Alonso Alvarez-Barreda was born in México city and raised in the small town of Tampico, on the eastern coast of Mexico. Despite his father's best efforts, he chose to forgo a career as a professional ping-pong player to pursue his passion for filmmaking. Mentored by Alejandro Monteverde, Alvarez-Barreda directed his first short, Historia de un Letrero. The entire project was shot in Tampico on a $50 budget using borrowed equipment and his friends as actors. in 2008, it won the Best Short Film Award at Cannes Film Festival. Alvarez-Barreda's third short, Crescendo, is an 18th century period piece entirely in German and tells the story of the birth of Beethoven. The project was produced by Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim. It screened in over 30 international film festivals including Telluride and New York and was a finalist for the 2013 Oscars®. The short also landed him the Best Director award at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival and nominations for Best Writing and Best Film. In 2014 Alvarez-Barreda was one of four filmmakers selected for the first ever HBO Access Directing Fellowship. The program culminated in the production of his short, The Walk, starring Max Arciniega (Breaking Bad). The short tells the story of a Mexican man and his young son crossing the border illegally. Since then, Alvarez-Barreda has helmed a dozen episodes of television including The Mosquito Coast for Apple TV, The Lincoln Lawyer for Netflix, Mayans M.C. for FX, Big Sky for ABC, Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access, The Chi for SHOWTIME, Kindred for FX, American Horror Stories for Ryan Murphy and The Calling for David E. Kelley - PEACOCK Three of his Snowfall episodes have been submitted to the Emmy's by FX in the category of Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series. Alvarez-Barreda is currently in post-production of his first feature film The Wingwalker starring Mexican star Omar Chaparro, and Ariel Winner actress Mercedes Hernandez.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
- Director and writer, also producer
- 15 on MovieCove · 18 credits in all
What are Alonso Alvarez's films like?
Across their 7 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Survival.
Themes
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet2
- Ambiguous4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Alonso Alvarez's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 14 of their 15 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Hulu (8).
- discovery+
Subscription and free streaming for Alonso Alvarez's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
18 credits, 15 with a MovieCove page.
Midcredits score: 63rd percentile of all shows
The Gringo Hunters(2025)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all shows
Hysteria!(2024)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
The Wingwalker(2024)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Sound of Freedom(2023)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Kindred(2022)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all shows
The Lincoln Lawyer(2022)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all shows
The Calling(2022)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
American Horror Stories(2021)
Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all shows
The Mosquito Coast(2021)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all shows
Big Sky(2020)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all shows
Mayans M.C.(2018)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all shows
9-1-1(2018)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
Snowfall(2017)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all shows
The Walk(2015)
Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
The story of a sign (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)
Historia de un letrero (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
Beneath the Surface (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 16 titles, 15 of them dated from 2007 to 2026.
Biggest box office
The Wingwalker (2024)
Highest rated
The Wingwalker (2024)
Most popular right now
The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (2026)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
Won a Cannes award in 2008.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
Who does Alonso Alvarez work with?
People who share at least 2 of Alonso Alvarez's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Millicent Shelton shares the most, 2.
Directors
- Millicent SheltonShared titles: The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (2026), Hysteria! (2024)See all 2 shared titles with Millicent Shelton
Actors
- Max ArciniegaShared titles: The Wingwalker (2024), The Walk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Max Arciniega
Composers and cinematographers
- Roberto MurguiaShared titles: The Wingwalker (2024), The Walk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Roberto Murguia
- Tom CampbellShared titles: The Wingwalker (2024), The Walk (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Tom Campbell