The narrator has been so influential to the tone of Jane the Virgin, and so much of voice work depends on the tenor of your voice. How did you come to the point of finding just the right tone?
That's a very good question. In terms of the tone, obviously it's a combination of the character voice, which is something I've had in my repertoire anyway — the Latin lover, Antonio Banderas kind of thing. In terms of the actual emotional tone, that was something that started with [director] Brad Silberling in the pilot, but [producer] Gina Lamar and mostly [showrunner] Jennie Urman, who directs most of the voice-over questions, she brought out some of the sarcastic or sassy or playful side of me when it came to the character. I think she kind of shaped him and molded him as we went along with the episodes.
For, say, a burgeoning TV critic who wants to break into the television-narrator scene, what are your most helpful tips for being a good narrator?
I think No. 1, it's always training. Taking scene-study classes — if you're not going to take a full-on theater or acting course, then, at the very least, take a scene study class. Take voice-over classes and take improv classes, all of which I've trained and continue to train in to this day. But secondly, understand that it's never, ever about you. One of the things that they say is that you kind of have to disappear. The less people notice you, the better job you're doing. That's part of the challenge, I think, with this character. He's so sassy and he's so unique that he stands out, which goes against what we're trained to do, so there has to be a little balance in terms of what the intention is. It's about the story and it's about what's going on onscreen with the other actors.
