most challenging role I’ve undertaken. In the film, I play Jonas, a passionate and ambitious scientist diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, determined to use every breath he has left to complete his work and bring his daughter back to life. In the months leading up to the shoot, I worked with the phenomenal acting coach Sara Mornell to craft the role, immersed myself in research about lung cancer, and underwent a strict diet—shedding 27 pounds in just three months.

With Project Penelope, I sought to infuse my background in technology with my passion for film, and now with my next project, FilmPro, I’m attempting the inverse. FilmPro, is an AI-powered film production management platform I’m developing in collaboration with my cousin Adolfo. It’s an online platform that helps filmmakers with the organizational side of making a film like breaking down a script, creating shooting schedules, putting together call sheets, and much more. It uses AI to take care of the boring routine stuff, so filmmakers can focus on the creative side. It’s AI for filmmakers, by filmmakers! We’re starting to roll out FilmPro to select Beta testers in the next couple of weeks and plan to launch v1 of the app early next year.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Absolutely! I’m incredibly grateful for the unwavering support I’ve received throughout my journey. My parents ignited my passion for acting and film, always believing in my dreams. Felipe Castilla, my creative partner and longtime collaborator, who continually inspires me to push boundaries with projects like They Prefer Richards and Project Penelope. Chase Gutzmore, a talented actor, filmmaker, collaborator, and dear friend, motivated me to start Vitruvian Films and introduced me to Atlanta’s thriving film community. I’m also thankful for Atlanta Models & Talent, whose incredible team has been instrumental in advancing my acting career. My cousin and FilmPro partner, Adolfo Rangel, is my go-to for nerding out about AI and tech. Lastly, I’m deeply fortunate to have such amazing friends and family whose support means the world to me.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Yody Sanchez, Ariel Ramon, Martin Villa

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