Xolo Maridueña's Real Name: Xolo Maridueña

Quick answer: He works as Xolo Maridueña, the name used in all the profiles we checked. A Library of Congress record gives his birth as June 9, 2001, in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Times says he was born and raised in El Sereno, on L.A.'s Eastside, and called him 25 in June 2026, which fits that date. A longer birth name circulates on fan and wiki sites, but we found no qualifying source for it.

Real name and early life

The LA Times says he was exposed to the arts very young through the community arts hubs Casa 0101 and the Boyle Heights Art Conservatory. His mother, Carmelita Ramírez-Sánchez, is now the conservatory's executive director and previously worked for decades as a radio DJ in Los Angeles. He credited her with encouraging a creative career. Teen Vogue quotes him: "Things wouldn't be possible without her."

Teen Vogue and Rolling Stone both say his family has Mexican, Cuban, and Ecuadorian roots. He describes himself to Teen Vogue as "goofy, corny, a little offbeat."

Career highlights

Teen Vogue says he got his first big role at about 11, on NBC's Parenthood, where he met co-star Ray Romano. He landed the part of Miguel Diaz on Cobra Kai as a high school junior. Rolling Stone says he was 16 when he debuted as the budding karate champion mentored by both Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Teen Vogue notes that the series began on YouTube Red in 2018 before moving to Netflix in 2020. It says he was the first Latino actor to star in a leading role in the Karate Kid franchise.

In 2023, at 22, he starred as Jaime Reyes in DC's Blue Beetle. The LA Times calls it the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead. Rolling Stone says the film was directed by Angel Manuel Soto, and that he also released his first rap single, "On My Way," that year.

The LA Times listed upcoming projects in 2026: a lead role in Dog Years with Xochitl Gomez, a part in the Al Pacino film Killing Castro, a role in Netflix's live-action One Piece, and the Practical Magic sequel with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. He told the paper he hopes to "open the door and prop it open" for other Latino artists.

Name notes for searchers

Maridueña is often typed without the tilde as Mariduena, and both spellings refer to the same actor. Some fan sites list a different birth name, including the surname Ramirez, which is also part of his mother's surname. We did not find that form in a qualifying source, so it is noted here only as a search term.