Rigoberto Castañeda was born in Mexico City and studied at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, Mexico City's film school. He made a name for himself as a helmer of several school short films, including "Necrophilia" and "Sin Sentido", which gained worldwide recognition at film festivals.
Castañeda's dream was to make horror films, one of his favorite genres, along with science fiction and fantasy. He wrote his first feature film based on a widely known Mexican legend, "La Llorona", which was optioned by Mexican mini studio Lemon Films.
He directed the horror film "Kilometer 31" in 2007, which became the highest-grossing film of that year in Mexico and the number one box-office Mexican horror film of all time. The film also swept the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Mexico awards, with 6 nominations and taking a total of 5 statuettes.
Castañeda's success with "Kilometer 31" led to him directing the Hitchcockian psychological thriller "Blackout" in 2008. The film premiered in Mexico, the UK, and other European countries and starred international figures such as Amber Tamblyn, Armie Hammer, and Aidan Guillen.
During the same period, Castañeda created, directed, wrote, and produced the series "M13DOS" for Televisa, an anthology horror series in prime time for Mexican National channel XHGC. The series was one of the very few "horror themed" titles ever made for Mexican television.
In 2010, Castañeda debuted as a producer, carrying the bestselling book of Mexican writer Juan Jose Rodríguez entitled "Murder in a Chinese Laundry", which was released in 2012 and titled "Reincarnation".
Castañeda has also directed many different TV series, including "Terminales" for Televisa, a successful drama series about a group of patients with terminal illnesses, and "Paramedics" for Channel 11, an action/drama series about real-life cases from paramedics working at the Mexican Red Cross.
He has also directed a dramatic biography series for Disney, "Hasta que te Conocí", which portrayed the famous Mexican singer Juan Gabriel and starred Julián Román. The series was a massive success in Latin America and the Latin audiences in the United States, and was nominated for the 45th International Emmy Awards.
After the success of "KM31", Castañeda wrote and directed the sequel, "Km31-2", which was released in 2016 and starred Carlos Aragón. The film was nominated for several technical achievements in the Mexican Academy Awards.
Castañeda has also directed Netflix original "Diablero", a horror-comedy series about demon-hunters, and "Sin Origen" (Unsourced),a vampire story set in Mexico. He has also produced "Karem's Diary", a possession/exorcism film based on real events, both of which are set to be released in 2020.
