Tyler Alvarez

Alvarez was born in New York City, to a first generation Cuban American father, and a fourth generation Puerto Rican American mother. His father works for the Drug Enforcement Administration and his mother works as a nurse administrator for a private hospital. He had one older brother, Niko, who died in October 2018. Alvarez's parents divorced when he was a child and both subsequently remarried. He has two younger half-siblings, Alex and Brianna, from his father, and a younger half-sister, Sofia, from his mother.

Alvarez was educated at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City, and at Jericho High School in Jericho, New York. He is fluent in Spanish.Alvarez's first professional acting job was in a Totino's pizza rolls commercial. In 2014, he began starring as Diego Rueda, a human with magical powers, in Nickelodeon's teen sitcom Every Witch Way. The following year, Alvarez began portraying Benny Mendoza, the eldest son of Litchfield inmate Gloria Mendoza, in Netflix's comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black.

In 2017, he began playing the lead role of Peter Maldonado in Netflix's true crime mockumentary series American Vandal. He returned for the second season which aired in 2018. The series has since been cancelled by Netflix.

Tyler Alvarez also appeared in the YouTube satirical miniseries ¡Me Llamo Alma!, starring as Miguel.

In 2020, Alvarez made his off-Broadway debut with the Roundabout Theatre Company's play 72 Miles to Go. The production closed prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alvarez joined the cast of Netflix show Never Have I Ever as a recurring character in season 2.

In 2023-2024 he plays Ralph, a cholera ghost, in one episode each of seasons 2 and 3 of Ghosts.