Who is Nicholas Chavez? Everything you need to know about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star

Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is the successor to the true crime biopic Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. It stars Nicholas Chevez as Lyle Menendez, Cooper Koch as Eric Menendez, Javier Bardem as their father, Jose Menendez, and Chloe Sevigny as their mother, Kitty Menendez.

The Netflix biopic, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, follows the story of the real-life murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, with the perpetrators being their own children.

Out of the people starring in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Nicholas Chavez had gained prior prominence via his role as Spencer Cassadine on General Hospital, which was the actor's television debut.

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Nicholas Chavez of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has had an extensive acting career

Nicholas Chavez, born September 6, 1999, is a native of Houston, Texas. He is 25 years old as of this writing. Nicholas has spoken about his life on Soap Opera Digest's podcast, Dishing With Digest, on January 24, 2022. He stated how he grew up with a passion for outdoor sports such as snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking.

He began dabbling in the performing arts by acting out the blessing of the Eucharist after witnessing it in church. Nicholas gained further experience in singing and acting through his membership in the Colorado Children's Chorale, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, and the Denver Center for Performing Arts.

While attending Denver's East High School, Nicholas made the transition from athletic pursuits to acting after performing in a play adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. He carried forward this commitment when applying to colleges by focusing on the top performing arts institutes in the country, eventually attending Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts.

While he originally planned to move to Los Angeles, California, to pursue acting full-time, the COVID-19 pandemic caused unexpected upheaval, forcing him to move with his father to Vero Beach, Florida. There, he took on various odd jobs to make ends meet while sending audition tapes. These efforts paid off when he was cast as Spencer Cassadine on General Hospital in 2021.

Spencer Cassadine was introduced to the soap in 2006 and played by a series of different child actors before Nicolas Bechtel took over the role from 2013-2020, before being replaced by Nicholas Chavez. Chavez himself would eventually leave General Hospital in 2024. Nicholas would end up winning a Daytime Emmy for his performance.

Aside from his roles on General Hospital and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Nicholas Chavez is set to star in FX's horror-drama Grotesquerie, which, along with Monsters, is produced by Ryan Murphy. Grotesquerie will premiere with a 10-episode first season on September 25, 2024.

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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is based on a true story

The Netflix biopic portrays the real-life tragedy that struck the Menendez family when Jose and Kitty Menendez were murdered by their own children, Lyle and Erik Menendez.

While the prosecutors claimed the brother committed the murders to seize control of the sizeable family inheritance, the brothers claimed that the murders were the result of the severe psychological, emotional, and s*xual abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents.

The Netflix adaptation of the events seems to take a few cues from the Menendez brothers' accounts. The trailers portray Jose and Kitty Menendez as fairly abusive and neglectful towards their children, with the implication that this horrific upbringing may have played a role in twisting the Menendez brothers into the murderers they went on to become.

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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will be released on Netflix in all regions on September 19, 2024.