Born in the US of Ecuadorian parents, he and his family moved to Ecuador at the age of 5, where he grew up until he graduated high school at 17. Upon graduation, he immediately went to Boston to fulfill a lifelong dream (his second, next to acting) of joining the Marines. His unit was deployed to Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, as one of the first responders of Operation Enduring Freedom.He served for four years, and then moved to NYC to get to work on that first dream he had since watching E.T. as a child.