Frankie J. Alvarez

Francisco Javier Alvarez (born May 10, 1983) is an American actor, known for his role as Agustín Lanuez in the HBO series Looking, and its subsequent series finale television film, Looking: The Movie. Early life and education Alvarez's parents are originally from Cuba, his father from Havana, and his mother from Artemisa. He is first-generation American and was born and raised in Miami, Florida. Alvarez grew up with the arts in his family: his grandmother was an opera singer in Cuba, while his father played music in a band in Puerto Rico, his mother was a ballerina, and his three sisters all performed in the Miami City Ballet. Spanish was his first language, and he did not learn English until he was 7 or 8 years old, stating that he started learning English from watching baseball. While growing up, he attended an all-boys Jesuit prep school. Alvarez originally enrolled at Florida State University as a Creative Writing major, but applied to the fine arts program after a positive experience in the School of Theatre. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and moved to New York City, and was encouraged by a friend to apply to Juilliard School. He used a bilingual version of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet for his callback and was accepted into the program and received the Raul Julia Memorial Scholarship. He graduated from Juilliard in 2010. Acting career Stage While attending Juilliard, Alvarez trained at the Chautauqua Theater Company, appearing as Bernard in Death of a Salesman and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2008. Alvarez portrayed the titular character in Brain Trust Production's The Tragedie of Cardenio at the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival, for which he won the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play. After graduating from school, Alvarez performed in regional theater, landing his first professional acting role in a national tour production of Ramona Quimby, based on the popular children's book series. He continued to perform in regional theater, cast in a production of Julius Caesar as Lucius and Metellus Cimber and in Measure for Measure as Claudio for the 2011 Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival resulted in his recruitment to Asolo Repertory Theatre, where he received praise for his lead role of Hamlet in the theatre's production of Hamlet: Prince of Cuba, a Spanish and English-language adaptation of the Shakespeare play reset in 19th century Havana.