Alonso Alvarez-Barreda was born in México city and raised in the small town of Tampico, on the eastern coast of Mexico. Despite his father's best efforts, he chose to forgo a career as a professional ping-pong player to pursue his passion for filmmaking.

Mentored by Alejandro Monteverde, Alvarez-Barreda directed his first short, Historia de un Letrero. The entire project was shot in Tampico on a $50 budget using borrowed equipment and his friends as actors. in 2008, it won the Best Short Film Award at Cannes Film Festival.

Alvarez-Barreda's third short, Crescendo, is an 18th century period piece entirely in German and tells the story of the birth of Beethoven. The project was produced by Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim. It screened in over 30 international film festivals including Telluride and New York and was a finalist for the 2013 Oscars®. The short also landed him the Best Director award at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival and nominations for Best Writing and Best Film.

In 2014 Alvarez-Barreda was one of four filmmakers selected for the first ever HBO Access Directing Fellowship. The program culminated in the production of his short, The Walk, starring Max Arciniega (Breaking Bad). The short tells the story of a Mexican man and his young son crossing the border illegally.

Since then, Alvarez-Barreda has helmed a dozen episodes of television including The Mosquito Coast for Apple TV, The Lincoln Lawyer for Netflix, Mayans M.C. for FX, Big Sky for ABC, Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access, The Chi for SHOWTIME, Kindred for FX, American Horror Stories for Ryan Murphy and The Calling for David E. Kelley - PEACOCK

Three of his Snowfall episodes have been submitted to the Emmy's by FX in the category of Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series.

Alvarez-Barreda is currently in post-production of his first feature film The Wingwalker starring Mexican star Omar Chaparro, and Ariel Winner actress Mercedes Hernandez.