Meet Josh Portillo

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josh Portillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josh below.

Josh, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

First off, I wanna thank BoldJourney for having me on this interview. Being able to share and tell about my experiences in life and as a voiceover artist is always an honor, and I know many would love to do this, so I definitely want to make the most of it. Again, thank you very much 😀

For me, finding my purpose in life has been an uphill battle. Honestly, I feel my purpose lies within the art of voiceover work, and it’s been other dreams I’ve had that has led me to that purpose.

I’ve spoken about it before in other interviews but growing up, the purpose I had on my heart was to help my mother. To see her happy again after so much that had happened to us with domestic violence, over the course of 16-17 years, was what I wanted more than anything. And to be fair to myself, another goal I had before I fully committed to helping my mom was losing a bunch of weight. Growing up as an obese kid, where my highest weight was 345 lbs in the sixth grade, it was hell. I never liked to be outside and I was always so insecure about being around others because I was always bigger than them. Whether it be through pure determination, anger of seeing my mom hurting at home, or (and I feel embarrassed saying this last reason) the desire to impress a certain girl back then, it all drove me over the edge to try and improve myself. Having lost 145 lbs in my seventh grade year, I was very much a new believer that dreams could come true. Hard work and perseverance just had to be used at all times.

You would think that I would have found my purpose in life, through the adventures, trials, and tribulations of those two “arcs” in my life, but I really was still unsure of what it was. It wasn’t until the end of college – when a friend of mine invited me to play the Danganronpa series with him and practice acting while playing – that my interest to voiceover work began to grow.

It’s wild to think that for my career, I’ve committed fully to being a voiceover artist. It’s funny because when I was younger, I had a slight speech impediment that I worked on for years as a kid to improve. Unfortunately, I stopped speech classes when I was about in middle school and it never really got better. It kind of improved in high school, while I was immersing myself in Musical Theater & Chorale, but it was still a work-in-progress. Thankfully, through these last 6 years, it’s improved SO much – to the point that people say they wouldn’t have guessed that I had a speech impediment in the first place. Same goes for my weight, with people saying that they could never see me as a kid that was overweight. It’s very humbling to have those reactions but also a good reminder that goals were reached and dreams were achieved.

It’s been a long journey to get to this point. Like many on their path to find their purpose, much pain was felt on the trek to get here and while it did hurt, being able to stand on my own two feet with my friends and continue to move forward on this path is a blessing.

If I had to go deeper into my purpose of being a voiceover artist, it could be many things that make up that purpose. It could be to grow as a VO artist and bring awareness to Filipino voice actors. It could be to help grow the art of remote recording and assist other remote voice actors in showing that remote VAs are an option as well and has a place in the industry. It could be to persevere, struggle forward, and become one of the absolute best in the world… or, it could be to just have fun and thrive in my own way.

Overall, what makes up my purpose can be a concoction of many things, but to overall use my voice to help impact others and inspire them to see that there’s real hope in the world, THAT is what matters in the end.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Real quick, I apologize in advance for the very long response (haha).

Being a voiceover artist/voice actor has brought me down a path that has helped me explore my artistic side. It’s changed my life dramatically and has given me the opportunity to grow not only as a creative, but as a human being as well. Also, it just feels so COOL to be in the field where all of my childhood idols were. When I was younger, I wasn’t very active so I stayed in the house majority of my childhood. I hated being outside.

What gave me solace was seeing one of – if not – the greatest hero in gaming history, Solid Snake, save the world from evil terrorists and the nuclear walking battle tank nightmare, Metal Gear. That solace came when seeing Sly Cooper and his two best friends, Bentley & Murray, steal the hearts of people around them and take down the notorious Clockwerk. It came when I witnessed Max Caufield explore her extraordinary powers in Arcadia Bay, Jak & Daxter traversing through time to save their home throughout history, Commander Titus of the Ultra Space Marines lead his brave men into the hive of Xenos to rid the planet they were on of pure evil, Nathan Drake overcoming the impossible and discover the unimaginable, and the Sparta legend – Kratos – overcome his past and become the hero & God he was always meant to be.

Of course, I’m mentioning games that came out not only when I was a child but as an adult too, but I guess that’s the point I’m making (haha). This field has had a great impact on my life and to work in it now is very crazy to me. No matter what level I make it to, I have peace to say that I actually took the leap to be in this field – which can be scary, nonetheless. I’m very grateful.

As a full-time, professional Asian-American voiceover artist (holy moly, that’s a mouthful haha), I do work in all aspects of VO work, spanning from Narration, Ads/Commercials, Character Work for various video games and animation projects, and ADR Dubbing for live-action films, animated shows/films, and anime. I’ll be real, I get sort of shy when talking about myself, in regards to my work. I never want to come across as someone that’s trying to sell themselves up too high or even too low. I don’t wanna come across as cocky or ignorant in any way because I understand how subjective this field is. With that all said, I’m proud of the work I’ve been able to book, and the accomplishments I’ve achieved in my short time I’ve been here. As a remote VO artist as well, it makes me even more proud.

A few highlights have been getting to be a voice actor in the anime comedy, “My Deer Friend Nokotan” (which was done with a full-remote cast). Being apart of the talented & hard working company, Creative Theory World, has been great, and acting in two of their anime series, Broken Beat: Forthbringers & Rule 56, has been a pleasure. With this as well, being apart of India’s first official anime, TRIO, has been an honor too. There are many other projects I’ve had the opportunity to be apart of that I hold dear to my heart, but we’d be here all day if I talked about the entire list of them. Lastly, it’s cool that from Dec. 20th-22nd of this year, I get to be an invited guest for the first time – going to Portland, Oregon’s Kisuucon. Overall, it’s been a fun time.

As I’ve said in other interviews, the path I’m on right now wouldn’t have been possible without the dreams I had in the past. When I was younger, domestic violence and obesity plagued my life. I don’t want to point fingers and say “this or that” was the reason why things were the way they were back then. It was just all unfortunate circumstances, and it all started with my father, who I learned when I was about 22 years old that he manipulated my mom to have an abortion while she didn’t want to give up the child (who wasn’t in physical form yet – it was very early in the process). This was the man I was going to deal with in my life.

At a young age, I witnessed my father’s anger at full force. On a random night in March of 1999, he tried to murder my mother twice, and while we escaped with the help of police called in by our neighbors, I still believe we were lucky. My father had tried to kill her with a chef’s knife, after he had punched & knocked her to the ground. When she was on the ground, I had no choice but to watch. I felt powerless. I couldn’t save her. I was only 4 years old, and a monster was about to ruin my life right in front of me. It was too much to handle.

By a miracle, my mom had gotten out of his hold and fought him all around our house. Before the police arrived, we were actually trying to leave and escape, but my dad held my mom by her shirt collar and pushed his gun up against her back, ready to kill her and probably me after. It was scary. I didn’t know what to do. If I had to describe how this all felt, it was like “The Eclipse”, which was a dark moment in the manga series by Kentaro Miura, Berserk.

Due to factors that are too complicated to explain, my dad only got two days of jail for this, and returned back home. I had to go to a Children’s Mental Institution program that tended to kids who “saw things they weren’t supposed to see”. It was a very odd time, and of course, I didn’t understand everything. It wouldn’t be until I was a teenager that I fully understood that our household was a toxic one, and that had to change.

Growing up in this toxic environment, my weight grew to an unhealthy amount, and at the same time, I was suffering from severe mental health issues. Heavy depression & anxiety made my childhood a fearful one, and it led me to play with the idea of suicide twice. What stopped me was a voice in my head saying, “You have a job to do. Don’t give up. You can’t go yet.” Whether this be from inspiration from my favorite video game character, Solid Snake, or spiritually from my unborn sibling, it stopped me and convinced me to not kill myself with the same chef’s knife that my dad used on my mom. For some reason, I couldn’t go yet.

A few years later after that, I was led to football – not out of interest, but out of a desperate need for change. I was sick and tired of seeing myself fat, and I was also mad at seeing my mom unhappy. I wanted things to change, and I knew that it all had to start with me. Over the course of 7-9 months, after football season and a whole school year of training in seventh grade, I lost 145 lbs. I saw that the impossible could be possible, and dreams could come true. This led me to entering a private Christian school that I felt had a football program that could help me achieve the “dream of all dreams” in my life: save 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”.

Entering high school, it was a grind. My mom was hurting a lot but was still doing her best to do what she could for me to have a great future. She sacrificed time in her life to give us the best chance to succeed. My mom stayed strong those 4 years. After I had gotten accepted into the private school, 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.

It was a complicated goal I had, but I felt that if I got a full-ride scholarship to college, I could take my mom with me and basically give my dad the middle finger, saying that you can’t hurt us anymore and that I’m the man of the family now. Very flawed, very egotistical in a way, and very much a plan that was self-serving because in the end, while I wanted to help my mom, I wanted to get back at my dad for hurting us so much over the years. It was not well-planned, but in my head, this was all I had. This was my reason to live. This was the mission.

Unfortunately, after 4 years of training hard, I was plagued with two torn ACLs that went un-operated on (tried to tell the coaches I was getting scared for my health, but I still agreed to play after some of them convinced me that colleges would still bite).

They didn’t.

I wasn’t able to achieve my dream. I felt like a failure, and I thought that no matter what I did, we were always destined to be in a world full of toxicity. Needless to say, 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 and Fiddler on the Roof, all in one year, and we made great memories together. With this, I had begun to stay at other friends’ houses too. 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 – reminding my dad how strong she was, 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 tired 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.

But unfortunately, my dad passed in 2015, the same year I made peace with him. My mom had convinced me to make peace with him, and I’m glad I did. 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 careful 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 happy and live with freedom, my dad was at peace, I was finally gonna go “smell the roses”, and that this was truly the beginning of a new day.

Being in VO is special now… because it’s the product/reward of the pain and obstacles I’ve overcome in the past.

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.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities that were very crucial in my journey, and overall in life so far, are these:

– Perseverance

– Hard Work

– Loyalty

These three qualities are very cliche’ and have been echoed in the world thousands upon THOUSANDS of times. But I will say, if you have these three qualities in your arsenal of qualities to live by, I feel you’re gonna have a great foundation to live by.

Life will throw so many curveballs at you. At some points, it can feel like your whole world is being destroyed around you. With perseverance, you can battle through as much as you can. Just like in the video game series, Dark Souls, and in Elden Ring, you die, you revive, and you go again until you succeed.

With hard work, you can go beyond your limits. One of the best examples is Goku, who grew immensely from when he was a child and then growing into being an adult. Yes, he was an alien from the Saiyan race, but he was also classified as a low-level Saiyan. Nothing special at all. Battle after battle, training session after every training session, Goku grew stronger. With a powerful Zenkai boost after every battle – which propelled him to gain more strength that was unimaginable – he surpassed his limits. He became the legendary Super Saiyan, a golden-haired warrior only spoken about in Saiyan myth. In the future, after transcending past this golden myth, he would also achieve the ultimate status of Mastered Ultra Instinct. From being a low-level warrior to standing toe-to-toe with literal GODS, Goku is one of the biggest examples of hard work overcoming talent & limitations.

Loyalty will get you to places you may never have imagined, at least in my opinions. Of course, I’m not preaching on staying in a situation that’s toxic and holding out on the hope that it will be positive some day. If it’s very toxic, leave. But in this case, loyalty can prove who you are as a person. Whether it be with a company you love, your family that’s struggling, or friends that have never faltered on being their for you and you wanna be there for them, loyalty is something that can help build trust, love, and a bond that is unbreakable. All of that is important for being in the VO field, and life as a whole.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

For me, when I feel overwhelmed, I sometimes talk to my friends about it. Sounds cliche’, but having a great support system is very important. For me, it’s my life line to have friends to talk to, especially ones that aren’t in my field. They help give perspective and show how silly some issues I think are really big aren’t as big as I think they are. Of course, I don’t wanna abuse this and go to my friends every time an issue occurs, but it’s nice to know how there’s someone there to talk to if I’m very upset on a certain issue.

As I’m re-learning now, another strategy is just detaching myself from my work and immersing myself in a show I like or a game I wanna play. Over the years, I have gone away from doing these type of things because of always working towards my goals. It may sound like I’m kidding or lying, but it’s the truth. I have to force myself nowadays to literally have fun, and this is definitely a way to calm myself down when I’m feeling overwhelmed. Turning on and playing Metal Gear Solid, or watching Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy, for example, really does make a difference. Like talking with my friends, it puts things in perspective and shows that there’s more to life than work. While I love what I do, I need to detach at times just for my health, due to the stress and such. Playing a game or watching a show is a great way to combat that.

Training has been a stress reliever for me since the age of 13. I remember back then, just being in the weight room alone (training safely, of course), and just being at peace. I’d turn on music that I like, I’d lift till I was tired, and I would go home ready to sleep with no worries in my brain. Simple, sweet, and to the point. Training in the gym is almost a daily routine for me. Exercise as a whole is a must-do for my life, and while it doesn’t have to be extreme every time, getting a sweat in definitely helps with stress levels and combating the feeling of being overwhelmed. I love it to death.

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