Michael Rodriguez Dueñas was born and raised in Hollywood, California. Dueñas's passion and desire to work in the film industry began at a very young age. He remembers being awed by a single black and white photo of his uncle and having been completely changed by watching some 1980s blockbusters on the big screen. Upon graduating from high school, he worked at 20th Century ​Fox, in the Feature Story Development Department. There, he learned the process of developing a script to be green lit from a studio perspective, from plot analysis, evaluation of the emotional impact of characters, and how to effectively convey a story to a wide audience. ​Dueñas took his career to producing and photographing content internationally, for ad agencies, brands, fashion and music campaigns, as well as tech, streaming, and gaming companies, in the U.S., Mexico, Cuba, Canada, and several other countries. ​