A Rio Grande Valley native, parkour athlete and stuntwoman recently landed a role in Marvel’s latest film.

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

“I’ve always wanted to work in film,” Abreu said. “So when I was 18 and graduated from Sci-Tech at Mercedes, I went to film school in Orlando. And that’s when I was like an adult apart whole, I was 19, I heard about something called parkour and I started training and I became obsessed with it very, very, very quickly.”

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Lorena’s love for parkour has 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 got me tafter, which meant I got shortened to the Screen Actors Guild — what union do you have to belong to if you really want to do stunts — was NCIS: New Orleans,” Abreu said. “Then my first feature film that I worked in was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

Lorena was cast as a stuntwoman for Xochil Gomez, who plays America Chavez in the film.

“After they shoot a movie, they’ll make screens and they’ll give their screens audience questionnaires and they might make changes, and they might factor that into the changes,” Abreu said. “So they do covers. So I have to be involved in covers.”

“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 elated every day, and I’m still elated about it. It was unreal.

But this valley native certainly keeps it real.

“When it comes to giving advice to someone who wants to pursue a career like this, it’s tricky because I come from a privileged place,” Abreu said. “My parents were able to support me when I first came out and went to college. So, I would like to be very careful in what I try to tell others in terms of inspiration. it’s about stunts and getting live shows attending shows using parkour or any other physical skill i did write a series of articles with very specific guidelines on how to break into the industry and what you need to do.”

You can find these articles on her website, along with an overview of Lorena’s growing career, at https://www.lorenaparkour.com/

“I don’t know where I will be in 20 years,” Abreu said. “All I know is that right now I’m really enjoying what I’m doing and doing my best to make it a consistent and viable career.”

Lorena Abreu: Made in 956.