Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy is making everyone notice his incredible acting talent in the Netflix fantasy series One Piece. It is, however, remarkable that Iñaki Godoy has done quite a few successful movies and TV shows before landing his breakout role in One Piece.
Iñaki Godoy was born on 25 August 2003 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 20-year-old has received rave reviews for his performance in the lead role of Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece, a live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga of the same name.
One Piece and what critics say about Iñaki Godoy’s role
One Piece has been praised overwhelmingly by critics, who have given it a score of 85 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. Of particular note is that some reviewers have said that the show can entertain even those who are not familiar with the source material.
All cast members have been hailed for their performances, but Iñaki Godoy, because of his lead role, has received special attention.
Angelica Jade Bastién writes in Vulture that he does “a tightrope walk of a role” as Luffy.
“There just aren’t characters like him in white-colonial media — men whose kindness is essential to their being and for whom friendship is tantamount. Luffy is as much a political insurgent as he is a goof and grinning trickster, though never an empty-headed fool,” writes Bastién.
David Opie of the Empire praises most of the cast but adds that “no one shines as bright as Iñaki Godoy, whose enthusiasm for the lead role is matched only by Luffy’s own zeal for piracy.”
This “enthusiasm,” which Opie underlined, is also visible in Godoy’s biography on his official site. He has written about his life with a sense of cheerfulness that is discernible from how he has described his childhood, family support, the feeling of making new friends, and his heartfelt desire to become an actor.
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Godoy said that he knew he wanted to become an actor when his “feet touched the stage” at the age of four. This was when his mother had signed him up for a musical theatre school for kids called Stage Company.
“I felt free. And it’s the search for that feeling that has driven my life ever since,” he said of his experience in the plays he did back then.
No wonder that even Oda, who was involved in the project, was particularly impressed with Godoy’s performance in One Piece.
“He [Oda] certainly didn’t think that we were going to be able to cast someone for Luffy as good as Iñaki, but I think he was really sold when he saw some of the footage,” showrunner Steven Maeda told Collider.
“It was incredible casting, finding him, and then a lot of luck in getting him in the right place to be able to do the show. But he really does good by that character, and I have to say, I love Iñaki. He truly is that character,” Maeda added.
Godoy has been acting ever since and eventually made his professional debut in 2016. He is currently enrolled in an online filmmaking and screenwriting programme at New York University (NYU) and is learning kickboxing besides other martial arts following his experience in One Piece.
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Movies and TV shows starring Netflix One Piece breakout star Iñaki Godoy
One Piece
Release date: 31 August 2023
IMDb rating: 8.5
Created by: Steven Maeda, Matt Owens
Other cast members: Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero Gibson, Taz Skylar
Synopsis: The tightly knit Straw Hat Pirates are on the search for the fabled ‘One Piece’ — a treasure that can make their young pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy (Godoy) the ‘King of Pirates.’ On their tail are the Marines and others who want to reach the treasure first.
More about the series: One Piece marks Godoy’s debut in English-language television and his second English-language work after the film The Imperfects (2022).
Sin miedo a la verdad
Release date: 8 October 2018 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 7.9
Created by: Rubén Galindo, Marcelo Strupini
Other cast members: Alex Perea, Fermín Martínez, Ana Cristina Rubio
Synopsis: Manu is a hacker who masquerades as Gus to help victims of crimes. He is searching for his sister, Estefani (Rubio), whom he had saved from assault years ago by killing her attacker. On the other hand, Horacio Escamilla (Martínez), the corrupt police officer brother of the man Manu killed, is looking for revenge.
More about the series: Iñaki Godoy plays El Chinos in the TV series, one of the highest rated TV shows the movie star has been in. He appears in 11 episodes, all of which are in season 2, subtitled as Despierta, and released in 2019.
Blue Demon
Release date: 11 November 2016 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 7.7
Created by: Alejandro Martínez-Beltrán, Carlos Algara
Other cast members: Tenoch Huerta, Ana Brenda Contreras, Joaquín Cosio
Synopsis: The 65-episode series is a fictionalised drama about the life of Alejandro Muñóz (Huerta), a Mexican professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Blue Demon.
More about the series: Blue Demon was Godoy’s second appearance on the screen. He is seen only in the pilot episode of the series. Huerta, who later became famous worldwide for playing Namor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), was praised for his performance across the three seasons of the show.
La querida del Centauro
Release date: 12 January 2016 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 7.4
Created by: Lina Uribe, Darío Vanegas
Other cast members: Humberto Zurita, Ludwika Paleta, Michel Brown, Arantza Ruiz
Synopsis: To protect her daughter, Cristina (Ruiz), a criminal named Yolanda Acosta (Paleta) gets close to drug lord Benedictino Suárez aka El Centauro (Zurita). Meanwhile, Detective Gerardo Duarte (Brown) tries to use her to take down El Centauro, but the drug lord goes after Yolanda, Gerardo, Cristina and the detective’s adopted son, Amadeo ‘El Gato’ (Godoy).
More about the series: Godoy says that La querida del Centauro is his first recurring role in a TV series. He was 11 years old at the time.
“I was very lucky to be surrounded by not only talented and passionate people, but also very kind human beings. They treated me like a friend since day one, and even though I was the youngest one on set, I never felt out of place,” he said.
Godoy appeared in 128 of the 141 episodes of the show across its two seasons.
No Abras La Puerta
Release date: 30 November 2022 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 7.1
Directed by: Humberto Hinojosa Ozcáriz
Other cast members: Ximena Lamadrid, Alberto Guerra
Synopsis: Fausto (Godoy) and Esther (Lamadrid) are two tormented souls. While Fausto is trying to escape the clutches of his father, Esther wants to save herself from the mistreatment at the hands of her brother-in-law. The two, however, get involved in a supernatural event, which goes beyond their control.
More about the film: No Abras La Puerta is a supernatural horror. It was released just a month after Godoy’s MexZombies. Commenting about the two films on his official site, he said that he feels grateful for being able to do all sorts of genres in his career up until that point.
“They were both very difficult in their own ways, and for the first time in my acting journey not everyday was fun. There were very tough days, and the responsibility of being a lead started to hit me,” he said.
Los elegidos
Release date: 1 July 2019 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 6.8
Directed by: Bonnie Cartas, Sergio Siruela, Carlos González Sariñana
Other cast members: Sara Maldonado, Carlos Ferro, Carmen Madrid, Macarena García Romero, Erick Cañete, Jason Romo, Julio Bracho
Synopsis: The García family seems like any other family. But they have a secret: they are not truly a family and the children have superpowers. Trying to capture them for his nefarious purposes is a dangerous military man known as Thomas Morrison aka El Coronel (Bracho).
More about the series: Godoy appears only in the 28th episode of the series, titled Explosión. His character’s name is Bruno. The series ended with its finale episode the same year.
The Imperfects
Release date: 8 September 2022
IMDb rating: 6.5
Created by: Shelley Eriksen, Dennis Heaton
Other cast members: Italia Ricci, Morgan Taylor Campbell, Rhianna Jagpal, Rhys Nicholson
Synopsis: Abbi (Jagpal), Juan (Godoy) and Tilda (Campbell) are three youths in their 20s who are turned into monsters after an experimental gene therapy goes wrong. The trio band together to find Dr. Alex Sarkov (Nicholson), the scientist responsible for their condition, and make him change them to humans again. They are helped by another scientist named Dr. Sydney Burke (Ricci), who has secrets of her own.
More about the series: This show marks Godoy’s English-language debut. It was filmed in Canada when he was 17 years old. However, The Imperfects, which premiered on Netflix, was cancelled after the first season.
Go Youth!
Release date: 21 January 2021 (US)/23 September 2021 (Mexico)
IMDb rating: 6.5
Directed by: Carlos Armella
Other cast members: Daniela Arce, Rodrigo Cortes, Mario Palmerin
Synopsis: The coming-of-age film revolves around four teenagers — Martin (Cortes), Daniel (Palmerin), Dulce (Arce) and Pedro (Godoy). The four struggle with their fears, hopes, pain, love and anger as they navigate through life in Mexico City.
More about the film: Go Youth! marks Godoy’s debut on the big screen. At the time, the actor was only 14 years old. Iñaki Godoy remembers the filming of the movie as a challenge. “We had a lot of rehearsals with our coach Viridiana Olvera, who was also the casting director of the movie. I think this project showed me that I can play characters very different from myself and still have fun,” he said.
Who Killed Sara?
Release date: 24 March 2021
IMDb rating: 6.4
Created by: José Ignacio Valenzuela
Other cast members: Manolo Cardona, Carolina Miranda, Alejandro Nones, Ximena Lamadrid
Synopsis: Álex Guzmán (Cardona) has spent 18 years in prison on the false charge of killing his sister, Sara (Lamadrid). Following his release, Álex decides to uncover the truth and find the actual murderer who he believes is someone from the powerful Lazcano family.
More about the series: Godoy is one of the main characters in the series, which ended after three seasons in May 2022. He plays Bruno, the teenage son of Sofia (Ana Lucía Domínguez) and the stepson of Rodolfo Lazcano (Nones). Regarding the series, Godoy has said that the pandemic hit during the time of filming, which forced him indoors but also gave him the time to properly pursue his love for screenwriting.
“While being stuck at home, I took screenwriting workshops (SOCAPA) and wrote several scripts. In a time when I couldn’t go out, screenwriting gave me the tools to feel freedom,” he said, adding that he hopes to become a director in the future.
MexZombies
Release date: 26 October 2022 (US)
IMDb rating: 5.5
Directed by: Chava Cartas
Other cast members:
Synopsis: A zombie apocalypse breaks out during a Day of the Dead celebration by a group of teenagers. The survivors now must fight the undead to save themselves.
More about the film: Godoy plays Tavo, the main protagonist in the film. MexZombies, a zombie comedy, was released on streaming platform Vix+ in the US and Latin America.
(Hero and Featured images: COURTESY OF NETFLIX – © 2023 Netflix, Inc./IMDb)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) :
– What movies and TV shows has Iñaki Godoy been in?
Iñaki Godoy has acted in TV shows and movies such as No Abras La Puerta, Who Killed Sara?, MexZombies, The Imperfects and La querida del Centauro.
– Where was Iñaki Godoy born?
Iñaki Godoy was born in Mexico City, Mexico.
– Who is Iñaki Godoy?
Iñaki Godoy is an actor who has shot to worldwide fame with Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the manga, One Piece.
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore
