Carlos López Estrada (born September 12, 1988) is a Mexican-American Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, music video director, commercial director, theatre director, and actor. Born in Mexico, he moved to the United States when he was 12 and later enrolled at Chapman University. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2018 with ''

Blindspotting ''Blindspotting'' is a 2018 American comedy-drama film written by, produced by and starring Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. Carlos López Estrada directs while Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Ethan Embry, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Utkarsh A ...

,'' which premiered opening night at Sundance 2018 and was subsequently released by Lionsgate Entertainment. His second film, '' Summertime,'' premiered opening night of Sundance 2020 and was released in July 2021. Carlos' third film, ''

Raya and the Last Dragon ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' ( ) is a 2021 American computer-animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 59th film produced by the studio, it wa ...

,'' was released by Disney in March 2021 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its usual late February dat ...

. Estrada and actress

Kelly Marie Tran Kelly Marie Tran (born Loan Tran, January 17, 1989) is an American actress. She began acting in 2011, with most of her roles being in short film and television. She came to global prominence for her role as Rose Tico in the ''Star Wars'' seque ...

announced that they were establishing a new production company called Antigravity Academy in November 2022, intending to help produce entertainment from and about people from historically excluded communities.

Film

López Estrada directed a short film titled ''Identity Theft'' based on a one-act play written by Andrew Rothschild. It stars stage veterans Bill Irwin and Kate Burton. The film premiered at the 2015 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. López Estrada directed his first feature film in 2017, ''

'', starring

Daveed Diggs Daveed Daniele Diggs (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jeffer ...

and Rafael Casal. The film, released in 2018, is semi-autobiographical and based on Diggs and Casal's lives in a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. In October 2019,

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

announced that they were developing a feature film with López Estrada. López Estrada is also set to direct a live-action/CGI remake of Disney's ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

''. López Estrada was confirmed to direct ''

'' with Don Hall. López Estrada left Disney in early 2022. In July 2022, López Estrada joined Nexus Studios. On October 31, 2022, López Estrada was announced to be the writer and director of the live-action adaptation of ''

Your Name is a 2016 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film produced by CoMix Wave Films. It depicts a high school boy in Tokyo and a high school girl in the Japanese countryside who suddenly and inexplicably begin to swap bodies. The film was commis ...

'' for Paramount Pictures and

Bad Robot Productions Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999 and led by J. J. Abrams and Katie McGrath as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series ''Alias' ...

, replacing Marc Webb and

Lee Isaac Chung Lee Isaac Chung (born October 19, 1978) is an American film director and screenwriter. His debut feature ''Munyurangabo'' (2007) was an Official Selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in the Kinyarwanda ...

Music videos

López Estrada has directed videos for a variety of artists, including clipping., Thundercat,

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flying Lotus ha ...

Hook n Sling Anthony Maniscalco, better known by his stage name Hook n Sling, is an Australian record producer, songwriter and DJ currently residing in Los Angeles, California. Musical career In 2007, he received an ARIA Music Awards nomination, a DMC Buz ...

Goo Goo Dolls The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik, bassist/vocalist Robby Takac, and drummer George Tutuska. After starting off as a cover band and then developing a punk sou ...

Reptar Reptar is a fictional character from the American animated television series ''Rugrats''. It is a green '' T. rex'' (and sometimes appears in red-violet and lilac) with rounded, blue spike-like appendages on his back, which intentionally causes ...

, Passion Pit, El Sportivo & The Blooz, MYPET,

Saint Motel In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ort ...

Maximum Balloon ''Maximum Balloon'' is the debut solo studio album by American musician and record producer David Andrew Sitek of TV on the Radio, under the moniker Maximum Balloon. It was released on September 21, 2010, by DGC Records and Interscope Records. T ...

Bowerbirds Bowerbirds () make up the bird family Ptilonorhynchidae. They are renowned for their unique courtship behaviour, where males build a structure and decorate it with sticks and brightly coloured objects in an attempt to attract a mate. The family ...

Capital Cities A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the ...

and many more. In 2011, López Estrada directed a music video for Mexican pop band

Jesse & Joy Jesse & Joy () is a Mexican pop duo formed in 2005 by brother and sister Jesse (born December 31, 1982, as Jesse Eduardo Huerta Uecke) and Joy (born June 20, 1986, as Tirzah Joy Huerta Uecke), in Mexico City. The duo have released five studio ...

of their song " Me Voy." The video, which uses

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

and found the production team trimming 2900 photographs in order to create the sequences included, earned the title of Best Short Form Music Video at the 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2012. López Estrada also directed "Chocolate" from '' Electricidad'' for Jesse & Joy. In 2013, López Estrada co-directed a music video for Capital Cities’ "

Kangaroo Court A kangaroo court is a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc. A kangaroo court may ignore due process and come ...

" which features American actor

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series '' Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

and American actress

Shannon Woodward Shannon Woodward (born December 17, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010–2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series ''Westworld'' (2016 ...

. López Estrada directed five videos for the experimental rap group clipping.’s major label debut titled '' CLPPNG''. López Estrada came in contact with clipping. after befriending Jonathan Snipes, a member of the trio that makes up clipping., while López Estrada was in film school. “Work Work” was the first single from the album. Stereogum detailed López Estrada's work on the videos as being, “ ninventive, memorable, and weirdly unsettling experience." This work led to many collaborations with rapper

, a member of clipping. In 2015, López Estrada directed a video for Thundercat's "Them Changes", which featured artists Flying Lotus and

Kamasi Washington Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, usually playing tenor saxophone. Archived July 9, 2015. Career Washington was born in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of ...

. The song is a part of Thundercat's '' The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam'', which was his first collection of solo material in two years and placed the artist in collaboration with various others, such as Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington, who each contributed keyboard and saxophone, respectively. In 2018, López Estrada directed the music video for

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...

's " When the Party's Over". In 2021, López Estrada directed the music video for Katy Perry's "

Electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

" song in collaboration with the Pokémon franchise for its 25th anniversary.

Television

In 2018, López Estrada directed the second episode of the final season of ''

Legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

'', titled "Chapter 21". The episode was released in July 2019.

Theatre

In October 2015, López Estrada starred in an original multimedia theatre show, titled ''Ded!''. based on the Mexican

Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

tradition, which he created and co-directed with Cristina Bercovitz. He and Bercovitz had previously worked together as co-directors on the music video for clipping.’s “GET UP.” The show ran at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles and was composed of an ensemble of musicians, actors and puppeteers. The show also featured a guest performance by Bill Irwin. ''Living Out Loud, Los Angeles'' praised López Estrada's pantomime and comedic performance in the show. López Estrada directed a taping of ''#BARS'', a live musical theatre and rap medley workshop in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, springing from the culmination of a six-week seminar by Rafael Casal, a poet, writer, rapper and co-creator of #BARS. The film features performances by a variety of artists, including Rafael Casal, rapper Daveed Diggs, poet Sarah Kay and nine more performers from New York City. Lloyd Webber, Imogenbr>"Odds & Ends: Daveed Diggs' Next Project, Meryl Streep Takes the Stage as Donald Trump & More"
''Broadway.com'', June 7, 2016

Filmography

Feature films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Estrada, Carlos 1988 births Living people Latin Grammy Award winners American people of Mexican descent Walt Disney Animation Studios people Mexican music video directors American music video directors