Tyler Alvarez

Alvarez was born in New York City, to a first generation Cuban American father,^[2] and a fourth generation Puerto Rican American mother.^[3] His father works for the Drug Enforcement Administration and his mother works as a nurse administrator for a private hospital.^[4] He had one older brother, Niko, who died in October 2018.^[4] Alvarez's parents divorced when he was a child and both subsequently remarried.^[4] He has two younger half-siblings, Alex and Brianna, from his father, and a younger half-sister, Sofia, from his mother.^[4]

Alvarez was educated at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City, and at Jericho High School in Jericho, New York. He is fluent in Spanish.^[3]

Alvarez's first professional acting job was in a Totino's pizza rolls commercial.^[2] In 2014, he began starring as Diego Rueda, a human with magical powers, in Nickelodeon's teen sitcom Every Witch Way.^{[citation needed]} The following year, Alvarez began portraying Benny Mendoza, the eldest son of Litchfield inmate Gloria Mendoza, in Netflix's comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black.^[5]

In 2017, he began playing the lead role of Peter Maldonado in Netflix's true crime mockumentary series American Vandal.^[6] He returned for the second season which aired in 2018.^[7] The series has since been cancelled by Netflix.^[8]

Tyler Alvarez also appeared in the YouTube satirical miniseries ¡Me Llamo Alma!, starring as Miguel.^[9]

In 2020, Alvarez made his off-Broadway debut with the Roundabout Theatre Company's play 72 Miles to Go. The production closed prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10]

Alvarez joined the cast of Netflix show Never Have I Ever as a recurring character in season 2.^[11]

In 2023-2024 he plays Ralph, a cholera ghost, in one episode each of seasons 2 and 3 of Ghosts.

On June 11, 2021, Alvarez publicly came out as gay on social media.^[12]