'Jane the Virgin' Narrator Anthony Mendez on His Emmy Nomination and Working Out of His Bedroom

First, the bad news: Jane the Virgin only got a single Emmy nomination this morning, which — if you’ve watched The CW’s delightful comedy-soap — is a travesty. But the good news: That nomination went to Anthony Mendez for his sublime voiceover work as Jane’s ever-present Latin Lover Narrator.

Mendez’s tongue-in-cheek narration and witty asides bring an extra layer of fun to Jane; he’s really one of the keys to the show’s unlikely success. Yahoo TV reached Mendez on the phone (of course — the man’s voice is his living!) to chat about his Emmy nomination, how he actually records his parts of the show (spoiler alert: you will be jealous), and which famous names inspired his Latin Lover character.

Congratulations on your nomination — and we’re sorry it’s the only one for Jane the Virgin. But at least you’ll be representing the show, right?
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Initially, I was like, I just want to get a nomination for narrator. But now that it’s the only one, I kind of want to win it for everybody else, you know?

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We honestly didn’t even know the Emmys had a narrator category… but we’re really glad they do!
[Laughs.] I know; I think a lot of people thought that. What ended up happening was, it was originally Outstanding Voiceover Performance, and all the animation guys ran away with it. So what they did was, a few years ago, they split it up.

But even then, all the narrators [nominated] have always been documentary narration. This is the first time it’s actually a scripted show that’s nominated in this category. I was a little shocked because of that. I didn’t think that they would really grasp the idea of what it was, because they were used to a straight, stereotypical narrator. But I’m glad they did.

It’s well-deserved, too, because the Narrator is really a main character on Jane the Virgin, even though we never see him. It feels like he’s part of the action.
He really does. And I think that’s what allows this Narrator to connect with so many people. Because as you know, a typical narrator can be a crutch for writing, and I think that puts people off. The audience is super intelligent, and you don’t want to do that.

You’re based in New York and record all your parts there, so you don’t get to actually interact with the rest of the cast much, right?
That’s right. The only time I see them is when I’ve gone to visit a couple times. Either on set, or sometimes I visit for the table reads. I’m in north Jersey, about ten minutes from the George Washington Bridge and New York. But yeah, I get to do everything from home… which is a blessing and a curse. [Laughs.] Plus, I don’t get to see the video. I don’t get to see a single second of footage until it airs, which a lot of people don’t know. But it’s a lot of fun. It’s really a blessing to get to do something like that, and not have to travel, and spend time with family.

Yeah, is it true you actually record all your parts for Jane the Virgin in your bedroom?
[Laughs.] Yeah, it’s in one of our bedrooms. Which is kind of weird. But I guess it adds to that Latin Lover thing. If the Latin Lover Narrator is going to record anywhere, it’s gotta be in the bedroom. Method acting. [Laughs.]

So how does the recording process work? Do you get direction from showrunner Jennie Urman and the producers?
Yeah, absolutely. We do self-direct ourselves as voiceover actors who have our own studios. But it’s only for short stuff: promos and trailers, sometimes. Your best work always comes when you’re directed by other people. And Jennie Urman and one of the producers, Gina Lamar, they jump on the phone with me to direct me. They’re fantastic at painting the picture of every scene, so that I know exactly what I’m doing, what I’m playing off of. And then I just upload the files to the editor at the end of the session.

Do you get to improvise at all with your narration, or is it basically scripted word-for-word?
I would say it’s 99 percent word-for-word. In terms of improvisation, I get to play with the words, obviously, which I love. But they’re fantastic words! They don’t really need anything at all.

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Is there a Latin Lover Narrator character that you get into when you read these lines? Are there other people you use as inspiration for that voice?
This was a voice that I’ve had now a few years, one of the characters that I’ve developed. It’s based on a bunch of different guys. Obviously, [Ricardo] Montalban comes to mind, with the “rich Corinthian leather.” And a little bit of Antonio Banderas. And then I add somewhat of an acculturated, U.S. kind of edge to it. It’s someone who has an accent, but in my mind, has been living here in the U.S. for ages. It becomes easier to translate or play with some of the American idioms that they give me to play with. Which I think is part of the fun, you know? American idioms and phrases, but with a heavy accent, I think are a lot of fun.

Like when he said “OMG.”
Yeah, exactly! [Laughs.] That part I did add, if you remember the emoticon and chat episode. And then Jennie Urman had tweeted to me, “We put it in the script!” And I was like, awesome! The only other time I ever improvised was the firefly episode, when at the end, I said, “No fireflies were harmed in the production of this show.” That was something I added during the table read, joking around. And they added that. But that’s it. Everything else is word-for-word.

The Narrator has only been off-camera so far, but are there any plans to maybe see him on-camera in the future?
I hope not… only because Jennie has mentioned in public that as the series comes to an end — hopefully, several years from now — she will reveal the connection, and possibly show who the character is. I’m hoping that before that, I make some sort of inside-joke appearance. Maybe somebody who’s the concierge without having any words or something. That would be fun. But in terms of actually revealing the Narrator, and me being on-camera, I don’t think that’s in the plans anytime soon.

You do a ton of voiceover work elsewhere, too. Where else might we have heard your voice?
I do what’s called the HBO Sports Minute, so every week on the radio, you’ll hear a promo of a rundown: “Only on HBO…” I do a bunch of stuff for so many different networks: Spike, CNN, Showtime. But it’s basically just promos and trailers. This is my first real long-form narration, if you will. Every voiceover, even if it’s a car dealer spot or a movie trailer, in my mind, as an actor, I have to make a choice, and every single one of them is a character. But this one allows me to really play. So that’s what’s special about this.

The 67th Emmy Awards will air Sunday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. on Fox; Season 2 of Jane the Virgin premieres Oct. 19 on The CW.