Noen Perez may be young but he’s no stranger to the entertainment business, with multiple network television series and feature films under his belt, including Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home, Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger, Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, and the critically acclaimed Unstoppable, in theatres now, and the upcoming highly anticipated sequel Freakier Friday. In a recent bite-sized interview on Actors With Issues, Noen spoke about his role in Unstoppable, his hopes to return to the horror genre after his film debut last year in Natty Knocks and how he’s navigated social media and content creation as a young actor.
Noen was born and raised in Fort Myers, Florida and now lives in California as he continuously pursues his career. An early inspiration for Noen was child actor Jack Dylan Grazer from Stephen King’s IT and the Shazam franchise. “I got a chance to work with him on Me, Myself and I and I just really admired his work. And I was like, ‘dang, this guy is really successful.’ He just got on set and was so charismatic. I thought ‘I wanna be something similar to that.’
Noen grew up a very creative and imaginative kid, describing himself as a “goofball and a little ham” as he put on plays with his cousins for his mom and aunt. Growing up in Fort Myers, a town with a lot of opportunities in musical theatre, he performed onstage for the first time at eight years old. “I just fell in love with it there. I did the whole singing thing and maybe my voice wasn’t the best, but I really stuck with the acting part. When I got the chance to come out [to LA], I took it.” When we asked if Broadway is on the horizon for him, he laughed and said “it’s definitely possible. I can’t forget my roots!
Noen’s latest role is in the Artists Equity-produced sports drama Unstoppable, where he stars alongside Jennifer Lopez, Jharrel Jerome and Bobby Cannavale. The film follows the real-life inspiration story of Anthony Robles, played by Jerome, who was born with one leg and goes on to become a three-time All-American wrestler born and win a national championship at Arizona State. Noen plays one of Anthony’s many younger siblings in the film, which has already received critical acclaim and a Critics Choice Honor for Jerome’s breakout performance.
Sports dramas have been a mainstay in the industry, from Rocky and Moneyball to Varsity Blues and Remember the Titans. One of Noen’s favorites is McFarland, USA, which follows the true story of the 1987 cross country team of a mainly Latino high school that goes on to win a state championship. “I watched that in my Spanish class my freshman year and I just remember it really stuck with me. Yeah. And what’s cool about Unstoppable too is the main character Anthony Robles, who is based on a real [person], he loved Rocky growing up. One of the championships is in Philly and he goes to the Rocky steps and it’s a really cool scene. He puts his crutches right in the right foot spot. It’s just dope.”
Unstoppable had to halt production in 2023 due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, a time when actors found themselves unable to be creative besides being out of work. Noen kept busy by spending time with family and putting on his director hat making videos with his nieces and nephews. “We made one called The Nine-Year-Old Spy,” he recalled. “Me and my friends like to make like TikTok videos and stuff, keeping the creative juices flowing.”
Since the pandemic, social media and content creation have skyrocketed, and young actors often feel pressure to keep up with the times and use platforms like TikTok as a creative outlet and to stay on top of trends. “I do it because you have to face the facts, that’s the way the direction is going,” he says of content creation. “I was hesitant at first, I thought ‘I don’t wanna be one of those guys’, but I found there’s really different ways you could implement social media into your career.”
Noen made his feature film debut in 2023 with the release of the horror film Natty Knocks, where he starred alongside horror legend Robert Englund, aka dream demon Freddy Krueger. “It was incredible. That was my first actual movie I’ve ever worked on before. As a kid I did a lot of commercials and guest stars on Disney,” he explained. He also shared that his co-star Bill Moseley, another genre legend with dozens of horror films under his belt, mentored him in a scene where he had to scream. “I had to do one of those [long] horror screams and a hard time and I remember Bill taught me he’s like when you scream you don’t want to let it all out at first you gotta work your way up to it like an ambulance siren.”
Noen shared that the horror genre is one he hopes to revisit, especially with the spike in critically acclaimed films from Blumhouse, A24 and Neon. “Those are the ones that really leave me like, what the heck did I just watch? But in a good way!”
While in high school, Noen admitted he was growing a bit distant from his acting career and was putting his social life as his priority (a perfectly healthy thing for a teenager to do, if you ask me!). “It got to the point where the auditioning process was so repetitive and I wasn’t seeing any true success. In the back of my mind, I was like, ‘what am I doing?’” he explained. “I kind of realized if I don’t want to do this, I could just stop right now and I don’t have to do it. I don’t have to deal with like this rejection. But I decided not to, because this is really what I love doing. And if I have to do it, I have to put my best foot forward and do it.”
You can watch our full interview with Noen Perez above, on our YouTube channel, or tune in on your favorite podcast platform.
Unstoppable will be available to stream on Prime Video January 16.
