David Alvarez is a Canadian dancer and actor, who, for Disney, played the supporting role of Bernardo Vasquez in the 2021 live-action film West Side Story. Best known for being one of the original Billys in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical, he is one of the youngest winners of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Early life and education[]
Alvarez was born on May 11, 1994 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to David Alvarez-Carbonell, a professor of science, and Yanek Alvarez, a theater star. Growing up in a family with parents of Cuban ancestry, his first languages were French and Spanish. He moved to San Diego, California, with his family when his father took a job at The Scripps Research Institute.
In 2005, Alvarez received a full merit scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and his family relocated to New York City. While there, he starred in The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center Opera House and The Sleeping Beauty at the Metropolitan Opera House. Alvarez continued his ballet training at the theater until 2012.
