Born in Cuba to a family with an established tradition of classical dance, Jose was just ten when he began studying with Alicia Alonso, Lazaro Carreno and Loipa Araujo. He trained at the Provincial and National Ballet Schools in Cuba, and immediately joined the National Ballet of Cuba where he soon became an established favorite among Cuban dance cognoscenti. Jose Carreño won the prestigious Gold Medal in the New York International Ballet Competition (1987) and was later awarded the coveted Grand Prize at the Jackson Mississippi Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, (1990) from which he accepted an invitation to join English National Ballet as a Principal Dancer. In 1993 Carreño became a principal dancer with Royal Ballet and in 1995 Carreño joined American Ballet Theatre as Principal dancer.
During his time with ABT, Carreño danced roles as diverse as Balanchine’s Apollo, Theme and Variations, Prodigal Son, Symphony and C, Afternoon of the Faun, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Frank in Coppelia, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty, Solor in La Bayadere, Albrecht in Giselle and Don Jose in Carmen among others. He has also worked with some of today greatest choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Jiri Kylian, Boris Eifman, Nacho Duato, Alexei Ratmanksy, and Christopher Wheeldon. Carreño also danced as a Guest Artist with companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Royal Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Berlin Staatsopera Ballet, Teatro Alla Scala, Opera di Roma, National Ballet of Canada, Teatro Colon (Argentina), Teatro Municipal de Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Ballet de Monterrey (Mexico). Carreño was nominated for a dance ‘Oscar’ as one of the world’s supreme male classical soloist of the new Millennium (Monte Carlo 2000) and Dance Magazine awarded him as the Male Dancer of the year in 2005. In the fall of 2011, Jose became a member of the Board of Directors for Youth America Grand Prix. In 2013 he became the Artistic Director of Ballet San Jose then became the Artistic Director of Ballet de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, where he remained until January 2019. Carreño is currently based in Montreal, Canada, working as a freelance teacher and coach.