Thirteen-year-old Luis Angel has a lot in common with the character he plays in the hit movie Coco , a favourite to win this year’s Oscar for best animated film.
The movie, set against the backdrop of Mexico’s colourful Day of the Dead festival, tells the story of a boy named Miguel who fights against all odds to realize his dream of being a musician.
With his twinkling eyes and beaming smile, Luis Angel Gomez Jaramillo, who voiced Miguel in the Spanish-language version of the film, looks a little like his character.
He also shares his passion for music and, like Miguel, has battled long odds to sing.
“I identified a lot with the character, which may be one reason I did the movie,” he said.
Luis Angel, who comes from the sleepy colonial town of San Francisco del Rincon in central Mexico, had taken some voice lessons, but had little experience singing for an audience. He just loved to sing — something he inherited from his grandmother, who got him started when he was five-years-old. He dreamed of making it as a musician, but it wasn’t easy at first, his mother recalled.
First break
Luis Angel’s first break finally came when he landed a spot on the Mexican version of the reality show The Voice Kids .
He didn’t make it to the final round of the show, which aired last year. But several videos of him went viral online, and that is where Pixar producers found him.
They invited Luis Angel to audition, and he landed the part with his soaring voice, impressing director Lee Unkrich and the production team with his rendition of the movie’s theme song, Recuerdame — whose English — language version, Remember Me , is up for Best Original Song at the Oscars.
