Biography

Michael Peña

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Michael Peña was born and raised in Chicago, to Nicolasa, a social worker, and Eleuterio Peña, who worked at a button factory. His parents were originally from Mexico. After graduating from high school, he went to an open casting call for the Peter Bogdanovich feature To Sir, with Love II (1996), and to his surprise, beat out hundreds of other young men for a role. After relocating to Los Angeles Peña quickly booked a succession of roles in features including Star Maps, My Fellow Americans (1996) (opposite Jack Lemmon and James Garner), La Cucaracha (1998) (winner of the Best Picture in the Austin Film Festival), Bellyfruit (1999), and the Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer feature Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). Michael resides in Los Angeles, where he plays bass guitar with his band, plays golf, and boxes for relaxation.
- IMDb mini biography by: ropeofsilicon.com

Often plays characters who have out of the ordinary jobs
At some point in films there's a reference to his character being Mexican-American

A profile of Peña revealed that for every film he's cast in, he asks the writers to include a reference to his character being Mexican-American at some point. Peña related that since he gets to mainly play characters who are not stereotypes & clichés, but are smart, funny, and have good/interesting jobs, he loves the fact that mentioning his own heritage in that context will be a source of pride to Mexican-American fans who go to his films.
He has appeared in five films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Crash (2004), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Babel (2006), American Hustle (2013) and The Martian (2015). Crash and Million Dollar Baby won in the category.
Michael welcomed his first child, a boy named Roman, with his wife, Brie Shaffer, in September 2008.
He has worked with 4 directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Robert Redford.
One of his first jobs was working in a bank.

I'm just an actor. If it's drama, I add as much humor as the part will stand. And if it's a comedy, add as much drama as you can, so it balances out; you don't wanna be too serious.
I guess people recognize me, but I'm not a household name. Two out of every five people who come up to me know my name. The one thing I don't want is to be followed by paparazzi.
My first ten years in Hollywood were really tough. I'd be coaching friends who came to me for acting advice, and then they'd make it before I did. I'd still be helping them while they were on movie sets and I had four lines on a TV show.
The joy of 'Crash' was that it was all about the work. It was my first real part. Before that, it was a line here and there, maybe a scene. 'Crash' was five scenes, a beautiful arc, a little vignette of my own. It really meant something.
I think writing is the most underrated thing in Hollywood.

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