Bonita Vista High School graduate Louis Jeovanny Rodriguez II, appeared in the Netflix movie “Triple Frontier” with actors – Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal, and Charlie Hunnam.
The movie, partly filmed in Colombia, centers around five former special forces operatives reunited to steal a drug lord’s fortune. Rodriguez plays the part of “Duke. ”
“It’s about military men who serve their whole lives in the military, now retired, and really have nothing to show for it,” said Rodriguez. “So now they’re going in, and steal a bunch of cash from a cartel.”
His family got to enjoy a private screening in early March, just before the movie was released on Netflix.
“We had a surprise screening, a private screening,” said Ana Rodriguez, his mother. “We gathered everyone, we told them he was working on it, but not in it.”
Rodriguez II, 25,said he was born in San Diego but raised, for the most part, in Chula Vista. He was school president of Valley Vista Elementary for his sixth grade class, attended Southwestern College before transferring to the University of Hawaii where he graduated in 2016, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in digital media. He stayed in Hawaii after graduation to pursue a career in multimedia. It was as a production assistant at Paramount Pictures’ office in Hawaii that Rodriguez caught a casting director’s eye.
“She (casting director, Katie Doyle) tapped me on the shoulder, asked me if I speak Spanish and if I have any Latino heritage,” he said. After answering yes he then found himself auditioning with Doyle and then director JC Chandor and was subsequently cast as the brother of the main love interest.
His parents Ana and Louis were the first ones to get the call about the auditions.
“I was in disbelief. I wanted more info. We thought he was going to be an extra, not a main part of the movie,” said Ana Rodriguez.
Besides appearing in Triple Frontier he also appeared in episodes of the 2010 remake of Magnum P.I.
His Chula Vista memories include hanging out at Fuddruckers, going to his cousin’s wedding at a hall on Third Avenue, and attending Chula Vista’s Lemon Festival. He also worked at the Las Americas Premium Outlets.
“My next step is to pursue and run with all the opportunities,” he said. His plans include writing in the future. “In college I did writing,” he said. More acting and directing are on his agenda as well.
