Biography
Adept at essaying a broad array of roles, Michael Peña launched his career with guest appearances on such series as
NYPD Blue, Homicide: Life on the Street, and
ER, as well as longer stints on
Felicity and
The Shield. Though his big-screen work officially stretches back several years prior to
Million Dollar Baby (2004), that
Clint Eastwood-directed Best Picture winner represented Peña's first major Hollywood credit. His involvement only amounted to a small part, but he re-teamed with
Baby scripter
Paul Haggis for higher (supporting) billing in the latter's
Crash (2005) -- also a Best Picture Winner, and this one a searing, acerbic indictment of inner-city racism.
Peña scored one of his first leads under the aegis of director
Oliver Stone, co-starring opposite
Nicolas Cage in the taut, suspenseful thriller
World Trade Center (2006) -- a docudrama about the two New York City Port Authority rescue workers trapped beneath the rubble of the fifth building when the towers fell. Peña followed it up with a turn as a genial, resourceful FBI agent who assists a government-conned scapegoat (
Mark Wahlberg) in
Antoine Fuqua's conspiracy thriller
Shooter (2007), and essayed a key supporting role in director
Robert Redford's ensemble drama
Lions for Lambs, opposite Redford,
Meryl Streep, and
Tom Cruise. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide