Michael Pena: from behind a bank teller's window to front and center in the movies

Interview, May, 2003 by Jarret McNeill

For years, Michael Pena's best friend's mother pushed him to attend open-call acting auditions in his native Chicago. "Finally, I went to one just to shut her up," recalls the 27-year-old former bank teller, who scored a part in the TV movie To Sir, With Love 2 (1996). Seven years and a few bit roles later, Pena is trading up to bigger fare--including this month's Buffalo Soldiers.

In Soldiers, set on a U.S. Army base in late-1980s Germany, during the last days of the Cold War, Pena brings a subtle dignity to Garcia, star Joaquin Phoenix's right-hand man in the base's black-market operation. "Our characters are bored out of their minds, and people do some weird stuff when they're bored. Personally, I always have to keep myself ultrabusy. That's why acting is so perfect: I read a script 50 times, and every time I find something new."

With upcoming roles opposite Ryan Gosling in The United States of Leland and Orlando Bloom in The Calcium Kid--Pena's first lead--boredom is the last thing this actor need worry about.

Jarret McNeill is an Editorial Assistant at Interview. Michael Pena wears clothes by GUESS? Sneakers by REEBOK. Styling: VICTOR ALEGRIA. Grooming: ANDREW MARLIN/Photogenics, L.A. Photographer: JOE TORENO