- A profile of Peña revealed that for every film he's cast in, he asks the writers to include a reference to his character being Mexican-American at some point. Peña related that since he gets to mainly play characters who are not stereotypes & clichés, but are smart, funny, and have good/interesting jobs, he loves the fact that mentioning his own heritage in that context will be a source of pride to Mexican-American fans who go to his films.
- He appeared in 5 movies nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award - Million Dollar Baby (2004), Crash (2005), Babel (2006), American Hustle (2013), and The Martian (2015) - with the first two movies winning consecutively.
- Michael welcomed his first child, a boy named Roman, with his wife, Brie Shaffer, in September 2008.
- He has worked with 4 directors who have won a Best Director Oscar: Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Robert Redford.
- One of his first jobs was working in a bank.
- Is Mexican-American. His father was from Villa Purificación in Jalisco and his mother was from Charcas in San Luis Potosí.
- Friends with William Lee Scott.
- Became a Scientologist before his career took off.
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