Music to his ears
Young actor sang Mariachi with family before landing lead role in animated film
Like the character he plays in the film Coco, Anthony Gonzalez has always wanted to be an artist.
But unlike the role he plays, the young actor has been lucky to have the full support of his Mexican family.
“My parents have always been there for me,” said Gonzalez, one of five siblings born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents.
“Without them I would not be in a Disney-Pixar movie.”
Coco, which opened earlier this week, is Pixar’s first feature film with a minority lead character, and one of the largest American productions ever to feature an almost entirely Latino cast.
It takes place in Mexico during the holiday Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and follows Miguel, a 12-year-old boy born in a family that has prohibited music for generations.
After fighting with his family because they won’t let him make music, Miguel slips into a wondrous netherworld where he depends on his long-dead ancestors to restore him to the land of the living.
“I never thought I’d be working in a Disney-Pixar movie at my age. I grew up watching these films!” Gonzalez, who recently turned 13, said in reference to hits like Toy Story, Up and Inside Out.
“Being there at this age is a wonderful, very beautiful experience.”
Gonzalez’s path to Coco started when he was singing Mariachi with his family at El Mercado de Los Angeles and competing in singing contests — all while his parents struggled to get their children, most of them aspiring musicians, training and financial help.
Gonzalez and his two brothers attend the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts.
His two older sisters are now in college.
“I have no words to explain this. This is a dream — something you never expect,” Lilian, the Gonzalez matriarch, said of her son’s participation in Coco.
“You come to this country with so many dreams and what can I say? We struggle every day. To me, this is very hard because, honestly, this is something we never dreamed of, but we always wanted to support our children.”
Lilian Gonzalez arrived in America more than 20 years ago and works in the cosmetology field.
“Every time we went to a competition I would lose my job,” she said. “Anthony would tell me, ‘You will be able to get lots of jobs, but I am going to be a kid only once.’ Then, when they wouldn’t go to the next round, we would cry and he would say, ‘Everybody cries, there’s nothing wrong with that! The important thing is to keep going.’”