You may remember Alexa PenaVega from her early roles in Robert Rodriguez‘s “Spy Kids” films.  She’s come a long way since then. With recent roles in “Machete 2,″ “Sin City 2,” and “The Remaining,” the beautiful and talented actress is a force to be reckoned with. Now of course you see her every week as one of the remaining contestants in ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

In an exclusive interview conducted prior to her joining the cast of TV’s hottest dance competition, Alexa gave HOMBRE readers a glimpse into her past and future projects.

HOMBRE: Reading your film biography it’s hard to believe that you’ve been at this almost 20 years now. How does it feel like to be a veteran in your twenties?
Alexa Pena-Vega: I love it. It cracks me up. Sometimes I get silly people saying, ‘You lost your childhood,’ and it always makes me laugh. Growing up I got to do the coolest things that little kids were never able to do. If you think that’s losing my childhood you need a brain check. That’s the coolest thing ever.

H: Especially the Spy Kids movies!
APV: Oh My God, it was the coolest experience. What kid wouldn’t want to do that.

H: And you’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez numerous times, how is it to work with him?
APV: Awesome. You know, he uses the same crew over and over and I’ve know them for years. With Robert is like working with my family every day.

H: That takes us into another film you have opening up, “Sin City 2;” what can you tell us about that film and your character there?
APV: We shot that film right around the same time we filmed “Machete 2.″ I played a character named Gilda, she is just a jaded girl who works at a bar in Sin City. It’s pretty awesome.

H: How is it working on that type of film, with so many special effect elements to it?
APV: You know that’s like making “Spy Kids 3,” because we have a green screen all the time.

H: What makes you choose a script?
Alexa Pena-Vega: I like the growth of a character. I feel that it’s important to see where a character starts and where it ends up. For me when I’m reading things I want to be sure that it’s something that is good, as opposed to doing a role that I’ve done fifty times. I like doing different things and changing it up.

H: What are the next projects you have coming up?
APV: There’s a film I shot with my husband (actor/ musician Carlos PenaVega), George Lopez, Jaime Lee Curtis and Marissa Tomei called “Spare Parts” and that’s coming out next year. And then another film called “23 Blast,” I’m very excited for that.

H: How is it working with your husband?
APV: I love it. He’s so talented. We have such a great time on set that if I could I’d work with my husband on everything! But I think people would get sick of us.

H: With such a successful career, what advice can you offer someone who wants to get into the industry?
APV: I would say patience is the most important thing. If this is something you really want to do, you have to have patience. And never stop learning. While you’re waiting to get a job, keep learning.

H: Growing up, who did you admire?
APV: Meryl Streep she’s such a legend. And you like her so much because she dives into her role, she just doesn’t go halfway. She’s definitely phenomenal. So it would be her and Gary Oldman.

H: You’ve done so many things, what is a role that you’d like to play?
AV: Two things: one is an action hero, that’d be so cool. And two, I want to do a role that I can really dive into, that’s the opposite of me. Maybe a character that’s conniving, and creepy and just falling apart. I just like those characters that have so much depth to them and they’ve been through so much and their journey.

H: Do you have any interest in doing something behind the camera?
AV: O yeah, Carlos (PenaVega) and I we talk about projects all the time and we have a couple of things in development. I love to do all sorts of things.