Moisés Arias (born April 18, 1994) is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Rico in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, Biaggio in the 2013 Sundance film The Kings of Summer, Cokestraw in the 2019 SXSW comedy-drama The Wall of Mexico, and Bigfoot in the Colombian war drama Monos. He has also appeared in Pitch Perfect 3, Five Feet Apart, Ender’s Game, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Jockey and The King of Staten Island.
Early life
Moisés Arias was born April 18, 1994 in New York City, the son of Mónica and César Arias. His parents are Colombian, and he was raised bilingual. His brother is Kickin’ It actor Mateo Arias. Before starting his acting career, Moises graduated from Barbizon Modeling and Acting School in Tampa, Florida.
Career
Moisés has made guest appearances on shows such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Everybody Hates Chris and Wizards of Waverly Place. He had a recurring role as Rico on Hannah Montana, and became a series regular in the show’s second season. In 2009, he played Andre in the Disney Channel Original Movie Dadnapped. As a regular on the Disney Channel, he participated on the first and second Disney Channel Games on the red team. He also participated in the third Disney Channel games on the Yellow Team (Comets). His main role while at Disney was as Rico Suave in ‘Hannah Montana’. He appeared in music videos for Pearl Jam[citation needed], and the Jonas Brothers video for their song “SOS”, and Parmalee, and the 2006 film Nacho Libre in a minor role. He participated in the Guadalajara Film Festival (2009) during the presentation of the movie The Perfect Game with Eva Longoria.
Arias appeared in Beethoven’s Big Break in 2008. He appeared on the ESPN family of networks as a roving ‘sideline’ reporter conducting interviews with fans and players at the 2009 Little League World Series. He appeared in Wizards of Waverly Place and played Conscience, Max (Jake T. Austin)’s conscience. Arias and his brother directed a series of YouTube films under the user name Moiswashere. In 2009, they worked on a film called Motocross Madness.
In mid-2012, Arias filmed The Kings of Summer, which had its premiere on January 19, 2013, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews. This year, he broke out from child actor in the film Ender’s Game, starring with Asa Butterfield, Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford. In late 2018, Arias released an album under a different alias.[citation needed] In March 2019, Arias played Poe in the CBS film Five Feet Apart, starring with Cole Sprouse. In January 2020, he appeared as a patient on an episode of the show The Good Doctor on the ABC network.
Controversy
In May 2014, Arias, who was 20 at the time, was photographed shirtless in a bed with then-13-year-old Willow Smith, which triggered an investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Nacho Libre | Juan Pablo | |
| 2008 | Beethoven’s Big Break | Billy | |
| 2009 | The Perfect Game | Mario Ontiveros | |
| Hannah Montana: The Movie | Rico Suave | ||
| Astro Boy | Zane (voice) | ||
| 2012 | We the Party | Quicktime | |
| The Secret World of Arrietty | Spiller (voice) | American dub | |
| Noobz | Hollywood | ||
| 2013 | The Kings of Summer | Biaggio | |
| Despicable Me 2 | Antonio Perez (voice) | ||
| Ender’s Game | Bonzo Madrid | ||
| 2015 | The Stanford Prison Experiment | Anthony Carroll | |
| 2016 | The Land | Junior | |
| Ben-Hur | Dismas | ||
| 2017 | Kong: Skull Island | Bar Guest | Cameo |
| Pitch Perfect 3 | Pimp-Lo | ||
| Life Boat | Patagrande | ||
| 2018 | Little Bitches | Phil | |
| 2019 | Five Feet Apart | Poe Ramirez | |
| The Wall of Mexico | Cokestraw | ||
| Monos | Bigfoot | ||
| 2020 | Blast Beat | Mateo Andres | |
| The King of Staten Island | Igor | ||
| 2021 | Jockey | Gabriel Boullait | |
| Samaritan | Percy Smith | Post-production | |
| TBA | American Murderer | Kyle Wallace | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Everybody Hates Chris | Kid #5 | Episode: “Everybody Hates Sausage” |
| 2006 | The Emperor’s New School | Marcus (voice) | Episode: “Rabbit Face” |
| 2006 | Dive Olly Dive! | Olly (voice) | |
| 2006 | The Suite Life of Zack & Cody | Randall | Episode: “Day Care” |
| 2006–2011 | Hannah Montana | Rico Suave | 70 episodes Recurring Role (Season 1) Main role (Seasons 2-4) |
| 2009 | Dadnapped | André | Television film |
| 2009 | Wizards of Waverly Place | Max’s conscience | Episodes: “Monster Hunter”, “Three Monsters” and “Lazerama” |
| 2009 | The Suite Life on Deck | Jay | Episode: “Shipnotized” |
| 2009 | Phineas and Ferb | Fred (voice) | Episode: “Phineas and Ferb’s Quantum Boogaloo” |
| 2011 | Love Bites | Jeff | Episode: “Sky High” |
| 2012 | The Middle | Matt | Recurring role (Season 3); 5 episodes |
| 2017 | Jean-Claude Van Johnson | Luis | Recurring role; 6 episodes |
| 2019 | The Good Doctor | Luka | Guest Star |
Music videos
| Year | Artist | Single |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Jonas Brothers | “SOS” |
| 2012 | Jaden Smith | “Gonzoes” |
| “The Coolest” | ||
| 2013 | GS Boyz | “Stanky Legg” |
| Jaden Smith |
