Who is Carlos PenaVega?
A singer and actor, Carlos PenaVega rose to prominence as Carlos Garcia in “Big Time Rush”, Nickelodeon musical drama series, which was nominated for the British Academy Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best International.
He was also a member of the pop boy band Big Time Rush, alongside Logan Henderson, James Maslow and Kendall Schmidt. If you ever wanted to know more about this talented artist, keep on scrolling, and we will tell you the naked truth about his life and career.
Early life, family, and education
Born Carlos Roberto Pena Junior on 15 August 1989, in Columbia, Missouri USA, he holds American nationality. Although born in Columbia, Carlos was raised in Weston, Florida by his parents alongside his three brothers, Andres, Antonio and Javi, in a family of Venezuelan, Spanish and Dominican descent.
As a teenager, Carlos was a cheerleader at the a private preparatory Sagemont Upper School, and performed in local productions of “Grease” and “Man of La Mancha”. He also attended the American Heritage School, and there he appeared in the play “Titanic”, during which he fell in love with music.
Upon matriculating from high school in 2007, Carlos didn’t enroll into college, but moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue his acting career.
Roles in series
After making his acting debut guest-starring as Arlo Escobar in an episode of the series “ER“ in 2004, Carlos waited for five years to be cast in his most notable role to date, as Carlos Garcia in “Big Time Rush“, also starring James Maslow, Logan Henderson and Kendall Schmidt. The series followed the story of four hockey players on their life-changing journey to become a boyband, and Carlos made appearances in all 73 episodes through four seasons of the series, which was aired until 2013.
Carlos shares with his co-stars two Kids’ Choice Awards, Australia for Favorite Television Star (2010, and ’11), and the Astra Award for Favourite International Personality or Actor (2011), while he was nominated for the Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite TV Actor in 2013.
In the following years, Carlos was seen guest-starring in “Courtside” (2014), “Instant Mom” (2015), and “The Encounter” (2016) before he was cast to voice the character of Bobby in “The Loud House” (2016-2022), an animated series about 11-year-old Lincoln, who lives with his 10 sisters. The series won numerous awards, including the Behind the Voice Actors Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a New Television Series.
Concurrently, Carlos was seen as Diego Rojas in “Life Sentence” (2018), followed by his role as Vince Powers in the TV mini-series “The Power Couple” (2019). Next, from 2019 until 2022 he was heard as Bobby in “The Casagrandes”, a spin-off from “The Loud House” also featuring his sister and mother, who move to the big city where they meet their extended Hispanic family.
Roles in movies
Carlos had his first movie role voicing the character of Rally in the 2009 movie “The Blue Elephant 2”, followed by playing Louis Estes in “Little Birds” in 2011.
In the following year, he reprised his role as Carlos Garcia in “Big Time Movie”, and was then heard as Krudd in “The Giant King”.
He made his big-screen debut portraying Oscar Vazquez in the 2015 biographical drama “Spare Parts”, based on the true story about four Mexican students, members of a robotic club, with no money and experience, who with used car parts went up against the country’s champion, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
UPDATE: Sadly "Killing Hasselhoff" will not be screened at this festival after all. Hope we all get a chance to see it soon! https://t.co/HlKHReRWRn
— Carlos PenaVega NOW (@CarlosPenaNOW) September 23, 2016
In the same year, Carlos was heard as William in the animated comedy “Pixies”, and his next role came in the 2017 movie “Killing Hasselhoff”. He followed with his role as Ricardo in the TV movie “Enchanted Christmas”.
Carlos most recent TV roes have been in “Sleep Away” (2018), “Mighty Oak” (2020), and “Love in the Limelight” (2022).
Music career
As mentioned, Carlos is a member of the band Big Time Rush, and besides singing, he also co-wrote several songs for the group’s albums. Their debut album “BTR” was released in 2010, followed by their second album “Elevate” in 2011, and their third album “24/Seven” released in 2013.
Releasing his first single “Electrico” in February 2014, Carlos launched his solo career. In 2022, the group reunited and announced their tour around the US and Mexico.
Love life, wife, and children
Before he met his now-wife, Carlos was in a relationship with Chelsea Ricketts, an American actress perhaps known best for appearing in “Crooked Arrows”. They were dating from 2003 until 2010, then after they broke up, Carlos dated another actress, Samantha Droke (2010-2012).
Carlos met Alexa Vega, his future wife, one summer night at Bible study, and they soon began dating. In August 2013, the two became engaged, and then on 4 January 2014, they exchanged their wedding vows in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, both taking ‘PenaVega’ as their married name.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckqi9q4uAmU/
Alexa PenaVega is also an actress, and is well-known for her role as Carmen Cortez in the “Spy Kids” franchise. Before she married Carlos, she was in a marriage with Sean Covel, an American producer, but for just two years, from 2010 until 2012.
Carlos and Alexa became parents for the first time on 7 December 2016 when she gave birth to their son, Ocean PenaVega. Their second son, Kingston PenaVega, was born on 30 June 2019, while their daughter, Rio PenaVega, was born on 7 May 2021.
Fans of this couple can keep track of their lives through their joint YouTube channel, entitled “LexLovesLos“, which they recently renamed “La Vida PenaVega“.
Age, height, and net worth
Carlos is 33 years old, and when it comes to his looks, he’s known for his black hair and dark brown eyes, while he stands at a height of 5ft 6ins (1.68m), and to stay in shape works out every day, so his weight is around 155lbs (70kgs).
If you wondered about the amount of money that Carlos has earned during his presence in the entertainment industry, let us tell you that besides his acting career, Carlos is also a successful musician, so according to sources, as of September 2022, he has a net worth is estimated at over $8 million.
