At just 22 years old, Xolo Maridueña is already a huge breakout star with high-profile television roles in series like Parenthood on NBC and now Cobra Kai on Netflix. But now he’s taking the film world by storm with his first role in a major motion picture playing the titular character in Blue Beetle, based on the DC comic. On the surface, a soapy network drama like Parenthood and a superhero blockbuster like Blue Beetle may seem to have little in common, but each of Maridueña’s projects share a unique ability to resonate with viewers on an emotional, familial level. “I’m 22 years old, and it feels like it’s taken 22 years of my life to really be able to handle something like this,” Maridueña says. “I think Cobra Kai came at a time that was really necessary. The character was 16, I was 16. I felt like I kind of grew up with it. And now I’ve grown up, I feel like I’ve moved into a new chapter. ”

When the young star made his acting debut on Parenthood, he was just 10 years old and, working with a phenomenal group of veterans like Lauren Graham and Dax Shephard—the kind of cast a young actor can only dream of working alongside. Maridueña muses that his role in the series was the “catalyst” for his acting career. At that point, he was only looking for acting jobs as a means to pay for college. Despite being born and raised in Los Angeles, the television industry felt “distant” to him. It wasn’t until he had a “formative” experience on the set of Parenthood that he decided to pursue acting as a full-time career.

Blue Beetle is a bold step forward in Maridueña’s career and a bold step forward for action movies in general. It will be the first stand-alone title to feature a Latino lead as a superhero. The impact of this representation is not lost on Maridueña—he hopes that the film will alter the course of Latino representation in not only the superhero genre but the industry as a whole, which also stars a predominately Latino cast. “We’re getting to explore Latinidad and Latino culture through the lens of all these different characters,” Maridueña says. “I can’t wait for everyone to see it, because it really is so indicative of the notion that we are not a monolith, there is no one story. ”

Maridueña had quite the year leading up to the production of Blue Beetle–he made the Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as Variety’s 2021 Young Hollywood Impact List. Through his massive success, Maridueña’s hope for the film is first and foremost “that people walk out of the theater and love their families a little bit more.”

VMAN: At just 22 years old, you’re already a huge breakout star in the television industry with your roles first on Parenthood now in Cobra Kai – but now you’re breaking into the film world with DC’s Blue Beetle this fall. What has that transition from television to film been like for you this early in your career?

XOLO MARIDUEÑA: Great question, first and foremost. To be honest, it feels like it’s taken 20 years of my life to really be able to handle something like this. I think Cobra Kai came at a time that was really necessary – the character was 16, I was 16, and I felt like I kind of grew up with it. And now I’ve grown up, and I don’t want to say out [of] per se, but I feel like I’ve moved into a new chapter. And with Blue Beetle, not only with the story, but also with my own personal life, it felt like it all happened at the right time. In terms of reading a film and the differences, I really feel like, on the acting side, the people from Cobra Kai were so welcoming and so empowering throughout the six seasons that it really helped me gain my confidence as an actor. Both Ralph Macchio and Billy Zabka, my two mentors on the show, really showed me what it meant to set the tone on set, and that just meant the world to me.

VMAN: Yeah, totally. I feel like there’s so much like evolution that happens there. And then going even further back – when you got your big break on Parenthood, you were just 10 years old working with a phenomenal cast full of huge names with extensive acting repertoires. So how did that experience when you were so young prepare you for taking the lead in such a major role like this one?

XM: I think Parenthood was really the catalyst for all of this. If that show didn’t happen, there’s no way. At that point in my life, acting was a means to pay for college – and I was a kid, I was so young. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but, you know, it still seems so distant. But when I was able to step on to the Parenthood set, I realized like, ‘Oh, snap. Maybe there’s something more here.’ They were so, so nice – it really didn’t feel like I was just a kid playing a kid. The cast was so welcoming and made sure to include me. I think that was so formative and hit me as a youngster. And I think it helped, kind of the same as Cobra, to gain some sort of confidence.

VMAN: Yeah, definitely. That’s really great to hear. And Blue Beetle will be the first standalone title to feature a Latino lead as a superhero. So at this point in your career, what does that mean to you as a Latino actor, and how do you feel that this could change the course of Latino representation in film and television specifically in this genre?

XM: I think that when it comes to superhero movies, this genre isn’t necessarily Latino. So I’m excited for the movie to come out, because I think the story that we’re telling spreads so much wider than just Latinos. It’s also a made-up city, so we’re getting to explore Latinidad and the Latino culture through the lens of all of these different characters. I just can’t wait for it to come out and for everyone to see it, because it really is so indicative of the notion that we are not a monolith – there is no one story. That’s really what I hope for this movie – that it opens the doors for other stories to be told. Although this is the first on the big screen, I don’t want it to be the last. I want it to open the doors for different characters, different Blue Beetles, because there’s tons – there’s infinite characters to choose from. So, I just hope that this shows that we can start to diversify.

VMAN: Speaking of the Latino cast, which of course includes your character’s family – in the highly-anticipated trailer, viewers can catch a glimpse of your character actually transforming into Blue Beetle in front of his entire family in his home. That’s a pretty unconventional transformation for a superhero. So what was shooting that scene like, and how do you think that that plot impacts Blue Beetle’s character arc?

XM: It honestly is one of the most unique facets of the movie, in my opinion. The fact that this guy is transforming into this – it’s almost horrid. It’s horrific, when you watch it, and getting to film it was otherworldly. It was so fantastic. I got to get into the wires and get thrown into the ceiling and scream. We filmed it on my 21st birthday, which was kind of crazy as well. I can’t wait for everyone to see the rest of it. And being, Latino, I totally relate. I can’t keep any secrets from my family. So I understand that there’s no alter ego.

VMAN: Yeah, it’s such an interesting plot point for the character. And my mom’s Cuban, so I also kind of relate to that. You’re also still working on finishing up the sixth and final season of the smash hit Cobra Kai on Netflix, which has racked up eight Emmy nominations so far. Is ending that career chapter bittersweet?

XM: It is bittersweet. It definitely is. I mean, I really grew up with everyone on the show. Just as those high school years are important for kids – those same years, I was spending with these with these guys. So, I just hope that I get to work with them again. I can’t help but feel like the party is ending. Especially with filming this last season, there’s this final tone in the air. But it’s nice and helpful when constructing a story, that we get to end the show on our own accord. We were so blessed for that. I know that I speak for everyone when I say that. We’re so grateful to have done six seasons, that’s crazy. And I just hope that we get to reunite in 30 years and do, you know, Cobra, Kai v2 or whatever that looks like. I love those guys.

VMAN: I love that. So, you’ve had a big year – you made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list last year, as well as Variety’s 2021 Young Hollywood Impact list. Then you were also awarded the Rising Star Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition in Washington, D.C. So what has all of that success meant to you?

XM: I’m so appreciative of the recognition amongst peers – people that I respect, that I admire, and that I really stand on the shoulders of. It feels surreal. Honestly, all I can say is that I’ve had to make sure to have speeches prepared the past couple of times, because I’m not someone who can go off the cuff when it comes to speeches like that. But yeah, it is so tremendous.

VMAN: I’m sure it feels very surreal. And with Blue Beetle out this August, what direction do you envision the next steps of your career going in with the movie’s outcome?

XM: I hope that people walk out of the theater and love their families a little bit more. And I hope that I get to continue to work with such pleasant and wonderful people. It’s been interesting – the projects that I’ve gotten to be a part of so far, I didn’t necessarily think that I could do them when I booked them. So I haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what the next steps are. All I can say is that right now, I’m hungry, I’m ready to get back to work. I’m so grateful to be alive right now and to be working at a time that it feels like more people are getting to tell their own stories, as the movie making world becomes a little bit more accessible to a wider variety of people. I’m just so excited for the future for everyone – for myself and for you and for all of us.

A note from the editors of VMAN: The interview and photography in this story predated the SAG-AFTRA strike.

This story appears in the pages of VMAN 51: now available for purchase!

Photography Tyre Thwaites

Fashion Altorrin 

Grooming Riad Azar (The Wall Group)

Photo assistants Tyra Dixon, Sydney Peterson

Stylist assistants Roderick Reyes, Sionan Murtage

Location Blanc Studios