In his first Cinco de Mayo, actor Diego Boneta heads campaign of Mexican pride

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Diego Boneta celebrates his first Cinco de Mayo

Boneta says he was very surprised to find out how big of a celebration “Cinco de Mayo” is in the U.S.

New York – When Diego Boneta first moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a teenager he was very surprised to find out how big of a celebration “Cinco de Mayo” is north of the border — no one really celebrates it in his native country.

“This is actually the first time I’m celebrating Cinco de Mayo after nine years of living in the States,” Boneta told Fox News Latino’s VIP Room on Thursday, “but I feel like this is really one of the few holidays that makes Latinos get together and celebrate.”

The 5th of May celebrates the Battle of Puebla – an unlikely victory by the Mexican Army over French forces in 1862. In Mexico it’s not observed as a national holiday; however, in the United States it has become an annual celebration of eating and drinking Mexican-inspired dishes.

To celebrate, Boneta has teamed up with Corona for its new Cinco de Mayo nationwide #LimeDrop.

“This was the first beer I ever tried. I will not tell you how old I was,” he said, just admitting that he was “young.”

In the U.S., Corona is the No. 1-selling Mexican beer. With their first-ever #LimeDrop campaign they are asking fans to capture and share their most creative lime drop on social media.

“We’ve been proud to play a part in consumers’ Cinco celebrations in the U.S. for the past 35 years,” said John Alvarado, vice president, brand marketing at Crown Imports, in a statement. “Since everyone knows Corona and lime are the perfect pair, what better way to celebrate than bringing the two together to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?”

Aside from celebrating Cinco de Mayo for the first time, Boneta, 25, is keeping busy with a slew of projects including the new biopic “Pele: Birth of a Legend” about the legendary soccer star and “The Titan” opposite Sam Worthington, Taylor Schilling and Tom Wilkinson.

“(Doing ‘Pele’) was awesome. We filmed in Brazil and it’s an amazing story because it’s the untold story of Pele. It ends when the world gets to know him… but it’s everything prior to that,” he said.

Boneta also stars in FOX’s “Scream Queens” as Pete Martinez, which he said came to him thanks to a “Glee” audition he did in 2010.

“I auditioned for ‘Glee’ in 2010 when it was at its top; I tested for it, almost got the part,” he recalled. “Thanks to that tape … five years later, with ‘Scream Queens,’ Ryan Murphy calls me up and goes ‘I want you to be one of the main lead guys on ‘Scream Queens’’ and I was like, ‘Is he talking to the right Diego?’ and he goes ‘I remember you from that ‘Glee’ test’.”

“It came around full circle and that’s how this business is,” he added. “You just have to keep on doing it.”

Bryan Llenas contributed to this report.