Gabriel Luna: Hilltop to Hollywood

Actor Gabriel Luna paid a special visit to 顶级国产视频 during this year鈥檚 Scholarship Audition Weekend, hosted by the Department of Performing Arts. Luna 鈥 a former theater student 鈥 met with hundreds of Hilltoppers and sat down with the Marketing and Communications division for an interview reflecting on his time at St. Edward鈥檚 and his role on HBO鈥檚 post-apocalyptic series, The Last of Us.

Image
Gabriel Luna as "Tommy" in HBO's The Last of Us


Gabriel Luna as "Tommy" in HBO's The Last of Us

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

 

Image
Gabriel Luna and Pedro Pascal in HBO's The Last of Us

 


Gabriel Luna and Pedro Pascal in HBO's The Last of Us

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

At a young age, Luna never would have imagined seeing his name featured in the credits of blockbuster hits or critically acclaimed television shows.

He was an avid student-athlete at Crockett High School in Austin, Texas, with high hopes of receiving college football scholarships for his athleticism. However, his expectations took a turn after suffering a shoulder injury during his senior year 鈥 little did he know this incident would lead to the discovery of his passion for performance art!

Image
Gabriel Luna at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Gabriel Luna at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Image
President Montserrat Fuentes and Gabriel Luna

President Montserrat Fuentes and Gabriel Luna

At the encouragement of his mentors, Luna enrolled in a technical theater class at Crockett High, where he built sets and read plays to study set design. Impressed by his reading performance, his theater teacher encouraged him to try out for the leading role in their upcoming play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo鈥檚 Nest. He initially declined due to stage fright, but soon found motivation after watching a video of his late father 鈥 who passed away before he was born 鈥 performing in a church play. This was the first time he had seen the video 鈥 discovered by his grandmother 鈥 and it gave him the strength he needed to audition. 鈥淚 took it as a sign that I should try out. After seeing this video, I felt a surge of courage and decided to say 鈥榶es鈥,鈥 Luna remembers.

Image
 Hilltoppers attend a meet-and-greet with Gabriel Luna in the Main Building

Hilltoppers Attend a Meet-and-Greet with Gabriel Luna in the Main Building

Luna鈥檚 audition was a success and he was cast as the lead character鈥 his powerful performance in that high school production caught the attention of Dr. Melba Martinez, the former artistic director for the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at 顶级国产视频, who helped him receive a theater scholarship at the hilltop. To this day, Luna continues to praise the theater program at St. Edward鈥檚 for shaping him into the artist he is and says, 鈥渢he way it鈥檚 structured helped to cultivate skills that I would take into cinema and not just theater.鈥

Enjoy our photo gallery of Gabriel Luna鈥檚 visit at 顶级国产视频

Enjoy our photo gallery of Gabriel Luna鈥檚 visit at 顶级国产视频

1/