He began as an actor under the tutelage of Teresa María Rojas at the MDC and debuted under the direction of Nilo Cruz in Persecution, by Reinaldo Arenas. He participated in several international soap operas and stood out in Azúcar Amarga, a film by León Ichaso. He dedicated more than a decade to teaching at the School of Arts and Minds and is now in charge of directing the Arca Images Acting Workshop. As an actor, among his most recent works, he starred as Vania in Tío Vania, Pío Miranda in El Día que me Quieras and Stalin in Love Letters to Stalin. As a director he has more than 20 productions to his credit, the most recent being: Checkers, The Canterbury Tales, René’s Tales, Neva, In The Next Room, I was Home Waiting for the Rain to Fall and Legends. Villanueva is co-founder and director of Arca Images.​