سيرة
Elisa Bocanegra is a U.S.-born Puerto Rican actress, director, producer, and activist. She is the founder of HERO Theatre, a Los Angeles–based company dedicated to social and environmental justice.
The Los Angeles Times recognized Elisa as a Latino "power player" in Hollywood. A Fulbright scholar, she spent nearly two years at the Instituto Humboldt in Colombia.
HERO Theatre was established with support from Elisa’s mentor, the late Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis. The company is highly regarded in American theater and has received backing from notable actors such as Annette Bening, Justina Machado, and William H. Macy.
Elisa initiated a screen and stage project called Nuestro Planeta, which uses theater and film to promote sustainability education among Latine communities across the diaspora. A third article on Nuestro Planeta has been published in American Theatre Magazine. Her first piece for the magazine, "When Worlds Fall Apart There’s Nuestro Planeta," details the project’s origins during her brother’s battle with COVID-19. The article gained wide attention and helped secure research and development funding from Fulbright Colombia, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
Elisa was selected for the prestigious NEXUS Cohort at New York Stage and Film and later received The Pfaelzer Award. She also earned the Theatre Communications Group Leadership U Grant, the largest of its kind in the U.S., for her work with HERO Theatre. This grant enabled her to join the Leadership Team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons.
Her directing credits include the critically acclaimed productions LUZMI, NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY, a contemporary adaptation of THE TROJAN WOMEN exploring women and homelessness in Los Angeles.
As an actress, Elisa’s debut film, GIRLFIGHT, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film at the Sundance Film Festival. She appears in Season 2 of Peacock TV’s Based On A True Story and frequently travels throughout Latin America, bringing theater to vulnerable communities. Her film credits also include Netflix’s Christmas With You, which reached number one worldwide. She has performed extensively at major theaters across the U.S., including The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
Elisa holds an M.F.A. in Social & Environmental Arts Practice from Prescott College and is completing a PhD in Sustainability and Education.
She splits her time between Hollywood and Bogotá, Colombia, where she founded Teatro Héroe. This company uses theater to educate children, youth, and adults across Colombian communities on economic, political, cultural, social, and environmental issues. They offer plays and workshops focused on theater training as a form of artistic expression that preserves cultural heritage for Colombia and beyond, traveling throughout the country to share their work.
