One Piece’sIñaki Godoy has been acting professionally since he was very young, having become interested in acting at just four. While he’s best known for his work in Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation, most of his work has actually been in Spanish-language television series and movies before that.
In the short time that he’s been acting professionally, Godoy has amassed an interesting resume. He’s played a variety of roles across a variety of genres. This has given him a great diverse background and certainly allowed him to play to both the humor and the pathos in his best-known role. As he’s grown in the world of acting, he’s also become interested in writing and directing, so there’s likely plenty more for him on the horizon.
10 MexZombies (2022)
As Tavo
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Because Godoy has only been acting professionally since 2016 and doesn’t have a ton of roles under his belt, he’s only filmed three projects for the big screen as of 2024. MexZombies is one of those, but it was also a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it didn’t get the wide release it was supposed to. The movie was originally scheduled to be released at the end of 2020 but was pushed to 2022 where it appeared in a few film festivals and had a smaller release window.
The movie is a Mexican horror-comedy. It features a group of teenagers who plan a party for the Day of the Dead. What they don’t realize right away is that their party has become a spot for the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. This is definitely for fans who like a healthy dose of comedy with their blood and gore.
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9 Los Elegidos (2019)
As Bruno
Los Elegidos has a great concept. The Mexican television series sees a group of young people band together and pretend to be a family to escape detection. They’re trying to stay under the radar because they all have abilities outside the realm of what is usually possible. They’re also trying to stay out of the hands of a former US military officer. It very much has the feel of a superhero origin story that doubles as a found family tale.
Unfortunately, the show only lasted a single season before it was canceled. It was, however, nominated for Best Series at the TVyNovelas Awards. Godoy only appears in a single episode of the series in a supporting role, but it provides a stepping stone in his acting career as he transitioned from supporting to lead roles shortly after appearing in this show.
8 No Fear Of Truth (2019)
As El Chinos
No Fear Of Truth might not be well-known outside of Spanish-speaking audiences, but it’s actually one of Godoy’s highest-rated projects on sites like the Internet Movie Database. The series is built around Manu (Alex Parrea), who uses the pseudonym Gus, as an “urban hero.” The character has a vlog he uses to expose injustices.
The series is divided into three seasons, each with its own subtitle. Godoy appears in season 2, called “Wake Up.” That season focuses on Manu trying to put pieces back together after having been in a coma. Godoy plays the supporting character of El Chinos, appearing in 11 episodes of the season. While the character is mostly out of the action in the season, Godoy does get to play up the drama a bit when his character’s life ends up in danger after helping someone else.
7 Don’t Open The Door (2022)
As Fausto
Released just a month after MexZombies is another horror movie for Godoy. This one has a more serious bent though. Godoy plays Fausto, who is trying to escape his own father when a supernatural event occurs.
On his official site, Godoy says that it was during making these two movies that acting became more than play for him; it also became hard work. He realized that acting could be hard, that there could be a lot of pressure as someone in a lead role, and that a lot of criticism could follow actors who love their jobs. The hard work did not diminish his love of the craft:
During this time I learned to love acting even when it’s hard. Even with the pressure. Even with the criticisms. Even with all of that, I realized that I still loved it. I think I always will.
6 La Querida Del Centauro (2016)
As El Gato
Those who don’t have access to the Spanish language network Telemundo likely won’t have heard of this particular telenovela. It’s the only place it aired. Though it has only two seasons, there are over 140 episodes of story.
The series focuses on the life of a woman who is the lover of a drug kingpin known as El Centauro who eventually works with a detective to bring him down. Godoy has a recurring role in the series as the son of the detective she works with. While it’s not a huge role in the series, it is a huge role for Godoy as working on telenovelas in the United States is a great way to learn the business.
Working on any kind of soap opera means the working environment is very fast-paced and episodes are turned around for the viewing public quickly. Actors have to learn to adjust to new circumstances and scenes without losing focus. Godoy was one of the youngest on set, but according to his biography on his official website, never felt out of place. He calls the actors on the set of the series, “the first family I ever had outside of my own.”
The series was Godoy’s first professional role and was nominated for Best Series at the Your World Awards in 2017.
5 Blue Demon (2016)
As Young Alejandro/The Young Blue Demon
Around the same time that Godoy was working on La Querida Del Centauro, he also landed a role in the Mexican series Blue Demon. He appeared in the pilot episode as the younger version of the titular character, giving the audience a window into the young life of the wrestler. Playing the older version of the character is Tenoch Huerta, who recently gained a larger following as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Like a lot of his earlier roles, Godoy isn’t the actor who gets most of the focus here. Instead, that’s Huerta, who has to navigate his professional and personal lives and learn how to once again be the man behind the Blue Demon mask instead of just the personality presented to the audience. Unlike working on a telenovela, this series has a slower approach to filming a drama since it has 65 episodes over the course of three seasons, helping Godoy see a different side of TV filming.
4 Who Killed Sara (2021)
As Bruno
Who Killed Sara? MysteryDramaCrime
Who Killed Sara? centers on Alex Guzmán (Manolo Cardona), a loving brother who is framed for his sister’s murder. While seeking revenge for her death, Alex also looks to unearth more about her sister’s killer. The series was created by José Ignacio Valenzuela and debuted on Netflix in March 2021.
Cast Daniel Gimenez Cacho , Claudia Ramírez , Ana Lucía Domínguez , Marco Zapata , Fátima Molina , Ginés García Millán , Andrés Baida , Hector Jimenez , Alejandro Nones , Luis Roberto Guzmán , Litzy Domínguez , Carolina Miranda , Leo Deluglio , Matías Novoa , Eugenio Siller , Polo Morín , Antonio de la Vega , Manolo Cardona , Ximena Lamadrid , Ela Velden Release Date March 24, 2021 Streaming Service(s) Netflix Expand
Seeing both sides of the creative process has fostered an interest in working behind the scenes as a writer or director.
Netflix’s Who Killed Sara is a murder mystery as well as a story of revenge. It centers on a man who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his sister and sets out to figure out who really killed her when he is released from prison 18 years later. Godoy plays the stepson of the man who was dating the woman right before she was killed.
Godoy booked the role for the Netflix Mexican series Who Killed Sara right before productions were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, in between filming for the show, he also began completing screenwriting workshops, opening up a new perspective in his work. Seeing both sides of the creative process has fostered an interest in working behind the scenes as a writer or director.
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3 The Imperfects (2022)
As Juan Ruiz
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…Godoy has proven that he’s an incredibly versatile actor in a very short amount of time.
The Imperfects marks Godoy’s first English-speaking role six years after he made his professional acting debut. Though he filmed the series when he was 17, Godoy’s character was actually meant to be in his 20s.
Netflix dubbed the show a “coming of rage story” when beginning to promote it. The series follows three twentysomethings who end up transformed into monstrous beings after an experimental gene therapy goes wrong. They get help from a scientist who is hiding a secret from them. Godoy’s Juan is one of the subjects of the experiment. Netflix canceled the show after the first season, leaving some cliffhangers in The Imperfects ending.
From telenovelas to murder mysteries to horror stories to this sci-fi drama, Godoy has proven that he’s an incredibly versatile actor in a very short amount of time. He’s appeared in a variety of genres of television shows and movies.
2 Go Youth! (2020)
As Pedro
At 14, Godoy got his first lead role in a movie.Go Youth! centers on four teenagers as they navigate different coming-of-age moments in their lives. The movie touches on both the hopes and fears of youth as well as their early experiences with love. It hits a lot of the tropes associated with coming-of-age stories but will be unique for those outside of Mexico because the story plays out against the backdrop of Mexico City.
Godoy credits this movie with proving to him that he could play a variety of roles different from himself since his character of Pedro was so far removed from his own personality at 14. He worked extensively with an acting coach on set, according to his own website, and it paid off.
The movie was nominated for Best Film at the 18th Morelia International Film Festival.
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1 One Piece (2023)
As Monkey D. Luffy
7/10 One Piece (Live-Action) TV-14ActionAdventureComedyFantasy
Based on the popular manga/anime series, One Piece is a live-action Netflix adaptation of the story from Eiichiro Oda. The show follows the exploits of a band of pirates, the Straw Hats, led by the energetic and adventure-loving Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy is a young man cursed with strange powers after accidentally eating a mysterious fruit. With his friends Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, Luffy will head across the vast ocean to find the legendary treasure, the One Piece.
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*Availability in US Cast Iñaki Godoy , Mackenyu , Emily Rudd , Jacob Romero Gibson , Taz Skylar Release Date August 31, 2023 Seasons 1 Showrunner Matt Owens
He has the charm, the tenacity, and the seemingly effortless approach to life to make it feel like he’s been living in this role for years…
One Piece is Godoy’s best-known project to date. That is largely because One Piece is the best Netflix adaptation of an anime or manga series so far. Bringing anime into a live-action format has been hit or miss for the streamer, but One Piece proves that Netflix can do it correctly. Much of the praise for that is the casting of the One Piece characters.
Godoy is Luffy. He has the charm, the tenacity, and the seemingly effortless approach to life to make it feel like he’s been living in this role for years instead of such a short time. The success of the series likely means Godoy will get to play the role for a long time yet, especially since each season of the show appears to only adapt one short arc from the source material.
Of course, with One Piece being Iñaki Godoy’s breakthrough role, it’s also likely that he’ll be in demand for other projects in the very near future.