Voicing Queerness: Carolina Hoyos

What does authenticity mean to you?

CAROLINA
Gosh, it means a lot. It’s tough… because I know there were so many people I looked up to, growing up. I know some of them were in the closet, and weren’t fully authentically themselves, so it was hard to align and know who we could really look up to, fully.

I think I only came out just a few years ago, to my family. When I was about to do it, I was talking to my niece first, and she was like, “Everybody’s out in my school!” [Laughs] And like, of course, today!  That’s today!  That wasn’t my experience growing up.

So authenticity to me, and especially me portraying who I am fully and authentically, means so much to me; to give someone else a voice where they might not have had it. And to give them that belief and that gumption, that they can be themselves, and they can choose themselves… rather than delaying happiness and fulfilment.

Being able to portray the full complexity of myself as a person, and as a performer, means the world to me; that we’re both authentically combined. Rather than someone saying, “We all love the same way!” Because, actually, no – our experiences are very different. I couldn’t be authentically myself until later in life. Hetero-normative circles can just be, because that’s the norm.

It means everything to me. To be able to see queer role models, and to be a queer role model. It’s funny, because I remember Britney Spears at one point saying she didn’t wanna be a role model, and I was like… well, that’s kind of privileged for you to say! I’ve wanted  to be a role model, wanted to make sure that other people have the strength to persevere, and fortunately now I feel that that is coming.

ELIZABETH
And I’m very happy that you can feel that for yourself, and be proud of it. I think so much of the time, in the entertainment industry, there’s this emphasis on humility. Y’know, you can’t reach these incredible levels of success without having either the press or audiences scrutinise you for not constantly being grateful in this very prostrated way.

CAROLINA
Absolutely. Especially so if you’re female presenting, or queer – where it’s as if you’ve been ‘gifted’ every opportunity and you can’t just claim them as your own victories.

ELIZABETH
Whereas I think anyone should be allowed to think more powerfully about themselves, and we should push ourselves and our experiences to the fore. And we deserve that.

CAROLINA
We do. And, I mean, we’re all human; we can all make mistakes and learn and grow. So humility be damned!

ELIZABETH
And what a wonderful conversation to have with your niece. To be able to hear that, and know that, and feel that things are changing.

CAROLINA
It actually made me feel really stunted, too. For a second, I was like, “Hey, I missed the party!” [Laughs]

Especially because, as someone who was so open and free with friends, I just hadn’t actually taken that conversation back to my family. I’d gotten so comfortable with compartmentalising. And I was like… “What am I doing, if I’m trying to be a role model in all the other areas of my life, but I can’t do it here? This ends now!”

It was a beautiful experience. I’m fortunate that it was, because it’s not for a lot of people. But I’m very happy that it was. Very.

Have you met your own character in the game(s) you voiced?

CAROLINA
Probably not quite how you’re thinking of, but there was something I saw on Twitter that really stuck with me. I voice Donnie B in Friends vs Friends – and they never told me explicitly if Donnie was queer, but I feel like Donnie was…

ELIZABETH
If you have the feeling, they are.

CAROLINA
Ding dong, then Donnie’s queer! [Laughs]

But I’ve seen a lot of people cosplay as Donnie, and they’ve gone to conventions dressed as Donnie – which is wild! Because you see the game, and that’s my voice, and then you see different people – wildly different people! – dressed as Donnie, and it’s like – this is cooool!

And there’s a bunch of fanart that I’ve seen, from that game specifically. So that’s the first incarnation of ‘meeting’ my characters, in a way – not explicitly in the game, but encountering in unexpected places.

ELIZABETH
That’s amazing though! Fanart is always this huge heart-pounding moment, even if it’s just a tiny sketch, but I think with cosplay it’s like that step up. That lived means of portraying the character, as you see them – so that’s awesome to hear!

CAROLINA
Yeah, it just makes my heart sing. It’s so wonderful to see different interpretations, but the core is always the same. Like, that’s Donnie! That’s me!

ELIZABETH
It’s kinda what you wanna do with kids and their little crayon drawings; you wanna take every single cosplayer, and put them on your fridge, and be like, “THAT’S ME!” whenever people come over.

CAROLINA
[Laughs] Exactly like that! It’s so cool. Any way of making these guys real will never not be cool.

What do you wish would be done more when it comes to creating queer stories in games?

CAROLINA
I feel like I wanna know more about the creators behind a game, a lot of the time. There’s so many writers on a game that’ll have certain characters that they cover, so I have a lot of interest in the writers behind it all.

Or spin-off games. I wanna see those! Spin-offs that follow side characters, or fan-favourites – I think that’d be cool! More focus on characters as a driving force, for story and for things like events. I’ve seen Friends vs Friends do a panel at Comic Cons on queerness, but I’d love to have a panel with all queer voiced characters, specifically.

ELIZABETH
Oh, we can make that happen – I know lots of them now! [Laughs]

CAROLINA
[Laughs] Oh, yeah, you have the whole catalogue! All them yellow pages!

ELIZABETH
Spin-off games is such an interesting point. I don’t know how many I even know of… Spin-off movies and tv series is a whoooole kettle of fish, whereas games? I guess the only ones I can think of are more DLC focused, and never standalone?

CAROLINA
Yeah, I guess they often count as expansions or sequels, but specifically spin-off? Lesser known, I think.

ELIZABETH
And I think that’s such a prime way of engaging with characters and story points that you really want to include, but never make the full cut of a game – because there’s a lot that ends up on the cutting room floor. So rather than salvage those for a sequel, can they be better served by their own game, their own standalone experience?

CAROLINA
Exactly that. Even if it’s just an accompanying game, like a pocket game or mobile game, would interest me a lot. Take the stress away from trying to keep all the lore and design cohesive between titles, and let it speak for itself. I wanna see that.

What on a casting call motivates you to audition for a game?

CAROLINA
Oh, my gosh… Well, obviously, authenticity. Although I try to go for everything, if they say it’s open. And sometimes I’ll go for everything just because!

But I really get excited by accents. And sometimes accents I don’t know yet. I’m a musician first, since I was two, and I have this musical ear – where I can pick up accents like they’re notes, or lyrics, even. I’ll pick up someone’s idiosyncrasies in their speech, and I’ll be like, “Are your parents Russian?” One time I asked that of someone from Ontario, and his parents were actually Scottish/Irish. And I was so excited by that – that blend of accents, and figuring out what sound came from where.

ELIZABETH
God, it’s so funny that that’s your example – because that exact mix-up is on my mind whenever I have to switch between a Scottish or Nordic accent! It’s those damn rolling r’s! [Laughs]

CAROLINA
Right?! Though luckily, with my knack for them, I’m kinda like Monkey Hear, Monkey… Speak? I can pick up the quirks and movements, and if I deep-dive I can fake really well. If I do a whole scene study, then that accent is with me for life, and I can almost transfer it to pretty much any speech. And I have so much fun with it, especially when I get to see it as a challenge!

But that excites me, on a call and everywhere else. I wanna know every accent there is.

ELIZABETH
Gosh… That’s amazing. And I have quite honestly never been more jealous of anything in my life! [Laughs]

What should writers & directors strive to do when representing queerness, or working with queer actors?

CAROLINA
Any writer or director should absolutely include queer people in their stories, even if they’re not queer, but  they should also hire people behind the scenes that are  queer.

If a queer character is centralised, the least they could do is get a consultant. But even that is sort of piece-meal. I mean, I feel like we should be telling our own stories, to really be authentic. What is it they call it… Struggle Porn? I guess I don’t really like when people that are not living this experience are exploiting these actual people’s stories in any way. Not gonna name names, but there is this one person with a lot of shows on Paramount Plus, who is always like, “Oh, I have a lot of Native friends and storylines, and I’m allowed to because I grew up around Native people!”

ELIZABETH
“I’m fluent in Comanche, trust me.” And it’s like no, you’re not, shushhhh…

CAROLINA
[Laughs] Right? “The token friend, or whatever, so I can do it! I’ve got the licence to it!” But that’s not your experience, so it’s not really authentic, and it’s gonna be one-dimensional. It’s rare that it’s gonna have more depth than that.

So if directors can invite a staff, or co-writers – to at least do a polish or something to add more juice – is everything! I’ve been a writer for a while, pursuing tv, and there are some jobs that’ll come to me just looking for polish, an authentic lens to fine tune, and I’d look at the story and be like… This needs to be re-written from top to bottom. The whole thing has to go!

Like, I get the gist of it, but you’re trying to put a square in a round hole. It’s not gonna fit. You’re trying to sprinkle this authenticity on top, but it’s not coming from an actually authentic place to begin with, so it just rings fake.

So, what they could do is team up with writers. Give more money and jobs to people to tell their own stories. Don’t try to make the One Queer Project, or the One African-American Pain Project, that doesn’t come from your experience just because you want the accolades.

ELIZABETH
Yeah, I can hardly stand those movies that’re all: “This is the signature trans story! You’re welcome!”

CAROLINA
Exactly. Just give the budget to someone who’s actually up to tell their own story. The whole system needs to be burned down so it can start over. [Laughs]

What are your thoughts on inauthentic casting?

CAROLINA
[Retches]

ELIZABETH
[Laughs] Good answer – next question!

CAROLINA
That’s what I think of it! [Retches harder]

So… This might be odd to receive, but the pandemic and January 6th uprising are the reason that – wholeheartedly – I can say I have a career. Obviously both made everyone really slow down and take a hard look at society. It was all anyone had time to do, other than figure out how to survive.

And I’m thankful that a lot of well-known, on-camera actors stepped away from roles that they were not authentically cast in. They made their voices heard, and people were listening and paying attention.

A really good friend of mine created what used to be called the PGM Voice Over List, and now it’s the VGM List. It’s basically “Voices of the Global Majority.” Instead of considering anyone not Caucasian as a minority, we’re putting us all together and now we’re the majority. So they created this database that has everyone from every walk of life.

Because a lot of producers and casting and directors would cast their friends, and cast who was constantly getting voice over jobs, and just saying, “We don’t know anybody! There’s a Black character? We don’t know any Black voice actors, so let’s just cast our White talent!” And that was the norm until this database existed. And then, finally, with the whole storm of events from 2020 on, people were listening and making a change, and my career took off.

Preparation + opportunity = luck. Because luck doesn’t happen unless you’re prepared for it. I’d been prepared for it, working on it for years, for years, for years. And finally things clicked. The fact that they’re now making a concerted effort to authentically cast, and authentically portray, means I have a career. So when I see inauthentic casting… [Retches]

We’re going backwards if that’s happening. I love that there’s more diversity, more inclusion, but there’s also more risk-taking. There’s even actors of colour playing Caucasian roles, and it’s almost evening the playing field. I love that there’s chances being taken, and playing different stories from a different lens. And that’s incredible.

The more I can reflect the entire world, and not just what I saw on tv growing up, the more all of us can get in front of and behind the camera. And the more we can do that with voice, too? The better.

Do you have a favourite moment from working on a queer game?

CAROLINA
Gosh, there’s so many. Fallout 76 is so silly? The humour is just so, so, so silly, and I love it! It’s so self-deprecating and on the nose. It was such a dream job to work with them.

The first session I had no idea what I was doing. I don’t even remember auditioning for them. It might’ve been an audition where I sent in multiple characters in one, and they said we could choose what accents we wanted for each. And none of them were Mid-Atlantic.

But I book the job! Book the session, go to it – and they don’t tell me anything till I get there. Then they’re like: “Can you do a Mid-Atlantic accent?” And I’m already there, I’m in the session, and I just go, “Yeah, I can, but what if I couldn’t?!”

ELIZABETH
Todd Howard just puts the bag back on your head and drives you back to your house…

CAROLINA
[Laughs] “You were never here! Nobody talks about Fight Club!”

But it was great. It was my first experience doing that, for four hours. And towards the end I kept slipping into Southern – and it became so apparent that you really can take the girl outta the South, but you can’t take the South outta the girl!

And that is why we have four hour sessions. Your voice gets tired, your brain gets tired, doing all that character work. And so I’d cleanse my palette doing a British accent to try and get out of the South and back into the Mid-Atlantic, and it was really bizarre but a lot of fun. And I’m so happy that they’ve had me back so many times, where I’m like, “[teary] Am I in the family yet?”

ELIZABETH
“[Innocently] Can we stop with the bag this time?”

CAROLINA
“Just for me, pwease?”

But it was super funny when sometimes I’d have to do a round-robin of a few accents, like – Brooklyn, Russian, British, aargh! – to get out of it. I sounded like a Looney Tune or something, but I really think of it so fondly!

Lastly, is there anything you want to say to your fellow queer voice actors this Pride Month?

CAROLINA
Keep on keeping on. Choose yourself. Choose authenticity.

You only get, hopefully, one life. I mean, if we have more than one – I’m tired. I’m sleepy already. But make it count! Make your time here count! Do you, and be proud of who you are. Someone else might be thanking you for lighting the way for them. So live your truth!