Carlos Alvarez-Aranyos

Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos (born September 25, 1980) is a strategic communications consultant and adventurer. He is a former political columnist, journalist, screenwriter and actor.

Personal Life and Education

Born on September 25, 1980, in the Dominican Republic, he was educated in the United States, attending schools in Florida, Connecticut, and California. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a degree in political science, and received his master's degree in political management from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.^[1]

His father is Dominican financier Luis Alvarez Renta, and he is a nephew of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. He was previously engaged to actress Christy Carlson Romano,^[1] and is a former resident of Monaco.^[2]

In 2012, he served as a judge for the Miss New York USA pageant.^[3]

Career

Strategic Communications Consulting

He works as a strategic communications consultant through his company, CAA Communications.^[4] Known engagements include work for the United States Department of Defense^[5] and for QI Path, a medical risk management company.^[6]

Journalism

At the age of sixteen, he founded the Internet edition of the Listín Diario,^[7] the largest newspaper in the Caribbean. He was recognized for the achievement by Leonel Fernandez Reyna, president of the Dominican Republic.^[8]

In 2006, he founded The Columnist, where he wrote a weekly political column.^[9]

Screenwriting and Acting

He has reportedly written over ten screenplays, although only a project titled The Last Race has been produced.^[1]

He also previously worked as an actor (under the stage name Cal Thomas), starring in various films and television programs. His most notable work was in AfterThought, in which he played a serial killer. He also acted in a commercial for Visa.^[1]

He was involved in a violent motorcycle crash the day after screen-testing for the lead role in "The Cutting Edge 2".^[1]

Adventure Travel & Philanthropy

He founded Team CAA, an "adventure travel team that raises money for charity."^[10] The team's adventures have included the Mongol Rally,^[11] which raised funds for UNICEF,^[12] and the Rickshaw Run,^[13] which raised funds for the HEARTS orphanage in Nellore, India.^[14]

One of his updates from the Mongol Rally was selected by The Adventurists as one of the "Top 10 Team Updates from the Mongol Rally." It read, "My challenge to cops: Spanish-speaking Dominican guy with Afghan beard and American attitude traveling on a Hungarian passport while driving a New York-registered Smart car on a Monaco license with French insurance. If they can write the ticket I will happily pay it.”^[11]

He rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. as part of "Run for the Wall", a veteran's movement that organized visits to VFWs, VA hospitals, war memorials and schools across the country, and which culminated with participation in the "Rolling Thunder" parade on Memorial Day 2006.^[1]

He traveled to Guinea on behalf of AMADE-Monaco to oversee construction of a school, and to Beirut, Lebanon on behalf of Les Amis du Liban to oversee construction of a Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital.^[15]

He is a public supporter of animal charities. He appeared in the Wall Street Journal while attending the Humane Society's annual benefit gala in New York.^[16]

References