Nelson Ascencio

Nelson Ascencio
Born	(1964-08-30) August 30, 1964 (age 60) Havana, Cuba
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian
Years active	1990–present

Nelson Ascencio (born August 30, 1964) is a Cuban-American actor and comedian. Ascencio is most notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv and for playing Flavius in The Hunger Games film series.

Life and career

Nelson Ascencio was born in Guayos, Cuba but fled his homeland when he was very young. He then immigrated to Tarrytown, NY, where he started acting in his early teens with local theater and school productions. He continued his acting training after high school at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the HB Studios. While living in Manhattan, Ascencio performed stand up. Then he moved to Los Angeles, California where he took classes at the Groundlings Theatre. Since then he has written, performed and produced his own sketch shows with the comedy group Unsafe Sketch at HBO Workspace, Luna Park, The Upfront and Theatre at the Improv. His television credits include appearances on The Larry Sanders Show and Seinfeld .

Ascencio joined the cast of MADtv in 1999 as a feature performer for the fifth season, becoming the show's first Cuban-American cast member as well as the second one to be born outside of North America (after Bryan Callen) and the second Latino cast member at the time (after Pablo Francisco). Ascencio was later promoted to a repertory performer status at the beginning of the sixth season, but left at the end.

In February, 2012 Ascencio joined the cast of Don't Tell My Mother! (Live Storytelling), a monthly showcase in which celebrities share comedic accounts of stories they would never want their mothers to know. ^[1]

Ascencio appeared in The Hunger Games (2012), as Flavius, a part of Katniss Everdeen's (Jennifer Lawrence) prep team. He reprised his role in the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013).

Filmography

Television appearances

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Gabriel's Fire	Kid	1 episode
1993	The Larry Sanders Show	Xavier The Burglar	1 episode (as Nelson Lesmo)
1996	Party Girl	Man	1 episode
1999–2001	MADtv	various	31 episodes
2003	Birds of Prey	Craig Finn	1 episode
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Room Service Waiter	1 episode
2007	Imperfect Union	Worker #1	TV movie
2023	White House Plumbers	Virgilio "Villo" Gonzalez	HBO limited series

Film appearances

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Paul	Jorge
2012	The Hunger Games	Flavius
2013	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
2016	Mucho Dinero	Mateo
2020	Godmothered	Mr. Clancy

References

1. "Don'T Tell My Mother! - Story Slam". Allevents.in. 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2012-07-09.^{[ permanent dead link ]}

External links

• Nelson Ascencio at IMDb
• Official MADtv site