It’s time for a new edition of Unsung Hero, a feature dedicated to bringing attention to actors, directors and other folks behind our favorite films who might not be in the spotlight as much as they deserve. This time around that honor goes to a newcomer, Maggie’s Bryce Romero.The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Wade, a father who manages to track down his daughter (Abigail Breslin) during a zombie outbreak only to find out that she’s been bitten and has just weeks left to live. Even though he knows it’s a risk, he decides to take her home so that they can spend whatever time she’s got left together. Romero steps in as Trent, a guy Maggie once had a relationship with who’s now infected himself and struggling through the very same thing. As Romero explained, “They were the only ones in each other’s lives that understood what [they] were going through.”The Maggie promotional campaign has been all about Schwarzenegger for obvious reasons and he does deliver solid work, but I wanted to take a moment to recognize Romero, who gives the most powerful performance in the film.

Who he is …

Romero’s been interested in acting as long as he can remember, but with no friends or family in the industry, he never really knew how to break into the business. However, soon after entering the Performing Arts program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (a program which he’s actually set to graduate from next week), he scored an agent and started booking gigs, the first of which was actually the 2014 hit, The Maze Runner.