Maridueña was born on June 9, 2001 in Los Angeles, California to Omar G. Ramirez and Carmelita Ramirez-Sánchez.[2][3] He has four sisters.[4] He is of Mexican, Cuban, and Ecuadorian descent.[5] His birth name, Ramario, is a combination of Ramón and Mario, the names of his maternal uncles.[1]
Maridueña grew up in the El Sereno neighborhood and attended El Sereno Middle School.[3][6] When he was around 10 years old, Maridueña joined the CASA 0101 theater company where he trained as an actor and performed in his first productions.[3][7] He later studied at Cathedral High School and Pasadena City College.[6][8]
Career
Maridueña's first professional job was modeling for a Sears catalog.[4] He was 17 when he first appeared in Cobra Kai as the lead role of Miguel Díaz; he has since appeared in every episode of the show.[9]
Together with Jacob Bertrand, Maridueña co-hosts the Lone Lobos podcast, which debuted in September 2021.[10]
Maridueña has said of his role as Blue Beetle (the first Latino superhero character to feature in a live-action film)[11] "The only thing that is on my mind right now is just the fact that he's Latino. I have so much pride in getting to be a part of this project... I think it's so important, and I don’t want to stand on the soapbox for too long but representation is so important."[12][13]
On August 18, 2023, Maridueña released his debut single, "On My Way" (featuring singer Adriana Padilla).[14][15] In December 2023, he was cast in the film Killing Castro.[16]
In April 2024, Maridueña joined the ensemble voice cast of the animated film The Smurfs Movie.[17] In September 2024, he appeared in a commercial for Taco Bell.[18] Maridueña appeared in an episode of J Balvin's docuseries A Great Day With J Balvin in October 2024.[19]
