Javier Palenzuela was born in Miami, FL and raised by Cuban-born parents that fled to America at 13 & 16 years old. As a child, he was always sketching, reading comic books, and playing D&D as well as other tabletop role-playing games. At 13, he took an after-school job at a local magic shop and began performing stage magic in professional shows until the age of 15. His storytelling skills really developed when he was accepted into a high school program that let him spend half of his junior and senior years learning Commercial Art. After graduating high school, he accepted a scholarship for a bachelor’s program in film/computer animation at Miami’s International Fine Arts College where he began writing and producing low budget short films, as well as one feature entitled Vampire Cheerleaders Must Die! He also spent time working in a local improv/sketch comedy troupe called The Marty Martini Show and hosted a weekly open mic night at a coffee house.

Determined to learn, he moved to Los Angeles and made a videography barter deal to enroll in Writers Boot Camp’s Think Tank two-year screenwriting program. In exchange for a discount on his tuition, he recorded all the guest speakers. After graduating from that program, he continued producing, writing and working on projects like: The First Annual Photography Awards, comedy sketches, educational videos (How to Make It in Film/Television, and How to Make it as an Actor), reality show sizzle reels, 24 hour short films (Director’s Cut, New Beginnings, & Love Hurts), and Game Knights (a half-animated comedy series about role-playing gamers who voice their characters in inter-cutting adventures).

In 2008, he began regularly performing stand-up comedy at venues like The Comedy Store, Icehouse Pasadena, Flappers Burbank, and many others. He’s also a founding member of the Gamers of Comedy, a comedy troupe consisting of comedians who also role-play and play table-top games. Recently, two of his jokes were featured in a book teaching stand-up comedy called “The Tao of Comedy” by Bobbie Oliver.