Alexa PenaVega has spent the past several years quietly building a life that looks nothing like the one she grew up in. The actress, best known for playing Carmen Cortez in the Spy Kids franchise, told Us Weekly exclusively that her Tennessee farm with husband Carlos PenaVega and their three children is the ‘polar opposite’ of Hollywood life.
The interview came on June 24, the same week she and original co-star Daryl Sabara surprised campers at a Salvation Army summer camp to mark the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
For PenaVega, the move to rural Tennessee was not accidental. It was a conscious choice to raise her family, sons Ocean, 6, and Kingston, 5, and daughter Rio, 3, in an environment grounded in nature rather than industry.
“I love [that] we’re very outdoor[sy] people,” she told Us Weekly exclusively on June 24. The 37-year-old made the comment while spending the day volunteering with the Salvation Army, a detail that underscores how far her daily priorities have shifted from red carpets and press junkets.
When Spy Kids Came Home
Even with that intentional distance from Hollywood, the PenaVega household has not been immune to the pull of Spy Kids. In an exclusive interview with E! News’ Will Marfuggi, PenaVega described a bumpy road to getting her eldest son on board with the film.
“I remember showing it to him years back and he was not interested at all,” she said. “He was a big Sharkboy and Lavagirl fan. I was like, ‘What the heck, dude?! You’re cheating on me with Sharkboy and Lavagirl!’ It was total betrayal.”
The tide eventually turned, and in a way only a six-year-old could engineer. PenaVega explained that Ocean’s siblings copied his enthusiasm for the film, making it look cool enough for all three kids to become devoted fans.
That shared enthusiasm has since spilled beyond the living room. PenaVega recounted a moment on an airplane when Ocean grabbed the sleeve of the passenger beside him to announce that his mother was in Spy Kids and his father was in Big Time Rush.
Daryl Sabara’s Kids Are Still Catching Up
Sabara, who played Juni Cortez opposite PenaVega’s Carmen, is navigating a similar, if slightly more bewildering, experience with his own children. He and wife Meghan Trainor have three sons: Riley, 5, Barry, 2, and Mikey, who was 5 months old at the time of the interview.
Riley, the eldest, is still working out the logic of his father’s fame. “He’ll do some double takes like, ‘That’s you?!'” Sabara, 34, joked to E! News. “Or, if someone recognizes me, he’ll go, ‘How do they know you?’ And I’m like, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s all good.'”
It has been 15 years since PenaVega and Sabara last appeared together as Carmen and Juni, a run that included the original 2001 film, two sequels in 2002 and 2003, and a fourth installment in 2011. That gap makes the franchise’s continued relevance all the more striking to Sabara.
“It’s so surreal, it honestly doesn’t make sense that kids are still watching it today,” he reflected to E! News. “I think it just holds up to what a fun movie it is that 25 years later it still feels fresh.”
A Surprise For Kids Who Needed It Most
The anniversary celebration was not just a nostalgia exercise. PenaVega and Sabara channeled the occasion into something tangible by visiting a Salvation Army summer camp, where they surprised children with a day of spy-themed activities.
According to a press release from PR Newswire, the camp serves families from underserved communities, many of whom face rising costs and limited access to summer programming, giving the visit a social dimension that went well beyond a publicity appearance.
Both stars used the moment to articulate what they hope children take from the original film. PenaVega emphasized dreaming big and the courage to pursue ambitions without hesitation, while Sabara echoed that the characters modeled fearlessness and imagination for young audiences.
PenaVega added a broader message about community, describing the film’s central idea as one where belonging extends beyond bloodlines to include everyone working together toward something good.
Building A Quiet Life
What PenaVega is doing in Tennessee is worth paying attention to, not because farm life is inherently superior, but because the deliberate nature of the choice is rare. In an industry that rewards visibility, she and Carlos have built something quieter and, by her own account, more intentional.
The fact that she is doing it while still showing up for the franchise that made her famous, and for kids who genuinely need a good day, makes the story more than a celebrity lifestyle piece. It is a reminder that the values a movie preaches, dreaming big, family as community, can actually shape how its stars choose to live.
PenaVega’s Tennessee farm may be a world away from Hollywood, but the thread connecting her current life to the one she built on screen turns out to be surprisingly direct.
The outdoor-focused, community-minded household she described to Us Weekly is, in its own way, exactly what Carmen Cortez would have grown up to build.
