From parkour and Marvel stunt work to viral Wednesday videos and music, the Dominican creator says passion, not popularity, has guided her career.
Lorena Abreu never chased fame, but today millions of people recognize the 32-year-old Dominican creator from her viral Wednesday Addams videos, Dominican Dora parodies, stunt work, and energetic social media presence. Long before the views, brand deals, and Hollywood productions, Abreu was simply a hyperactive kid whose parents kept her busy with sports and activities.
“I was always very hyperactive,” Abreu said. “My mom was always taking me between karate, dance classes, belly dancing especially, tennis. I competed in tennis and everything.”
Born in the Dominican Republic, Abreu moved to New York with her family when she was two years old. By the age of six, the family relocated to South Texas, where she spent most of her childhood. Today, she is based in Los Angeles, where she balances stunt work, content creation, music projects, and brand partnerships while remaining closely connected to her family.
Abreu graduated from the Science Academy of South Texas, an engineering-focused magnet high school that encouraged curiosity, discipline, and a willingness to explore different interests.
Her parents encouraged an active lifestyle and a willingness to try new things.
“They’ve always been very athletic,” she said. “They’ve always encouraged me to be athletic and do sports growing up.”
Her father is a physician whose passions include golf and, more recently, parkour. Her mother is a business manager and tennis player. Abreu credits both parents for creating the supportive environment that still shapes her life today.
“I literally won the lottery in the family department,” she said.
Her younger brother is preparing to move in with her, and she hopes the two will collaborate on several creative projects she has planned.
At 18, Abreu left Texas to attend Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida. Between approximately 2011 and 2013, she completed the school’s accelerated two-and-a-half-year bachelor’s degree program in film.
“It was great,” she said. “Basically, a trade school for every department in film.”
After graduation, she worked a variety of jobs that included video editing, sports highlight production, and brand promotion. One position involved promoting dog food, an experience she quickly realized was not for her.
“I hate lying to people,” she said.
Her career took a turn when Full Sail helped secure an internship with Universal Studios Orlando’s marketing department, where she worked as a video editor.
At the same time, Abreu continued creating parkour videos with her teammates, Team Rilla Hops. During the early and mid-2010s, that passion began opening unexpected doors.
She booked an Adidas commercial and found herself performing parkour at corporate events.
“They’d put obstacles on a stage and have us do parkour,” she said. “The most bizarre thing.”
Parkour eventually became a family endeavor. Abreu and her family helped build a gym centered around movement, training, and community, creating a space where athletes could challenge themselves while encouraging others to do the same.
Eventually, she auditioned for Universal’s live entertainment productions and performed in several shows, including Secret Life of Pets and the Flying Fish Market show.
Her path then led to Cirque du Soleil’s VOLTA around 2016 and 2017, although that chapter proved short-lived when the production underwent changes.
Then came her first major break in stunts.
A recommendation from another athlete led to an opportunity on NCIS: New Orleans in 2018, where Abreu doubled for an actress and performed parkour sequences. The stunt coordinator signed a Taft-Hartley form on her behalf, allowing her entry into SAG-AFTRA.
“It’s basically a huge honor,” she said.
The job officially launched her stunt career.
She later appeared on the reality competition series Exatlón Estados Unidos, making it to third place despite difficult circumstances.
“I made it to third place out of sheer spite,” she joked.
She also competed on Ultimate Tag in 2019, where producers embraced the nickname she had previously earned.
“They called me the Atomic Ant,” she said.
As opportunities expanded, Abreu faced a setback that temporarily threatened her career.
Years of intense physical activity had left her with stress fractures throughout her shins.
“I assumed it was shin splints,” she said. “I had to cease all load-bearing activities.”
During recovery, she pivoted.
She hosted programming for the television network TBD and eventually won a contest to host her own series, TBD’s The Link.
Then the pandemic changed everything.
While recovering from ACL surgery in Texas in 2020, Abreu received an unexpected phone call.
“‘Hey, this is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Are you available to work tomorrow?'”
She immediately flew to Los Angeles.
The Marvel production became her first major stunt run.
“It was absolutely stunning,” she said of the elaborate sets. “It was like being in a fantasy land.”
From there, stunt work became her primary career.
She doubled actors in projects including the Horror of Dolores Roach and Disney’s Descendants, while continuing to train daily.
But even as her stunt résumé grew, Abreu never stopped creating content online.
“I’ve never not posted videos online,” she said.
Initially, most of her online presence centered around parkour.
Then cosplay entered the picture.
In 2024, she posted a Dominican Dora parody she had wanted to create for years. The response stunned her.
“That just went incomprehensibly viral,” she said.
Soon afterward, footage of Abreu dressed as Wednesday Addams dancing at Los Angeles Comic Con exploded online. Additional videos featuring Wednesday doing pull-ups, flips, and calisthenics gained millions of views in April 2025.
“I thought it was funny,” she said. “Everything I do is because I think it’s funny.”
Anime fans also embraced her Demon Slayer-inspired content, further expanding her audience and demonstrating her ability to connect with multiple fandoms through humor, athleticism, and creativity.
As her audience grew, so did opportunities.
By 2025, brand partnerships had become her primary source of income after signing with Night Media.
“Brand deals became my main source of income,” she said. “I really enjoy it.”
Even with her growing success as a creator, Abreu remains grounded.
“The whole fame and popularity part of it is not something I set out to do on purpose,” she said. “I make videos because I love making videos, and I’d be making them even if five people were watching.”
Outside of social media, Abreu has returned to another longtime passion: music.
One of her recent songs, “Respira,” explores anxiety, mental health, and perspective through a philosophy she describes as stoic.
“When I start getting too stressed out about something, it probably doesn’t actually matter,” she said. “So just breathe.”
At the same time, she rejects the idea that positivity should become an excuse for disengagement.
“We should stand up for marginalized people’s rights,” she said. “Both can exist.”
Abreu is currently investing in recording new music, developing music videos, and brainstorming future projects. Among them are two podcast concepts, including a spooky series titled Tell Me Your Ghost Story. She also hopes to expand her long-form YouTube content.
Meanwhile, she continues training with a private stunt group and taking on stunt work whenever opportunities arise.
For young people looking at her career and wondering how she accomplished so much, Abreu offers a different definition of success.
“If your end is being famous and people knowing you, then you’re setting yourself up for failure,” she said.
Instead, she encourages people to pursue the things that genuinely make them happy while remaining practical about life’s realities.
“You have to do things because you love doing it, not because you’re focused on the outcome,” she said.
She also rejects the romanticized idea of the struggling artist.
“Do whatever you have to do while you figure out how to make money from your passions,” she said.
Before ending the conversation, Abreu offered one final piece of advice.
“I used to be a person that started a lot of projects and never finished any,” she said. “Instead of overwhelming myself with thinking I need to finish projects and that they need to be perfect, I just work on stuff that I enjoy a little bit every day.”
Then she laughed.
“If you don’t stop, shocking, but eventually it gets done.”
For anyone hoping to build something meaningful, she recommends starting with one book.
“Read Atomic Habits,” Abreu said.
After everything Lorena Abreu has accomplished, she still does not see a finish line. While she never directly chased fame, she remains grateful for the platform she has built and the opportunities it has created. She simply kept showing up for the things she loved. Somehow, the rest followed.
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