Joseph Baena (born October 2, 1997) is an American actor and fitness model. Joseph Baena is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mildred Patricia "Patty" Baena.
Joseph Baena is the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mildred Patricia "Patty" Baena. At birth, he became the legal son of his mother's husband at the time, Rogelio Baena; they separated shortly after.
When Baena was 13, heâÂÂand the worldâÂÂlearned that Arnold Schwarzenegger was his biological father, after the media published this news the day after Schwarzenegger's final day as governor of California. This achieved some notoriety in the tabloids, especially when Schwarzenegger admitted to conceiving him in an extramarital affair with his former housekeeperâÂÂwhile he was still married to Maria Shriver. Baena decided to keep his last name instead of taking the last name Schwarzenegger.
Baena is of Austrian and Guatemalan ancestry. He has one half-sibling from his mother (Jackie Rozo), and four half-siblings from his father: Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher Schwarzenegger. His paternal half-brother Christopher was born 5 days before Baena, on September 27, 1997.
In 2019, Baena graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, with a business degree.
Baena was featured on the cover of the Men's Health March 2022 issue, highlighting his fitness practices and his familial bonding with his father. Upon taking up weight lifting, his father gave him the book The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, which Schwarzenegger had co-authored, to assist Baena with his training.
In March 2021, Baena started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Checkmat Northridge.
Baena expressed an interest in starting a career in real estate on Instagram in May 2021. After taking the necessary classes and passing the state boards, Baena successfully earned his State of California Realtor's License in 2022 and is currently affiliated with Aria Properties in Los Angeles, California.
In 2022, Baena was a contestant on the 31st season of Dancing with the Stars where he was paired with Daniella Karagach. They were eliminated 5th and placed 11th in the competition. Trying to distance himself from prejudgements, and creating his own grounds, "the young Arnold son says that he is not just breaking down the 'dance floor' but is also 'breaking the barriers in his family.'" His body type, flexibility and fitness training are not particularly well adapted to dancing, which he personally foresaw as being challenging.
Baena offered the opinion that physical fitness became his watchword because, "I couldn't keep up with the other guys." In a podcast interview, he confessed that he was both unfit and bullied. In college, he had an epiphany: "I was like the chubby kid in my... crew, and, um yeah. It wasn't until I joined swim my sophomore year..." When he could not run, leaving him unfit for soccer and basketball, he settled on joining the swim team.
On 28 March 2026, Baena competed in the 2026 NPC Natural Colorado State Championships in Men's Classic Physique and Open Bodybuilding. He notably placed 1st in the "True Novice" and "Novice" Classic Physique divisions. He also placed 1st in the "Men's Bodybuilding - Open Heavyweight" division. He came 2nd in Open Class C, making him the runner-up to the overall.