Who Is Jane the Virgin's Narrator, Anthony Mendez?

On His Career Beginnings

"I wanted to be in the music business. I started to record and produce. I even recorded an album myself, like that kind of thing. I say kind of because I wasn't that good. It was hip-hop, downtempo, and electronic stuff — really depressing sh*t. But I started producing radio commercials in New York to make some money, and eventually somebody asked me to start voicing them."

1 / 7

On His Standout Voice

Image Source: Getty / D Dipasupil

"I always knew there was something different about it. It caught people's attention. Also, all the girls in Spanish class would always ask me to read again. The men in the Mendez family are known to have deep voices that carry from room to room. It was like having a nice-sounding guitar, but I had to learn how to play it."

2 / 7

On Jane the Virgin

Image Source: The CW

On his initial reaction to Jane the Virgin: "I didn't want to do it initially based on the premise. Once I read it, I thought it was brilliant."

On what surprised him most about the show: "It's amazing how many different takes they have. It's a single-camera show. They do a masterful job at making it seem like it's several cameras with them changing the angles, but that's basically them doing the scene all over again — almost as precisely as they did it before. It's a very technical art."

On how he works: "I record everything from home. I jump on the phone with Gina Lamar, one of the producers. It takes anywhere from two to four sessions to create one episode. Then, later on, Jenny Urman, the show runner, jumps on with me. They direct me on the phone. I already know the script from the table read, so I have a pretty good idea of what is going on. If I don't, I ask questions while on the line, and they kind of tell me what's happening in the scene so I can get a better feel for what to inject the lines with."

3 / 7

On how he plays the Latin Lover: "You have to, as a voice actor, always make a choice when reading any script. You have to give this guy a point of view. Otherwise, it's just a dude reading. For me, when I initially started auditioning for it, I remember I decided that he was more of a removed paternal father or uncle figure for Jane, where he looks at her from a distance and allows her to make those mistakes. As time goes on, of course, you develop the role, and you start to think about who this guy is. I have an answer for who I think he is, I just like to keep that a secret for two reasons: I could be wrong — although I don't think I am — and part of the fun of this character is the fact that he is your friend. He's your viewing buddy, but you also don't know who he is. It adds a certain level of mystery."

On his character's distinct accent: "I took a combination of several different Spanish actors and gave him more of a neutral-yet-Americanized accent. It's based on a pan-American accent, but it also has its standard American-English influences. In my mind, the guy has been in this country for years and has picked up on a lot of the phrasing."

4 / 7

Image Source: Getty / Todd Williamson

On his fellow cast mates: "We're pretty cool. I've gotten to know them over text and email and different events. It's like having a long-distance friendship. Sometimes I fly out to visit the set [either] in the beginning and/or the end of the season. I like to join them in live table readings."

On Season 3: "We don't really do the whole season ahead of time. It's not a show where you have to scout a lot of locations. They have their regular, usual locations already set in the studio and at the beach and at the hotel. While they do actually have a lot of prep work to do, we shoot pretty close to when the episode airs compared to other shows."

On his consecutive Emmy nominations: "I'm waiting for my second certificate. I'm like, if I can't get a trophy, I'm going to frame and put up these certificates."

5 / 7

On His Role on Elena of Avalor

Image Source: Disney Channel

"I wanted to do it so badly. I'm sure every Latino artist wanted to be a part of it as well. I was just very lucky that Craig Gerber, the show runner and creator, was a fan of Jane the Virgin and invited me to play [King Juan Ramón]."

"It was very similar to the Latin Lover character but with more bravado. I always consider the Latin Lover more of a metro sexual whose orientation is somewhat ambiguous. So I took that same accent, but I gave him more machismo for this particular role, more of a regal aspect. But it has meant the world to me. Not only because of what it means historically for Disney and for the American Latino, but also what it means for my kids. It's one of the few jobs they can actually watch that I've done, because they're so young."

6 / 7

On His Own Show, Mike Tomb

"It's a motion comic and also a TV pilot based on a Dominican-American guy like myself that was born and raised in the headstone business. The idea was originally supposed to be about my life growing up in the headstone business in a Dominican family, but then I decided to give it a certain kind of comic book or superhero feel. We should be announcing it hopefully this Fall."

7 / 7