You have almost certainly heard Sylvia Villagrán, even if you have never seen her. The bilingual voice actor has announced the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars and the Tonys, a feat known as a VO EGOT, and in 2023 she became the first Latina in-show announcer in the history of the Academy Awards. In an interview with Advin Illa, founder and CEO of Iconic Original Media, Villagrán talks about the read-along stories that first hooked her on the human voice, the radio job she fell into by accident, the years she was auditioned only in Spanish and why she decided it was time to tell her own story.
Key Takeaways From the Interview
- Villagrán fell in love with voice work as a child, listening to the narrator on the read-along children’s stories her mother shared with her.
- Her career began by accident: she applied for a lights-and-camera job at a small local TV operation and ended up filling in for a radio DJ who was going on vacation.
- Early on, many clients and casting directors auditioned her only in Spanish, her first language, even though she was born and raised in Los Angeles.
- She treats voiceover as acting and spent years in scene study, cold reading and commercial acting classes.
- On live shows, producers write names out phonetically for her, and getting every name right is part of the job.
- She was the voice of the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show with Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, J Balvin and Bad Bunny.
- Being bilingual and bicultural was once her biggest obstacle. Today she calls it her biggest superpower.
About Sylvia Villagrán
- Bilingual voice actor in English and Spanish, heard on TV network promos, live award shows, national commercial campaigns and narration.
- First announcer to voice the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys, completing a VO EGOT in 2023.
- First Latina in-show announcer in Oscars history, at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, 2023.
- Two-time Voice Arts Award winner.
- Live announce credits include the Critics Choice Awards, the Writers Guild Awards and the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show.
- Her bio lists network promo work for NBC, CBS, TCM, The CW and Disney Channel.
- Born and raised in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrant parents, she grew up in the city’s Pico-Union neighborhood.
How Did Sylvia Villagrán Get Started in Voice Acting?
It started at home. When Villagrán was a little girl, her mother read her children’s stories that came with an audio recording, and she was captivated by the narrator.
“I loved listening to her voice. I loved the way she did her characters. … I was completely transfixed,” she says.
She memorized everything the narrator did and began paying close attention to the way people talk: how they take a breath, their accents, even where they place their tongue. “I’m very auditory, so I was very interested in the way people talked and the way they expressed themselves,” she says.
Her career, she says, was “a little bit of an accident.” With no experience, she applied for a lights-and-camera job at a small local television operation, and the general manager asked whether she wanted to fill in for a DJ who was going on vacation. She said yes. Radio gave her the spoken word and the chance to create little stories with her voice.
“There’s something really primitive about telling a story with just your voice. I love it. There’s nothing like it, because there’s something about the spoken word and about storytelling that allows the listener to create their own visuals,” she says.
In radio, she found out that people made a living voicing commercials and promos, and she went after it. For several years she made very little money, if any, before voiceover could support her.
Why Does Voiceover Suit Her?
Villagrán calls herself inquieta, Spanish for restless. She likes to be constantly doing, learning and creating, and no two days in voiceover are the same. “Every day I work with somebody new. The product is different. The entire thing is different,” she says.
Once she could work in voiceover full time, a day might bring an audition, a studio session, a stop at her agent’s office, lunch with colleagues and dinner with clients. “I’m not a structure person. I never have been,” she says. A cubicle and that kind of structure, she adds, “felt like a straitjacket to me.”
What Does the VO EGOT Mean to Sylvia Villagrán?
When Villagrán started out, many clients and casting directors would audition her only in Spanish, her first language, even though she was born and raised in Los Angeles. Working in both languages, she says, “was unheard of.”
“They would hire Latino actors for Latino, and then they would hire white actors for the general market work,” she says.
In 2023, she became the first Latina in-show announcer in Oscars history at the 95th Academy Awards, completing her run of the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys.
“For me to be in this position today, where I am the voice of these major live award shows and live global sporting events, it feels so validating, because for so long who I am and what I do was sort of dismissed,” she says.
Growing up, she never felt she belonged anywhere. She was born in Los Angeles to immigrant parents and wasn’t allowed to speak English at home, so her world was Spanish radio, Spanish television and Spanish newspapers. Out in the world, she spoke English. Traveling showed her that being an L.A. Chicana was its own identity. “It’s not just being Mexican American, it’s being Chicana, which is a whole ’nother thing,” she says.
“I grew up being uncomfortable, not really fitting in, but I realize now that that is my superpower, because I’m very comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Why Is Sylvia Villagrán Telling Her Own Story Now?
Villagrán had no one to model her career on. “I didn’t have anyone to look up to. I didn’t have a mentor. There was nobody doing what I do,” she says. She sees speaking up as a duty: “If I don’t step into it, then I’m going to be creating the exact same situation for other people that I stepped into, which was having nobody.”
For many years, she says, she felt the pressure to stay humble, work hard and keep her head down. Then, about a year and a half before the interview, she realized a narrative was being created about Latinos and immigrants, and she decided to speak up.
If we don’t start talking about what we do, what we contribute and how we are a global force, then guess what’s going to happen? Someone else is going to create that narrative.
Sylvia Villagrán
“I will not have somebody else create the narrative for me,” she says. “I think I owe that to my parents, I owe that to my family.”
That decision is one reason she launched her social media, where she posts her work along with her dogs, her parents, fashion and her love of thrifting and vintage. The work itself isn’t new. “I have always done this work. It’s just I never really posted about it,” she says.
How Does She Adapt Her Delivery for Each Award Show?
“Voiceover is not just about your voice. It’s really acting,” Villagrán says. A common mistake, in her view, is thinking the job is about having a fabulous voice. Some of the best voiceover actors, she notes, are theater actors.
She took years of classes in Los Angeles, including scene study, cold reading and commercial acting, plus voice acting classes, and she still takes an occasional class to keep honing her craft. “Each job is like a little mini world that you’re creating,” she says.
For a live show, she sits with the team during rehearsals. She listens to the music, watches the lighting and the stage, notes who the guests are and picks up the energy behind the show, then adapts.
How Does She Prepare for a Live Broadcast?
Rehearsal depends on the budget: the bigger the budget, the more days of rehearsal. Sporting events are different. She usually arrives, does a more technical rehearsal and has to take the producer’s or director’s cues and know the timing of each part of the script.
Pronunciation is part of the job. On live shows, the producer often sits down with her, writes the names out phonetically, and they adjust them in rehearsal, from the client’s brand to the honorees, the players and the music. “I think the most important thing is getting the client’s name right,” she says.
When they spoke, Villagrán was getting ready to announce the Latin Grammys, which take place Nov. 12, 2026, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
What Was It Like to Voice the Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Villagrán was the voice of the 2020 Super Bowl halftime show, headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira with J Balvin and Bad Bunny. “At the time it was so groundbreaking,” she says. Lopez and Shakira are global superstars, she notes, and J Balvin was still fairly new.
She calls it a momentous show, “not just for me, I think for Latinos in general.” In February 2026, Bad Bunny headlined a halftime show of his own at Super Bowl LX.
How Did Being Bilingual Go From Obstacle to Superpower?
“I think being bilingual and being bicultural was my biggest obstacle and, like I said before, today it’s my biggest superpower,” Villagrán says.
She only recently learned the term code-switching, though she has done it all her life: one way with her Chicano friends in Los Angeles, another with her cousins in Sonora, Mexico, whose Spanish has its own very specific style, and another at school in English.
Today, she says, the world “has finally kind of caught up” and is “much more accepting.” “I feel very confident in what I do now,” she says, “because this was always me.”
How Has Voiceover Changed for Bilingual Latino Talent?
Being bilingual and bicultural is now a must, Villagrán says. Most clients casting today look for talent with perfect English and perfect Spanish, something that “was not a thing” when she was coming up and wasn’t even allowed to audition in English.
She sees more young Latinas and Latinos coming in completely bilingual and proud of it, and she points to national commercials where the same Latino talent voices both the English and the Spanish version of a spot.
Interview by Advin Illa. Video by Iconic Original Media. Photos courtesy of Sylvia Villagrán.
Follow Sylvia Villagrán
- Instagram: @sylviavillagran
- Website: sylvia-villagran.com
