Carlos PenaVega Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

Carlos PenaVega is an American actor and singer. He is best known for being a member of the group Big Time Rush, as well as starring in the band’s television series.

CARLOS PENAVEGA BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Carlos PenaVega was born on August 15, 1989 (Carlos PenaVega: age 33), in Columbia, Missouri, though he was raised in Weston, Florida. PenaVega attended Sagemont Upper School in Weston, where he participated in the cheer squad. PenaVega also performed in local productions of Man of La Mancha and Grease. PenaVega attended the American Heritage School for a time, where he appeared in a production of Titanic.

At 15, PenaVega guest starred on ER, his first acting role. That same year, he also appeared in such shows as Judging Amy, Summerland and Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.

While PenaVega was studying musical theater at the Boston Conservatory, his manager asked him to submit an audition tape for a new television show, Big Time Rush. PenaVega spoke exclusively to uInterview about this life-changing moment.

“I sent a tape in for Big Time Rush, so I had done a couple little things here and there, but nothing really to move the ticker,” he told uInterview exclusively. “So I literally sent in a self-tape, but there were no iPhones, so it was with one of those cameras where you hit record and somehow get it onto the computer, it was super retro. I sent in a tape and for me it’s like…I was never in the industry, I was never in L.A., I was never in Hollywood, so my first taste of ‘fame’ was when I moved to L.A. and started shooting the show and we went to New York City and we did a signing at Planet Hollywood and it was wild. I remember just like, ‘This is my life now!'”

CARLOS PENAVEGA BIOGRAPHY: BIG TIME RUSH

Two years after sending in his audition tape, PenaVega won his role in Big Time Rush and immediately moved to Hollywood.

Big Time Rush is both a Nickelodeon show and a boy band. The band’s other members include Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow and Logan Henderson. The show ran for four seasons, from 2009 to 2013. It stars the members of the band as four hockey players from Minnesota, who have stumbled into a life of fame in Hollywood by being scouted to form a boy band.

Big Time Rush released three albums together before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2014. In 2021, the band resumed its live performances with its Forever Tour, as well as released a new single, “Call It Like I See It.”

CARLOS PENAVEGA BIOGRAPHY: CAREER IN MUSIC & FILM

In 2014, PenaVega released his first solo single, “Electrico,” which topped the Top 10 Latin iTunes charts. In 2015, he competed in the 21st season of Dancing with the Stars with Witney Carson as his partner.

In 2017, PenaVega starred in his first Hallmark movie, Enchanted Christmas, along with his wife, actress Alexa Vega. He also starred with his wife in the Hallmark films Love at Sea and Picture Perfect Mysteries. Together, he and his wife co-wrote the book What If Love is the Point in 2022.

CARLOS PENAVEGA BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

On January 4, 2014, PenaVega married actress Alexa Vega in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. In an exclusive interview with uInterview, the couple revealed the story behind how they combined their names, Carlos Pena and Alexa Vega, into PenaVega.

“We always loved the idea of making our names PenaVega,” Alexa PenaVega began, “but we didn’t think it was actually possible legally.”

“So we go to the state whatever so we sign the paper and the guy goes, ‘Who’s taking whose last name’ so we just put PenaVega,” her husband continued. “We put the paper and the guy looks at it and he goes ‘PenaVega, really cool.’… and now we’re PenaVega. I don’t know if it’s legal the way we did it, but that’s our name.”

PenaVega met Vega, who is most well-known for her portrayal of Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids franchise, at a Bible study group. The couple are both devout Christians, and they sat down with uInterview to speak a bit about their experience as Christians in Hollywood.

“It takes work. Most people are like, ‘Oh, I’m a Christian now, so life is going to be easy.’ I feel like life got harder, because now I feel like I have something to live up to,” the actor revealed. “And one word we talk about in the book is consistency. I really feel that people who are believers struggle with consistency. Like I could talk to you right now and say all of this, but then I’m going to go on social media and in two days you’re gonna see something else and you’ll say, ‘That was the guy I just talked to, no way.’ You see so much of that, and Lex [PenaVega] and I try so hard to be consistent so that what you see is what you get…And that takes work.”

Together, the couple have three children.

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