Born in Guatemala in 1979, Oscar Isaac grew up in Miami, Florida. He recalls a "very Christian" upbringing in an evangelical Protestant family, and says he spent his youth living a "straight edge" lifestyle.
He played lead guitar and sang vocals in his band the Blinking Underdogs. His first major film role came in 2006, in The Nativity Story and he won an Australian Film Institute Award for best supporting actor for his role as Jose Ramos-Horta in Balibo. He also appeared in the blockbusters Robin Hood and The Bourne Legacy.
However, it was his role in the Coen brothers' movie, Inside Llewyn Davis, that captured the attention of critics. It earned him comparisons to Al Pacino, not that he wanted to follow entirely in Pacino's footsteps: he had earlier dropped his surname - Hernandez - to avoid being typecast, as he put it, as "a Latino gangster".
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He admits that he nearly vomited the first time he got behind the controls of the X-Wing. "They take just the cockpit area and put it on a gimbal," he told Good Morning America.
"And then they just move that thing around all over the place. The first time I was on it I was yelling and doing my thing and I got so sick because I was so hot and it was moving, I had to stop and say 'Hang on guys... I need to swallow my lunch for a second'."
His casting in the Star Wars film was first announced on 29 April, 2014. In March of this year it was revealed that he will also appear in the saga's subsequent chapter.
What do we know about Poe Dameron?
Described by the official Star Wars website as an "ace pilot", Poe is a leading figure in the Resistance's fight against the First Order. He battles behind the controls of a modern X-wing fighter, describing himself as "the best fricken pilot in the galaxy".
It is during a mission given to him by "a certain princess" that Poe's fate, and that of John Boyega's Finn, become "forever intertwined" in the saga, Isaac has revealed.
Isaac also says of his character: "He comes from a line of Resistance fighters. He has pledged his total allegiance to the Resistance.
"He believes in The Force and he wants to take down the First Order. So he puts his life on the line at any given moment to do that."
