Marco Pérez was born in Mexico City on March 17, 1977.[1] At age 14, he began his professional career at an experimental theater in Jalisco, and later relocated to Mexico City to keep working in theater with director Martín Acosta.[1][2] Pérez wrote the plays Hipótesis del Sueño, El Orgullo del Pajarraco, and El Saxofonista, all based on experiences of his youth.[3]
In 2014, Sofia Espinosa and Pérez were cast as singer-songwriter Gloria Trevi and record producer Sergio Andrade [es], respectively, in the film Gloria.[11] The movie chronicles the rise and fall of the singer's career, detailing Trevi's first encounter with Andrade (who became her mentor), her brief tenure on a band, her musical rise to stardom, a sex scandal involving minors, and her imprisonment in Brasil.[11] Pérez initially rejected the role since it was not a subject matter that moved him in an artistic way.[12] "I read the script, then I heard more and more the voice of Gloria [Trevi] herself, without the need to deepen as the scandal that it was, that was the thing I rejected a bit. But I was finding that the story lends itself to also tell a behind-the-scenes, what lies behind a character as stigmatized as [Sergio] Andrade", Pérez told Radio Fórmula.[12] To fully prepare for the role, Pérez gained weight interviewed Andrade to clarify some issues and delve into some of his experiences.[13][14] The film was premiered in Mexico on January 1, 2015, as it was distributed by Universal Pictures with 1,000 copies.[13] Pérez received mixed critical reviews for his performance; Jessica Oliva of Cine Premiere magazine stated that "Marco Perez [Sergio Andrade] manages to embody the duality of that genius of the industry, perverse and visionary at the same time".[15] Sofía Ochoa and Verónica Sánchez of En Filme were critical about the fact that Pérez was "flat", with no further explaining on how Andrade achieved his domain over women, "drawing a caricature of a public figure, [that] not only was complex and imposing, he was talented to some extent, very Machiavellian, ambitious, egotistical, narcissistic and unscrupulous".[16] David Noh of Film Journal International also gave a negative review, since the actor "is too unremittingly slimy and completely lacking in magnetic charisma to be convincing as such an irresistible and titanic A&R lothario".[17] In Mexico, Pérez was nominated for a Diosa de Plata and won the Ariel Award for Best Actor for Gloria.[18][19][20]
Later work
Pérez played Felipe Murillo during the first season of Telemundo's Señora Acero (2014).[3] In 2015, he was included in the cast of the film Desierto, directed by Jonás Cuarón.[14] In the film, Pérez co-stars with Gael García Bernal and American actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and plays Lobo, a smuggler.[14] On this role, Pérez noted, "He is a character that came into my hands and got to my skin. I feel like I gave life to a cold guy, without compassion for the migrants".[14] The same year, Pérez was featured in the Mexican telenovelaCaminos de Guanajuato for TV Azteca.[14] In 2016, Pérez joined the cast of the El Señor de los Cielos spin-off El Chema, starred by Mexican actor Mauricio Ochmann.[21]
