Leopoldo Peña was born in Michoacán, México and has lived in southeast Los Angeles since 1992. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from University of California, Irvine. Currently, he is a Youth Educator with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and teaches photography at Art Division. He is also a language justice interpreter and spends most of his free time with his son and daughter.
His photographic work is centered on two themes: immigration and contemporary environment. He works on long-term documentary projects with an emphasis on everyday life in southeast Los Angeles and Mexican indigenous migrant cultural performance in California.
He has exhibited at the South Gate Museum, Asian Pacific Cultural Center in Oakland, the Fowler Museum, Pacific Standard Time LA/LA, The Latino Museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, and the UCR/California Museum of Photography. His work is archived at the Los Angeles Library and has appeared in Boom California, La Jornada, StreetNotes, La Opinión, Al Borde, Derive, Grey Magazine, Retina, NACLA: Report on the Americas, B/W Magazine and El Tequio.