Born in Lisbon Portugal, with his lineage tracking back to Christopher Columbus on his Mother's side and the first President of Portugal, Manoel de Arriaga, on his Father's side, his aristocratic ancestors have influenced his life in pretty much nothing besides writing this bio, or maybe not: at the age of three, Francisco might have channeled one of his great grandpa's blood when he set sail to discover America, docking in Malibu, California, were he spent his time learning his ABC's with celebrity offspring and surfing at Zuma Beach.

 

When he was 8, fed up with the Malibu sunset parties, he took off to New York where he was told he would find people with soul and character. In the Big Apple, he attended a public school in uptown Manhattan and local minion gang members saw in Francisco a fresh lump of meat, but luckily back in Malibu he had attended Chuck Norris' Tang Su Do dojo (I swear it exists) and was able to defend himself, or run home...  After the Holiday School Recital, where Francisco danced with his classmates to Coolio's Gangster's Paradise (you can't script this), his Mother thought it be best he start home schooling. And so he did. 

 

At the age of ten, after an enriching experience in the East and West coast of the land of hopes and dreams, he decided to go back to Portugal to discover his true roots, only returning to the US when he was legal to drink a margarita.

 

When he landed in Lisbon, more specifically, Cascais, he had reeked the rewards of homeschooling and studied 4th and 5th grade in just one year, allowing him to skip straight to 6th grade. Francisco was happy to reconnect with his large family and started to excel in the sport his cousins were addicted to - Bodyboarding. In fact, he became so passionate and dedicated to the sport, that after hours of practice and tube time, his teenage dream came true: he was sponsored head to toe by the top brands in the industry, featured in magazines, Vice Champion of the Portuguese Cup and Regional Champion of Lisbon. 

 

One day he woke up with the idea of signing with a talent agency to make a couple of extra bucks off of commercials and go surfing around the world. In the process, he fell into an audition to play a series regular in Morangos com Açucar, the most popular TV Series ever made in Portugal and the rest as they say, is history...

 

Francisco's life shifted 180 degrees as he parachuted into the seventh art. It was love at first sight and he chose the stage over the waves -- at least professionally. He went on to shoot more than 300 episodes as a series regular in two different prime time Portuguese television series, played lead roles in feature films directed by some of the most respected directors in Portugal , and also had his theatre debut in a sold out stage version of the Morangos com Açucar TV Show that drew four thousand people per night to the Lisbon Coliseum. 

 

During this madness he was completing a Business Degree at The Technical University of Lisbon and would often be studying for exams between takes. After graduating from his Business Degree he told his Father that the MBA would have to wait - he wanted to return to New York to attend a two year acting conservatory program at Sanford Meisner's acting school, The Neighborhood Playhouse. And so he did.

 

After graduating from the Playhouse he got his Greencard and took off to LA to pursue his dream. Since then, he's had the privilege of shooting Features, Shorts, Commercials and Pilots. His work has reached US national television, festivals and online streaming platforms.

​

In March 2019, Francisco was honored with a Best Actor Award from the Portuguese Authors Society for his work in Parque Mayer, where he plays a gay playwright in 1930's Portugal. 

 

Francisco has also found great passion in writing/directing/producing and started a production company - Pocket Man Entertainment. The company created No Actor Parking (www.NoActorParking.com) - a comedy series about the Hollywood underworld. 

​

He has also just recently finished producing and directing a short film he wrote - Silence - starring Victoria Secret Model, Sara Sampaio.