Francisco "Frankie" Javier Alvarez is a Cuban-American stage, film,
and voice-over actor, known for his role as AgustÃn Lanuez in the HBO
series Looking, and its subsequent series finale television film,
Looking: The Movie.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.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. The play was
translated into Spanish by Nilo Cruz and Alvarez studied the play for
almost a year and learned to perform it in both Spanish and English.
He later performed in the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2013
production of The Whipping Man, where he portrayed Caleb, a wounded
Jewish Confederate soldier in the American Civil War. The play
received positive reviews, and Alvarez received praise for his
"nuanced and empathetic" performance. He and friend Gabriel Ebert
collaborated on the musical Those Lost Boys, about the one-night-only
10 year reunion of a rockstar band, which was developed and premiered
at the 2013 Ars Nova All New Talent Fest and headlined the Ars Nova
All New Talent Fest again in 2014.Alvarez appeared as a recurring
minor role on the NBC television show Smash before landing his first
major television role was the 2014 HBO series Looking as the main
character AgustÃn, alongside co-stars Jonathan Groff and Murray
Bartlett. The show focuses on the lives of three young gay men living
in San Francisco. Alvarez originally auditioned for the role of
recurring character Richie Ventura (played by Raúl Castillo), the
love interest for Groff's character, Patrick, performing in a casting
session over Skype. He was later asked to submit auditions for the
role of AgustÃn. Within the week of his show at Actors Theatre of
Louisville closing, he flew out for a second audition and was cast as
AgustÃn. According to Alvarez, the character of AgustÃn was
originally intended to be Venezuelan, rather than Cuban, spoke with an
accent, and would be "figuring out his green card situation." Alvarez
spoke with series creator Michael Lannan and the character was changed
to a highly educated native U.S. citizen of Cuban descent, using some
of Alvarez's personal traits, producing a portrayal of bicultural
Latin-Americans that Alvarez felt was not seen as frequently in media.
His performance garnered him praise from critics and a nomination for
Best Supporting Actor by the Imagen Foundation Awards in 2014.
and voice-over actor, known for his role as AgustÃn Lanuez in the HBO
series Looking, and its subsequent series finale television film,
Looking: The Movie.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.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. The play was
translated into Spanish by Nilo Cruz and Alvarez studied the play for
almost a year and learned to perform it in both Spanish and English.
He later performed in the Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2013
production of The Whipping Man, where he portrayed Caleb, a wounded
Jewish Confederate soldier in the American Civil War. The play
received positive reviews, and Alvarez received praise for his
"nuanced and empathetic" performance. He and friend Gabriel Ebert
collaborated on the musical Those Lost Boys, about the one-night-only
10 year reunion of a rockstar band, which was developed and premiered
at the 2013 Ars Nova All New Talent Fest and headlined the Ars Nova
All New Talent Fest again in 2014.Alvarez appeared as a recurring
minor role on the NBC television show Smash before landing his first
major television role was the 2014 HBO series Looking as the main
character AgustÃn, alongside co-stars Jonathan Groff and Murray
Bartlett. The show focuses on the lives of three young gay men living
in San Francisco. Alvarez originally auditioned for the role of
recurring character Richie Ventura (played by Raúl Castillo), the
love interest for Groff's character, Patrick, performing in a casting
session over Skype. He was later asked to submit auditions for the
role of AgustÃn. Within the week of his show at Actors Theatre of
Louisville closing, he flew out for a second audition and was cast as
AgustÃn. According to Alvarez, the character of AgustÃn was
originally intended to be Venezuelan, rather than Cuban, spoke with an
accent, and would be "figuring out his green card situation." Alvarez
spoke with series creator Michael Lannan and the character was changed
to a highly educated native U.S. citizen of Cuban descent, using some
of Alvarez's personal traits, producing a portrayal of bicultural
Latin-Americans that Alvarez felt was not seen as frequently in media.
His performance garnered him praise from critics and a nomination for
Best Supporting Actor by the Imagen Foundation Awards in 2014.
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