Carlos Pena, Jr. Biography

Carlos Roberto Pena Jr. (born August 15, 1989) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, dancer, and director. He is best known for starring on the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush as Carlos García in addition to being a member of the band Big Time Rush.

Early life

Carlos was born in Columbia, Missouri. His father is of Spanish and Venezuelan descent, while his mother is of Dominican descent. He was raised in Weston, Florida. He attended Sagemont Upper School where he was a cheerleader. He appeared in local productions of Grease and Man of La Mancha. He also had a role in the American Heritage School, where he attended before leaving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, production of Titanic. During his run in Titanic he fell in love with singing and dancing.

Career

His first acting role was a guest star at age 15 on ER, followed later that year by guest-starring roles on Judging Amy, Summerland, and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

While still in high school, Pena appeared in television commercials for the Super Soaker brand recreational water gun, and his image even appeared on the toy's packaging.

Pena was studying musical theater at the Boston Conservatory when his manager urged him to audition for Big Time Rush. Although he was reluctant to do so, he submitted an audition tape and won the role almost 2 years later. Pena moved to Hollywood in August 2009.

Big Time Rush

Big Time Rush is an American pop boy band that formed in 2009. The band consists of Pena, Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, and Logan Henderson, all on vocals. Pena co-wrote the song "Oh Yeah" off of the group's first album, BTR. On the second album, he wrote "Invisible" along with Charley Greenberg, Cody Williams, Daniel Andrew Wayne, Jonathan Rotem. As of 2011, the band has released two albums, BTR and Elevate. They recently released their third album, 24/seven. In addition, they embarked on the Summer Break Tour, in support of the album.

Personal life

Between 2009"2011 Pena dated actress Samantha Droke. On September 11, 2013 he became engaged to actress Alexa Vega.

Filmography

Television/Films
Year	Show	Role	Notes
2004	ER	Arlo Escobar	1 episode
2004"2005	Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide	King Bee	3 episodes
2005	Judging Amy	Diego Valdesera
	Summerland	Student
2009"2013	Big Time Rush	Carlos Garcia	Main role
2011	Hand aufs Herz	Himself	with the band Big Time Rush, 210.Episode (Hand aufs Herz is a German telenovela on Sixx)
	Nick News	Himself	Episode: "Lies We Tell In Middle School"
	BrainSurge	Himself
2012	Big Time Movie	Carlos Garcia	Main role
	How to Rock	Himself
	Little Birds	Louis
	Figure It Out	Himself	(Episode 2, 11, 12, 22, 23, 30, 38, 41)

Films

• Big Time Christmas Live
• Kids for Character 3
• Eric Christmas
• Little Birds (2011)