José Tenoch Huerta Mejía (; born 29 January 1981) is a

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

actor. He has appeared in a number of movies in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, starring in both feature films, short films, and '' Narcos: Mexico'', credited as Tenoch Huerta. He is featured in Mónica Maristain's book, ''30 Actors Made in Mexico''. He played

Namor Namor (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in early 1939, the character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies I ...

in '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' (2022) set in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

(MCU), and was credited as Tenoch Huerta Mejía.

Early life

Huerta was born in

Ecatepec de Morelos Ecatepec (), officially Ecatepec de Morelos, is a municipality in the central Mexican state of Mexico, and is situated in the north part of the greater Mexico City urban area. The municipal seat is San Cristóbal Ecatepec. The city of Ecatepec i ...

State of Mexico The State of Mexico ( es, Estado de México; ), officially just Mexico ( es, México), is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Commonly known as Edomex (from ) to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is ...

, on 29 January 1981. His father, a film buff, enrolled him in an acting course with

María Elena Saldaña María Elena Saldaña, also known as La Güereja, is a Mexican television actress whose career dates back to the mid-1980s. Saldaña, who is a little person, has achieved fame over the years with her portrayal of a little Mexican girl named Mariq ...

, and Huerta's later studies were alongside Carlos Torres Torrija and Luis Felipe Tovar. Huerta is of Indigenous descent, with a

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, ...

maternal great-grandmother and a

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 ...

paternal great-great-grandmother and, like many Mexicans, significant other unknown Indigenous ancestry. He does not self-identify as Indigenous. However, he encourages people to learn more about their Indigenous heritage within and outside the community.

Career

In 2006, he made his acting career debut in the film ''Asi del precipicio'' as a minor character. In 2009, he appeared in

Cary Joji Fukunaga Cary Joji Fukunaga (born July 10, 1977) is an American filmmaker. He first gained recognition for writing and directing the 2009 film '' Sin nombre'' and the 2011 adaptation of ''Jane Eyre''. He was the first director of partial East Asian des ...

's film '' Sin nombre'' in the role of Li'l Mago, leader of the Tapachula faction of the notorious

Mara Salvatrucha Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Ange ...

gang. In 2015, he appeared as Carlos Mamami in the biographical disaster survival film ''

The 33 ''The 33'' ( es, Los 33) is a 2015 biographical disaster- survival drama film directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Mikko Alanne, Craig Borten, Michael Thomas, and José Rivera. The film is based on the real events of the 2010 Copiap� ...

'', Alejo in '' Camino''. In 2018, he began portraying

Rafael Caro Quintero Rafael Caro Quintero (born October 24, 1952) is a Mexican drug lord who co-founded the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers in the late 1970s. He is the brother of fellow drug traf ...

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

's '' Narcos: Mexico''. In 2021, he appeared as Juan in ''

The Forever Purge ''The Forever Purge'' is a 2021 American dystopian action horror film directed by Everardo Valerio Gout and written by series creator James DeMonaco, who also produced along with Jason Blum and Michael Bay. Originally intended as the final insta ...

'', the fifth film of ''

The Purge ''The Purge'' is an American anthology media franchise centered on a series of dystopian action horror films distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes, which are written and in some cases also d ...

'' franchise, alongside his fellow '' Narcos: Mexico'' costar

Alejandro Edda Alejandro Edda (born May 17, 1984) is a Mexican–American actor, best known for his roles as Marco Rodriguez in the AMC television series '' Fear the Walking Dead'' (2016) and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán in the Netflix original series '' Narcos ...

. In 2022 during a

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

presentation for the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

film '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'', Huerta was revealed to have joined the cast and revealed to be portraying

. In Mexico, most reactions were positive. There was also a minority of negative reactions that were characterized as expressions of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

and

malinchism Malinchism ( es, malinchismo) or malinchist () (sometimes simply Malinche) is a form of attraction that a person from one culture develops for another culture, a particular case of cultural cringe. The term is used in Latin America, and especiall ...

o. Huerta himself spoke against racism in the film industry and stated that he was excited to play the character.

Awards

Best Actor at the Short Short Film Festival in Mexico City, for his performance in

Alonso Ruizpalacios Alonso Ruizpalacios (born 1978) is a Mexican film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. ...

' ''

Café paraíso José Tenoch Huerta Mejía (; born 29 January 1981) is a Mexican actor. He has appeared in a number of movies in Latin America and Spain, starring in both feature films, short films, and '' Narcos: Mexico'', credited as Tenoch Huerta. He is ...

''. Huerta has also received five nominations for the

Ariel Award The Ariel Award ( es, Premio Ariel) is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMA ...

, winning for

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

for his role in ''Días de Gracia'' in 2012.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huerta, Tenoch Ariel Award winners Best Actor Ariel Award winners Living people Male actors from Mexico City Mexican male film actors 1981 births People from Ecatepec de Morelos Mexican people of indigenous peoples descent Mexican people of Purépecha descent