Alejandro "Alex" Meraz (born January 10, 1985) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for playing the werewolf named Paul Lahote in the film ''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

''.

Life and career

Meraz was born in Mesa, Arizona and is of

Purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative "Tarascan ...

descent. He attended the New School for the Arts, and is an avid painter and illustrator. Besides break-dancing, which he was active in during the early 2000s under the name "Nomak," Alex excels in indigenous and contemporary dancing. He has studied

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

, winning numerous tournaments in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and the martial art of

Capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th century ...

. Alex's first big film was ''

The New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

'' as one of the

Powhatan The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...

core warriors, inspiring him to continue acting. Thereafter he was in the running for the film ''

Apocalypto ''Apocalypto'' () is a 2006 action adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Native American and Indigenous Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dalia H ...

'' but in the end was turned down. His big break came when he was cast as werewolf Paul Lahote in the film ''

''. He also starred in the latest season of ''CSI: New York''. Meraz played a Seal Team member in the 2016 action film ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

''. On December 31, 2007, he married Kim. A ''Twilight'' fan, she suggested that he audition for ''New Moon'', believing he was perfect for the part. They have a son, for whom his mentor, actor

Raoul Trujillo Raoul Maximiano Trujillo de Chauvelon (born May 8, 1955) is an American and Canadian actor, dancer, choreographer, and theatre director. A former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, he is the original choreographer and co-director for the ...

, is the godfather. In June 2012 the couple had another son.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Alex Meraz's official Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meraz, Alex 1985 births American male dancers American male film actors American male karateka American capoeira practitioners Living people American male actors of Mexican descent American people of Purépecha descent People from Mesa, Arizona Male actors from Arizona Hispanic and Latino American male actors