Six years later, Luna would again play a boy on his way from adolescence to manhood in the sexually charged road movie, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" with his pal Gael Garcia Bernal for director Alfonso Cuaron. The natural chemistry between the two lifelong friends breathed vitality and authenticity into the coming of age drama about two hormone driven teens who embark on a journey of self discovery with the attractive wife of Tenoch's cousin. The film was a hit in native Mexico and has earned numerous critical awards in America, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film. Luna and Bernal also shared the prestigious Mastroianni Prize for Best Young Actor at the 2001 Venice Film Festival for their performances.
Capturing the attention of U.S. filmmakers, Luna then landed a small role alongside Salma Hayek in "Frida" (2002) and appeared in Kevin Costner's directorial debut, the western "Open Range" (2003), then emerged as the star of the upcoming "Dirty Dancing" sequel "Havana Nights" (2004), which made nary a ripple with critics or audiences. The actor had a much more gratifying (if contrived)role in director Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" (2004), playing a love-struck airport employee who employs a stranded immigrant (Tom Hanks) in his bid to woo a co-worker. He then headlined the Mexican crime thriller "Nicotina" (2004), playing a computer hacker who, thanks to his infatuation with his comely neighbor, botches an exchange with Russian gangsters and inadvertently dragging several unsuspecting people into a dangerous, pulpy plot; The film--and the actor--proved immensively popular in Mexico and Latin America, and was released to art house raves in the U.S.