Coco star Anthony Gonzalez and his mother talk about family, fame and making his first film
Gonzalez plays Disney-Pixar’s first Latino lead role in this animation, set in Mexico during the Day of the Dead. He talks about the support he gets from his parents and how he would never have made it without them
Like the character he plays in the film Coco, Anthony Gonzalez has always wanted to be an artist. But unlike the character 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,” says Gonzalez, one of five siblings born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents. “Without them I would not be in a Disney-Pixar film.”
Coco, which opened on Wednesday in the US, 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 los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and follows Miguel, a 12-year-old boy with the heart of a musician, who is part of a family that has prohibited music for generations. After fighting with his family over not letting 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.
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He may be starting his professional career as a tween, but his path to Coco started way earlier, singing mariachi with his family at El Mercado de Los Angeles and competing in singing contests in Los Angeles, Mexico or Miami – 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 performing arts focused Colburn School. His two older sisters are now in college.
