Chilean-born Nicolás López whose first English language film entitled AFTERSHOCK (EVERYWHERE May 10^th) screened at Hispanicize and, whose acclaimed work has made him a favorite at prestigious film festivals across the U.S., Europe and Latin American over the past decade, was honored with the Latinovator Award at Hispanicize 2013.  Hispanicize 2013, the fourth annual Latino trends event, that took place at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, April 9-13.

The Latinovator Awards recognize Latino celebrities, business professionals and other high achievers who have become crossover successes or whose stories of achievements are remarkable or inspirational.

At 12 years old, López (born in 1983 in Santiago, Chile) started writing for Chile's most prestigious newspaper (El Mercurio). With his column ‘Memories of a Penguin,’ he gained devoted followers and ultimately an expulsion from school for poking fun at the Chilean education system.

In 1998, he founded the site Sobras.com, which commented on films, television, video games, and comic books. Sobras grew and became López's production company, Sobras International Pictures. Through Sobras, he started directing music videos (nominated for a MTV Video Music Awards, 2002 for Mujer barbuda) and screenwriting (“MTV Latin Awards, 2003”). He also created the comedy show Piloto MTV, (MTV Latin America) which he wrote, directed, and starred.  In 2004, López wrote and directed his first feature film: Promedio rojo, a dark teen comedy that Quentin Tarantino called, "The funniest movie of the year.” Promedio rojo was a box-office smash. It was selected by film festivals across the world including Mar del Plata IFF (Argentina), Tokyo IFF, Sitges IFF (Spain), SXSW and Los Angeles Film Festival (US).

López’s second feature, the sci-fi romantic comedy Santos (2008) was co-produced by Troublemaker Studios (Sin City) and Telecinco Cinema (Pan's Labyrinth) with a $6 million budget.  Santos won the Special Jury Prize at Fantastic Fest.

After Santos, López wrote and directed the highest grossing Chilean film of 2010: Que pena tu vida (“F*ck My Life”), a romantic comedy which inspired a successful trilogy that also included: Que pena tu boda (“F*ck My Wedding,” 2011), and Que pena tu familia (“F*ck My Family,” 2012).

“Aftershock,” which premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, was produced by his company Sobras along with Miguel Asensio, Eli Roth, and Brian Oliver.

López joined 2013 Latinovator recipients Soledad O’Brien and Beto Perez, co-founder of Zumba Fitness.  Altogether, Hispanicize 2013 named six recipients in total for the Latinovator Awards.  Each of the innovators was presented with their awards individually in person at Hispanicize 2013 as part of a special general session where they spoke about their inspirations, business habits and road to success.