Curiosidades

A profile of Peña revealed that for every film he's cast in, he asks the writers to include a reference to his character being Mexican-American at some point. Peña related that since he gets to mainly play characters who are not stereotypes & clichés, but are smart, funny, and have good/interesting jobs, he loves the fact that mentioning his own heritage in that context will be a source of pride to Mexican-American fans who go to his films.

He has appeared in five films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Crash (2005), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Babel (2006), La gran estafa americana (2013) and Marte (The Martian) (2015). Crash and Million Dollar Baby won in the category.

Michael welcomed his first child, a boy named Roman, with his wife, Brie Shaffer, in September 2008.

He has worked with 4 directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Robert Redford.

One of his first jobs was working in a bank.

Is Mexican-American. His father was from Villa Purificación in Jalisco and his mother was from Charcas in San Luis Potosí.

Friends with William Lee Scott.