Joel Perez is a Puerto Rican[1] voice actor who voices Valentino in the Hazbin Hotel series,[2][3] as well as one of the mariachi imps who sings The Ballad of Striker and Dr. Somna in Helluva Boss.[4]
Background[]
Joel grew up in Lawrence, a place half an hour north of Boston.[5] He grew up a very conservative Christian,[6] as the son of a pastor, and gained a lot of experience singing and performing at church.[7]
Originally, Joel started college as a chemistry major and was pre-med for two years at Tufts University to become a doctor, not thinking he was going to be an actor at all. After a friend asked him to audition for a musical she was directing, he found himself enjoying rehearsal more than he did doing chemistry, so decided to rethink his life.[7] Despite this, he didn't leave Tufts University as he liked his classmates and the education he was getting there, and in case acting didn't work out, he finished and got a degree there. He also did the acting classes available at Tufts University.[8]
Joel studied abroad in London for one semester in his junior year and did an acting conservatory at the British American Drama Academy.[9]
Joel and his husband have co-written a short film, which Joel also acts in, produced by Disney called Beautiful, FL that was released on Disney+ on September 29, 2023, in the Launchpad series.[10]
Roles[]
Hazbin Hotel[]
Helluva Boss[]
("Western Energy")
("Western Energy")
Trivia[]
- According to Joel, he was first hired to sing tenor for The Ballad of Striker, then after the recording session he was asked to voice act for Doctor Somna in the same episode, and that two days later he received an email from his agents to submit for Hazbin Hotel, which he says he had been a fan of since 2020[11] when he found the pilot on YouTube during lockdown.[12][13]
- Joel explained how he found Hazbin Hotel in 2021 was because his husband, who is an illustrator, was going to Ringling College of Art and Design and one day brought home a newsletter about creators to watch which had Vivienne Medrano as one of them, so his husband asked if he would like to watch the Hazbin Hotel pilot together and they did.[13]
- According to Vivziepop, finding a voice actor for Valentino was the hardest of the cast, as there was a lot of amazing auditions but everyone locked into exactly what was written on the audition sheet and none of them were really clicking with her. She also had offered the role to other actors, who all declined, so after she had asked Andrew Butler if he could bring in anyone to do parts in Helluva Boss and he brought in Joel Perez, Vivziepop immediately liked Joel's energy and thought he would have a good shot at Valentino, so she asked him to read for it and immediately thought he was perfect.[14]
- Joel explained that originally in the script for Season 1, Valentino did not speak Spanish and did not have an accent. He explained that after he did two takes in completely unaccented English for the first scene he recorded, where Valentino was trashing the place after finding Angel Dust had left, Vivziepop asked Joel to do an improvised take on the scene with how he himself would be when angry and Joel started peppering in Spanish, which Vivziepop liked and decided to have Joel pepper in-and-out and continue doing so while developing the show.[15][1]
External Links[]
- Official website
- Official Twitter
- Official Instagram
- IMDb page
- Joel Perez on Wikipedia
- Behind the Voice Actors page
References[]