From The Netflix Series ‘Narcos: Mexico’ -Orlando Pineda
The actor Orlando Pineda was born and raised in Colombia, South America. He moved around quite a bit in his country due to his father’s military career and he feels very fortunate about that. Living in all the different regions and dialects of his homeland gave him the ability to adapt to just about anything and to do it quickly. It also gave him a philosophical outlook at a very young age that would come in handy when he began his professional acting life. His curiosity ran the gamut of wondering “Why are there so many unique accents in one country?” to “Why do people of the same nation share so many qualities while at the same time seem divided and separate from each other?” Those observations would give Orlando a keen interest in people: watching how they live and speak and what motivates them, which became valuable assets to a burgeoning actor.
When Orlando graduated from high school he was days away from signing up for the military to follow his father’s footsteps. Luckily for us and all the people who have seen and will see Orlando act, he grudgingly watched a film with mother called Chaplin. That changed everything! The military career was out and acting was in — because that movie showed him that being an actor could be a successful career. It was what he truly wanted from the beginning anyway, because it was something he loved to do and something he had fun doing. He was a bit reticent to talk to his dad — he thought his dad would be disappointed in him for not going into the military. His father loved the idea and told him that if he wanted to be an actor that he would support him fully.
Orlando then went to New York and studied acting for several months before moving to Los Angeles to earn a BFA in Acting from the New York Film Academy. His career took off soon after that. He was cast in a Nintendo commercial and then one for Facebook. Since then he has been in other commercials for large corporations such as Nike, Old Navy, Hyundai, Toyota, The General (Insurance) and The Realtor to name a few. He has also performed in feature-length films like The Infiltrators, which won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Orlando was cast in the award winning film Your Iron Lady, directed by Jorge Xolapa. He was also in the TV series Milagros de Navidad and the famous Netflix series Narcos: Mexico.
Orlando told us that he feels it is all about growing in this industry and that his hunger to achieve great things motivates him to keep pushing for more. He is very excited for what the future holds for him.
