A Rio Grande Valley native, parkour athlete and stunt woman recently landed a part in Marvel’s latest movie. 

Before Lorena Abreu’s love for parkour, she had a love for movies. 

"I always wanted to work in movies,” Abreu said. “So, when I was 18 and graduated from Sci-Tech in Mercedes, I went to film school in Orlando. And it was then, when I was like a whole adult, I was 19, that I heard about something called parkour and I started training and became obsessed with it really, really, really fast."

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Lorena’s love for parkour led to all types of work. 

"I did a few non-union stunts for a few telenovelas in Miami, but my first big stunt job that got me tafted, which means I got shortcutted into the Screen Actors Guild — which is the union you got to be in if you really want to do stunt work — was NCIS: New Orleans," Abreu said.  "Then, my first feature film that I got to work in was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

Lorena was chosen as the stunt double for Xochil Gomez, who plays America Chavez in the film.

"After they shoot a movie, they'll do screeners and they'll give their screener audience questionnaires and they might make changes, and they might factor those into the changes,” Abreu said. “So then they do re-shoots. So, I got to be involved in the re-shoots."

"Being on the set of Doctor Strange was like being a princess in a fairy tale,” Abreu said. “I'm not going to get over it, it's so crazy. I was stoked every single day, and I'm still stoked about it. It was unreal."

But this Valley native certainly keeps it real.

"When it comes to giving advice for someone who wants to pursue a career like this, it's tricky because I'm coming from a place of privilege,” Abreu said. “My parents were able to support me when I first went out and went to college. So, I would like to be really careful in what I try to say to other people in terms of inspiration. If it comes to stunts and getting live shows, getting to live shows using parkour or any other physical skills, I did write a series of articles with very specific guidelines as to how to break into the industry and what you need to do."

You can find those articles on her website, along with a look at Lorena's growing career, at https://www.lorenaparkour.com/

"I don't know where I'll be 20 years from now,” Abreu said. “All I know is that right now, I really love what I do and I'm trying my best to make this into a consistent and viable career."

Lorena Abreu: Made in the 956.