Diego Lanao is a proud Peruvian-American filmmaker & actor who earned a B.A. in Biology with a Joint Minor in Computer Science and Mathematics from NYU. Most recently, his romantic drama short film, What I’m Really Thinking…, placed in the Tomorrow Filmmaker’s Today (TFT) Program and was presented at the 2024 Hola Mexico Film Festival.
His TV episodic pilot, THE RIGHT ONE ALIVE, was selected for the 2024 STARZ #TakeTheLead Writers’ Intensive, the 2023 NHMC Series Script Writers Program and placed on the 2022 Latinx List x The Black List. He was named a TV writer semi-finalist for the 2025 Disney Entertainment Television Writing Program, a finalist for the 2022 NBC Writers on the Launch Program and a finalist for the 2021 3rd Annual NOSOTROS & NBC Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Showcase.
His theater work has been developed and featured at: STAGES – Sin Muros Latinx Theater Festival, SolFest Latiné Theater Festival, AMT Theater New Work Development Program, Teatro Chelsea, The Barrow Group Performing Arts Center, Latinx Playwrights Circle Fresh Draft Series and South Texas College Theater. He is a proud member of the Latinx Playwrights Circle (2023 Summer Dramatists Guild Fellow) and The Ensemble Studio Theatre LA’s New West Playwrights Group.
