Harvey Guillén

The boy who wanted to be Annie

Harvey Guillén knew he wanted to be an actor when he saw Annie in the movie theater. He was six years old and did not know that kids of Mexican descent rarely starred in musicals in Hollywood.

That childhood determination led him to sign up for acting classes, paid for with the money his mother earned cleaning houses. It was not an easy road. For years, he heard that his look did not fit the industry's standards and that he should settle for uncredited supporting roles.

But his persistence paid off in 2010.

He landed a spot on the series Huge and soon after appeared in the comedy The Internship in 2013 alongside Owen Wilson. These were paycheck jobs that let him pay his bills while he waited for a real chance to prove he could carry a story on his own.

The sidekick who stole the spotlight

In 2019, he landed the role of Guillermo de la Cruz in the series What We Do in the Shadows. What on paper was a meek, quiet character became the emotional heart of the FX show.

Guillén gave the character a physical vulnerability that broke the conventions of horror comedy. And he did it without any grand theatrics.

And the gamble paid off.

Across the show's six seasons, filmed between 2019 and 2024, the actor built a character arc that moved from servitude to rebellion. Critics noticed him because he handled silence better than many veterans of the California theater scene.

His work on this production earned him nominations at the Critics Choice Awards and opened the doors of major animation studios to him. In 2022, he lent his voice to Perrito in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and at times managed to have a supporting character overshadow the lead.

Numbers and New Horizons

His leap into superhero movies came in 2023 with Blue Beetle. In this Warner Bros. production, he played Sánchez and provided the comic counterpoint needed within a family-driven action structure.

Acting in front of the camera isn't everything.

In 2024, he appeared in the film The Life of Chuck, based on a story by Stephen King. This production, directed by Mike Flanagan, marked a shift toward a more restrained and dry drama.

The industry has started entrusting him with executive producing roles on independent projects that seek visibility for the Latino community. His per-episode television salary has grown tenfold since his early days in minor Disney Channel productions.

Filming of his latest collaboration with Mike Flanagan wrapped in the spring of 2024 on an estimated budget of $15 million.