Alejandro Ríos (b. February 21, 1987) is a Mexican film and animation director and screenwriter. He earned a B.A. in Animation and Digital Arts from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus, in 2012.

He began his career with the short film Érase una vez, which premiered at the Morelia International Film Festival in 2011, where it won the award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2014, Ríos and his team were awarded Mexico’s national fund for animated short films by the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) to produce Los gatos. The film premiered at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in 2016, where it received the Rigo Mora Award for Best Animated Short Film. It was later recognized as Best Short Film at the Tour de Cine Francés (2016) and the Durango Mexican Film Festival (2016), and received honorable mentions at CutOut Fest, Shorts México, and Animasivo. Los gatos was also selected for major festivals including Morelia and Guanajuato.

Internationally, the film screened in San Diego, Chile, Romania, Havana, Delhi, Madrid, and Amsterdam, and received an Honorable Mention at the Ismailia International Film Festival (2017). It was nominated by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences for Best Animated Short Film (2017) and, in 2018, received the Bronze Award for Best International Short Film at Toronto After Dark in Canada.

In 2019, following the completion of Los gatos’ festival run, Ríos was awarded with the Jenkins–del Toro Scholarship for postgraduate studies abroad, granted by the Guadalajara International Film Festival, Guillermo del Toro, and the Mary Street Jenkins Foundation. He relocated to the Czech Republic in 2020 and completed his M.A. in Film Directing at FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) in 2024.

Alongside his filmmaking practice, Ríos has taught and lectured at several institutions, including Universidad Metropolitana de México, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Universidad Iberoamericana, Centro de Diseño, Cine y Televisión in Mexico City, and Universidad de las Américas Puebla. He is currently a member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators (2025).