We were lucky to catch up with Josh Portillo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

My personal life events, along with the people I’ve met along the way, have really shaped who I am as a person. As a professional voiceover artist, I can never say that I got to where I’m at currently without 2 things. 1.) Friends & Family. 2.) Problems. The major, and even minor, problems I’ve faced in my life have led me down a path of facing not only issues with my health, but also with exterior factors as well.

Apologies if this answer will become over-written, but I can never tell my journey as a VO artist without giving a summary of how I got here.

The problems I faced early on as a child/adolescent was obesity, domestic abuse, severe mental health issues, and bullying. These are all things that MANY children face, so I don’t wanna come across like I’m separate from any of them. I’m apart of a vast majority, and I hope my story can inspire kids, teens, and young adults that there IS hope in this world.

Early in my life, my mother (who is my hero and my first best friend) and I suffered from a broken home. It looked okay on the outside, but was terrible on the inside. Typical domestically violent home. I won’t lie, we did have good times though… but that’s what made the bad times even worse, and more shocking. I remember times when I was 3 when my dad kept hitting me with a brush, or when I was about 8 and he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground because he was angry that I kept asking if we could go to the pool near us. My mom took the brunt of the abuse. She’s the strongest woman I know, and has one of the most genuine hearts I’ve ever seen in my 29 years that I’ve been alive. She did what was right and was brave. She protected me and taught me how to be a good man, and to learn from the mistakes I made and also mistakes from others around me. Without her, I wouldn’t be here right now.

With all that said, let me back track to when all my problems began.

When I was 4 years old, in March of 1999, I witnessed something I shouldn’t have. Due to a fight at work and a binger of alcohol, my dad came home at 3 am and attempted to murder my mother – twice in one night. I stood a few feet from where they were, in the black-and-white tiled kitchen, and I just watched. I was powerless. My mom, somehow holding back my dad trying to kill her with a sharp chef’s knife, kept yelling at me to go to my room… but I couldn’t. I wanted to save my mother, but I wasn’t strong enough. I was a child, seeing this demon try to take my mother’s life. After a few minutes, I went under my Lion King blanket I had and waited for the nightmare to end. 15 long minutes later, after hearing my mom scream for help over and over again, the fighting traveled to the back of the house, and I came out from under my blanket. I saw a wasteland of pictures and hardware torn apart. It was like seeing a scene out of a horror movie. My heart was beating so fast – at a speed that it shouldn’t be going at that age. I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that I was still in this nightmare. If I could compare it to anything that I know of now, this felt like I was in the “Eclipse”, from the manga series, Berserk.

After a bit, my mother had grabbed me and we were gonna try to leave, but my dad had taken his gun he had and held her up from behind. He pulled her collar jabbed the gun behind her back, and told her that she’s not going anywhere. At that point, you would expect that we’d both be dead. But thankfully, the police had arrived – thanks to the neighbors hearing my mom’s screams. They called the police at the right time.

Unfortunately, my dad only got two days of jail for this. I won’t go into why because it’s very hard to explain, but overall, this is the issue that kickstarted the path I’m on now. I was put into a mental institution program for kids that saw high levels of violence and “things they weren’t supposed to see”. After that, life went back to how it was… but my dad showed more of his aggressive side as the years went on.

Over the course of my childhood, domestic violence became a HUGE problem in my life. It led to me having extreme anxiety attacks. Any time my dad yelled, my heart would begin to beat fast. I didn’t want another “Eclipse” to happen. My anxiety attacks led to depression, which led to me attempting (or testing) suicide. I was 8 years old, and I wanted to stop feeling the way I felt. I held up the knife that my dad used to almost murder my mother and I wanted to do it. I was so close. I was a sharp stab away from taking the pain away.

I did this twice in one day… but something deep inside me, each time, stopped me and told me, “You can’t go yet. There’s a job that must be done.You have things you have to do.” Maybe this was due to me getting inspiration from my favorite video game character, Solid Snake. But overall, I couldn’t do it.

The domestic violence led me to obesity, which made sense due to the environment my mom and I were living in. My mom was trying her best to give me the best life she could, but she didn’t have a lot to work with. My dad was very controlling and manipulative. Because he thought that she was cheating on him (and she wasn’t), he made her quit her job and didn’t let her go out and see friends. She COULD… but trust me when I say, she really couldn’t. He was very paranoid over her leaving him.

She was suffering as much as I was, in different ways. As I ate myself almost to death, I couldn’t help but get sad over not being able to help her. I wanted to, so much. I wasn’t doing myself favors in school either. I ended up failing the 4th grade, and the bullying/teasing of my weight and sometimes my nationality of being Asian was frequent.

My highest weight was 345 lbs in the 6th grade. I was just asking for death. But whether it be fate or God, life had other plans. I knew I had to do something, or I really wasn’t gonna be alive soon, in my opinion. So, I took up an offer to play football. As time went on that year, I began training by myself and saw that a transformation was happening. After 7 months, I had lost 145 lbs. I discovered that a difference COULD be made. The impossible IS possible. That’s what I began to believe. This new inspiration led me to embark on a journey that I thought was just a far-fetched dream: saving my mother.

My coach in middle school, who I credit to saving my life, taught me and the other kids around me a creed: “This is the beginning of a new day. God (or whatever you believe in) gave us this day to use as we will. We can waste it, or use it for good. For what we do today is important, for we have exchanged a day of our lives for it. We want it to be: good not bad. Gain not loss. Success not failure. So that we will never regret the price that we paid for it.” I try to live out this creed to this day, and it really helped with the new dream I had, going into high school. I wanted to fight for that “new day”.

I decided that to save my mom and get her out of the hell we were in, I would get a good education at a private school, play football, and get a full-ride scholarship to a college. With that, I’d take her with me and she could go and live her life in any way she deemed fit. She wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore, and my dad would have no say because I’d be over 18, and we’d have no more strings attached. It was all a VERY flawed plan, needless to say… but that’s all I had. That was the dream. That was the mission.

My mom stayed strong those 4 years. After I had gotten accepted into the private school I chose, she said she wanted me to “work my butt off there and do my best” because it will lead to prepping me for college. I was on scholarship too, where if I got terrible grade(s) at some point there, I’d be kicked out, so I had to stay vigilant. We had very little income, so there was no way we could pay the tuition. I couldn’t fail. I didn’t want to let down my mom and myself.

For 4 years, I trained hard. I played football, a sport I didn’t really love – due to how I never liked hitting people or hurting others (for obvious reasons), but I kept telling myself that I’m doing what I have to do. With my mom’s health declining as the years went on and football injuries plaguing me, my dream was looking bleak. But again, it’s all I had. I couldn’t give up. So I trained harder, played with two ACL tears that were un-operated on in my Senior year, but I came up empty. No colleges were answering due to my injuries. I felt like I failed my mother and my dream wasn’t going to come true… but I was wrong.

Over the course of the 4 years, I befriended a lot of great people, mainly in the theatre department at our school. I ended up joining Chorale and this is where my first introduction to acting was. With my friends, we performed Phantom of the Opera & Fiddler on the Roof, all in one year, and we made great memories altogether. With this, I had begun to stay at other friends’ houses too, due to the environment getting bad at home. During this particular time while doing Chorale and Theatre, I began to hang out with a specific group of friends that I’ve now been close with for over 10-15 years. I love them all dearly. We dubbed ourselves after the video game, “The Broforce”.

They believed in my struggle. They wanted to help. Over the years, my dad made it look like he was very caring and was the “best” dad at home. It was hard to make others believe in our cause. But in 2014, that all came to an end.

My friends all supported my mom and I’s cause. I won’t go into details but after much work, complications, disappointments, and almost being on the verge of living in a homeless shelter for awhile, my friends and I found a way to get my mom out of the abusive world she had been in for over 20 years. She struck the final blow as well – showing how strong she actually was to my dad, and divorced him. Due to our actions as well, she was able to get a baby-sized benign tumor removed, which she had had since my sophomore year. It was making her bleed a lot and tried to the point of ultra-fatigue (I’d help her walk to the bathroom and back, and she would say that it felt like she ran a half-marathon). The stakes grew as the years went on, and with the help of the Broforce, my dream was able to come true. My mom was saved.

After that, I had made peace with my dad, a year later.

But unfortunately, he passed in 2015, the same year I made peace with him. He died of a supposed “Heart Disease”, but even now, I feel he died of a broken heart.

Because of this loss, it made me confused. While I wanted to save my mom… I also wanted to get revenge on my dad (as cheesy and childish as that sounds). In the end, I felt like I took everything from him. When I saw him after I had made peace with him, he looked depressed. It makes me sick now saying this but I was content. He got what he deserved. That’s what I thought. But after he died, guilt set in. The cliche’ of “be cafeful what you wish for” held very true.

For a long awhile, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I had no purpose anymore. I had accomplished my mission. I achieved my dream. Now, it felt like a void – and that’s on me. No one else.

I went through college and I didn’t know what I was doing, if I can be honest. I took acting classes here and there. I tried to get a degree in physical therapy but failed out of anatomy. I ended up getting a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing on Health. Needless to say, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I felt so… aimless. I was lost, and I was still grieving over the events that took place a handful of years before. I felt very pathetic.

It wasn’t until 4 years later in 2018, I discovered voice acting. I had actually asked about it in 2016 when I met my first voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, and I was very intrigued, but I didn’t think I’d ever do it. When I decided to do it with my friend in 2018, that’s officially when my VO journey began. And I will say, life has gotten better ever since then. Yes, there has been ups and downs and my mom and I have done our best to cope with the loss of my dad, but we’re still here.

Looking back on everything while I’m on my VO journey now, it feels like I lived two lives already. I know there are others that have been through way more than myself, but for me, it was hard at times and it honestly is a miracle I’m here doing an interview with you all.

Back in April, my friends and I were able to move out of Jacksonville, our hometown. Before leaving, I decided to visit my dad at his grave and say goodbye. I had visited him before many times, but this was different. There are a lot of things I’ve left out that happened between 2015 and 2023, but overall, it was just my mom and I coping with the pain we both felt, the trauma we experienced, and the grief we had to handle. Throughout that time, I feel in my heart that my dad was helping us somehow push through the pain. It’s odd to say, but it’s true.

When I made peace with him back in 2015, he became a different person. He showed no anger. No animosity. He knew what he did. He was just thankful I had come back to him and forgave him. In a way, he saw hope. He wanted to turn a new leaf. The last thing he told me before he died was, “Sometimes Josh, you have to stop and smell the roses, because you never know when they’re gonna be gone.”

Close to 10 years later, those words have not left me.

When I visited his grave in April, I looked up at his memorial wall. Leaving red roses at his grave, I remembered everything that led up to the VO journey I’m in right now, and all I could feel was gratitude and content. Leaving Jacksonville, I knew my mom was gonna be okay, my dad was at peace, I was finally gonna go “smell the roses”, and that this was truly the beginning of a new day.

Life hasn’t been easy. Again, there’s a good amount I left out, but the problems in my life have shaped me into the man I am today, and my mom and friends have molded me as well. Even when things look bleak and the darkness is beginning to close in, you can’t give up. You gotta keep fighting, struggling on, and believe that there is hope in your actions.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

(Hahaha) I think I wrote A LOT about myself in the first question I answered so I won’t write it again (haha), but I got into voice acting in 2018 because honestly, I wanted to support a friend.

My friend wanted to do voice acting, so I decided to support him and do it too. One thing led to another, and now, I’ve been doing it for 6 years. It’s been a wild ride, to say the least, and it’s just beginning.

Growing my business now, I’ve grown to do and accept all forms of voiceover, spanning from character work, commercial work, narration work, all the sort. ADR work is one of my favorites, and pre-lay animation VO work is fantastic.

What I think sets me apart from others is my desire to be the best I can be, take direction no matter what, and be loyal till the end. As a remote talent, it can be daunting at times. It can be very disheartening, and you can feel like you’re on an island – alone. But what I’ve learned is that you have to struggle to the top, learn from everyone around you, think outside of the box, and make success happen. You can’t wait for it to come to you. I feel with that mindset, you can conquer MOUNTAINS in the VO business. It may take time, but you can do it. That’s my belief now, and I feel that’s what also sets me apart – my ambition to be one of the best in the world.

What I’m most proud of is diving into this field in the first place (haha). It’s a scary field but can be very rewarding. When I decided to follow the advice of my friends and go full-time in 2022, it definitely was a risk, but I’m glad I did it. It’s helped me grow not only as a VO artist, but as a man as well. Along with that, gig wise, I’m proud to be apart of many great projects that I’ve been fortunate to work in. For instance, I’m proud to be a part of the first Indian anime production, Creative Theory World’s revolutionary vision for anime, and the production of My Deer Friend Nokotan, which was recorded with an all-remote cast. Those are just a few, but I’m proud of a lot.

Lastly, what I want potential clients, followers, and fans to know about myself is that I’ll dare to dream until the very end and work till the job gets done. Period. And in regards to my brand, I’ll give you the services you desire, while respecting your directions to the fullest and help make your vision become a reality.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

When I was younger and not in the creative field, my missions in life were to beat obesity and save my mother. I never thought I’d be inspired to accomplish another mission in life, or in other words, fulfill another dream of mine.

Boy, was I wrong (haha).

My current mission now is a complicated one.

After I had to pivot in 2021 due to personal issues I had to take care of, I had to start basically from zero. It was very discouraging, but I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. Pointing fingers gets you nowhere, and at this point, I had already seen where anger and such can lead you, so I made it up in my mind to work on myself and also, hone in on my VO work. I made my next dream/mission one that is very ambitious, and that’s to become one of the best VO artists in the world. I feel it’s kind of a childish and selfish goal… but it’s one that inspires me.

Overtime though, while that goal is still burning in my heart, a new ambition has also risen.

As I’ve seen more of how hard remote voice acting is, I’ve always had it in my heart that I wanted to help find a way to where it could become an option more for bigger studios and anime studios. Granted, I understand how tech employees and engineers lean more towards in-studio work/editing. But to innovate the field somehow – after what I would call the VO Boom of 2020 during Covid and studios went back to majority in-studio – that’s what I want. I wanna help lead a path for remote VO to thrive and be noticed more, not only in the states, but around the world. There are SO many talented individuals who’s dreams won’t be able to come true due to life circumstances and not being able to move to a “voice hub”. As a man who loves the act of fighting for a dream, I just can’t handle that. People deserve to have a fighting chance and earn to accomplish their dreams, and I want to make a path to that. Somehow.

Yes, the reality is that I may have to move to a hub at some point, which is fine and will have it’s own ups and downs. Both areas do. But while I’m remote, I wanna do what I can to make a difference.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

This won’t be a long response. To me, what society can do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem is understanding that a machine will never be able to portray the true emotions of a human being.

How a person thinks, their emotions, their ambitions, what angers them, what makes them happy and sad, and for goodness sakes, their urge to eat their favorite pizza at the local restaurant down the street – ALL OF THAT, a machine cannot replicate authentically.

In art, writing, directing, stage prop creation, acting, singing, anything creative, a machine can’t do it from a heart – a soul – because it doesn’t have any of that.

To support the creative world, society needs to just show it’s encouragement and love to the people creating the art, not a machine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshwildfireminist.wixsite.com/vowebsite
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshportillovo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshportillo65
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-portillo-778716a7/
• Twitter: https://x.com/josh_saitogami

Image Credits
– Broken Beat Image – Credit: @animoo_otaku – Trio Image – Credit: @trio.manga