Alonso Alvarez

Born April 2, 1984 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Height 5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Alonso Alvarez Barreda was born in Mexico City and raised in the Mexican town of Tampico Tamaulipas. After being rejected from several film schools, he enrolled at the Universidad Autónoma DE Tamaulipas to study International Commerce, but after two years dropped out to pursue his dream of filmmaking. Through his mother, he met director Alejandro Monteverde (Bella, Little boy). Monteverde became his friend and mentor encouraging Alvarez to shoot his first short film. The film entitled "Historia de un Letrero" won the highly coveted Best Short Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Shot entirely in Tampico with a 50 dollar budget, the film has been Official Selection in countless international film festivals, circulating in more than 200 Internet blogs gaining international acclaim and was also named one of the most inspirational films by Internet users.

Alvarez's second short "The Finding", penned with actor Julio César Cedillo and produced by Mexican actor Rafael Amaya was his first foray in film. Shot in super 16mm, "The Finding" stars Cedillo himself (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Cowboys and Aliens, The Walking Dead) and Mexican star Alejandro Felipe Flores (Innocent Voices) The film has been official selection in over 20 international film festivals, grabbing ten awards, including the "speak out against domestic violence humanitarian award". The Finding was invited to be a part of the 2010 Cannes film festival, considered as one of the best cinematographic expressions against domestic violence. The film also screened several times on National TV in México, public schools and inside the Metro bus in México city.

His third short film "Crescendo" was entirely shot at Universal Studios in Los Angeles CA. A period piece set in the 18th Century, produced by both Pattie Mallette and Carlos Slim, crescendo has been official selection in over 30 international film festivals, including the prestigious Telluride Mountain Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, taking over 20 international awards, including the "Hollywood Discovery Award" at the Hollywood Film Festival for Alvarez. Crescendo was also in consideration for the Oscars 2013 .

In early 2013 he co-wrote and produced "Catch" a short film directed by Disney's Alumni actor David Henrie. Catch has official selection in over 15 international film festivals having its worldwide premiere at the Hollywood Chinese Theaters.

In late 2014 Alonso was the recipient of the Best Director award at the distinguished NBC Universal Short Film festival, as well as nominated for best writing and best film. Crescendo also took the award for best Actor that year.

As a side project Alonso wrote and produced "The Bench" a short film produced by Mark Burnett, creator of hit shows "The Voice" "Shark Tank" and "Survivor" In that same year Alonso was selected as one of four filmmakers from all around the world to be a part of the first-ever HBO Access Directing program, where the filmmakers worked with HBO executives and directed content for them. Alonso was the only Mexican filmmaker in the program. The result of this collaboration is "The Walk" a short film starring actor and producing partner Max Arciniega (Breaking Bad) about a Mexican man and his son who are faced with a major crisis of conscience as they try to cross the border illegally. The Walk has been Official Selection in over 20 International Film Festivals.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas

Frequently casts Mauricio Garcia Muela in his films

Daniel Blasquez produces all his films

Used to work as a waiter in Applebee's, in Blockbuster and as a Telemarketer.

Good friends with actors Eduardo Verastegui, Julio Cedillo, Rafael Amaya, Ali Landry, Karyme Lozano, Mario Cimarro, Patrick Nuo, Nick Vujicic and Jaime Camil.

He created Wama Films as a promise to a friend who almost died in a car accident.

He was rejected by many film schools.

Award winning director Alejandro Monteverde is his mentor.

He plays the violin.

He was raised in Tampico, a small town in southern Tamaulipas, Mexico.

He dropped out of college to pursue a career as a filmmaker.

Created Wama Films with actor Max Arciniega and producer Anna Villareal.

Amongst his favorite composers are: Thomas Newman, Ennio Morricone, Brian Tyler, Daniel Hart, Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat and Roberto Murguía Barrios.

His award-winning short film "Historia de un Letrero" was shot with a 50 dollar budget.

One of the few Tampiqueños to be recognized for his international achievements.

His favorite film is The Shawshank Redemption.

Once a International Commerce student won full scholarship playing forward for the Universidad Autonoma of Tamaulipas soccer team.

Good friends with Mexican filmmaker Rodolfo Loyola.

Considers Linkin Park as a true inspiration, and has expressed his interest to direct one of their videos.

He considered selling his kidney to pay for the transfer of his film "Crescendo".

After learning that his friend survived a tragic accident, he knocked on doors and asked for money until he raised almost 15,000 dollars to pay for some of his operations.

Received a Humanitarian award on behalf of Expresion en Corto Film Festival and Avon for his film "El descubrimiento" (The Finding), becoming the only Latin-American director to receive an award on that year (2009).

Good friends with actors Tom Wilkinson, Michael Rapaport, Sean Astin, David Henrie and Abraham Benrubi.