Isaac Hernández


Isaac Hernández is a Mexican ballet dancer, a lead principal with English National Ballet.

Early life

Isaac Hernández was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, one of 11 children of Hector Hernández, a former dancer. One of his brother, Esteban Hernandez is a principal dancer of the San Francisco Ballet. He was taught dance by his parents at age 8 in the family backyard. He then trained at Philadelphia's The Rock School for Dance Education. At 15 he suffered from a herneated vertebral disc but made a complete recovery.

Dancing career

Hernandez first danced ABT II. In 2008, he joined San Francisco Ballet's corps de ballet, was promoted to soloist in 2010. He joined the Dutch National Ballet as a soloist in 2012, and was promoted to principal dancer the following year, after dancing the role of Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty. After making a guest appearance in Swan Lake with the English National Ballet, he joined the company as a lead principal in 2015. His repertoire there also include classical works such as Romeo and Juliet and La Sylphide, as well as contemporary works including Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings and Akram Khan's Giselle.
As a guest artist he has appeared at the Paris Opera Ballet as Solor in La Bayadère and in Nureyev’s Don Quixote, and at the Rome Opera in Baryshnikov and Laurent Hilare’s version of Don Quixote.
In 2015, he was called "the hottest ballet boy to hit London since Carlos Acosta".
In 2018, Hernandez won the Prix Benois de la Danse, for his performance in Don Quixote with the Rome Opera Ballet and La Sylphide with ENB. He is the first Mexican dancer to win the award.
He is an arts and tourism ambassador of Mexico and was the youngest artist there to receive an outstanding artist award from the Mexican President. Hernandez and his brother, Esteban set up a project in their hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico, to bring world-class dancers to Mexico to perform, teach in workshops, and inspire young dancers there. But government funding for the project has faced hurdles.

Acting career

Hernandez had his acting debut in Carlos Saura's movie King of the World. He then acted in Manolo Caro's upcoming limited series for Netflix Someone Has To Die in the role of Lázaro, a ballet dancer. The series will premier in 2020.

Select repertoire

Hernández 's repertoire includes:

Created roles

Awards: