Sebastián Yatra

Sebastián Obando Giraldo was born in Medellín in 1994 and learned early on that in the entertainment industry, people-pleasing comes at a cost. Before stepping onto a film set, he built a pop machine capable of racking up billions of digital streams. But the music alone wasn't enough to satisfy his dramatic curiosity.

His stage surname came from a mantra meaning what is already on its way. So when the movies came knocking, he decided to walk in without demanding star privileges.

The voice-over booth and the animation test

Voice dubbing is a thankless job for anyone looking for the spotlight.

In 2018, he agreed to voice the yeti Migo in the Latin American Spanish version of Smallfoot for Warner Bros. That first experience with lip-sync taught him to control his breathing in front of a microphone with no music playing underneath. The following year he repeated the experiment with a project of greater technical complexity.

In 2019, he voiced Jesper in Klaus, the traditionally animated feature produced by The SPA Studios in Madrid and directed by Sergio Pablos. The role called for a comic register with touches of arrogance and redemption. The film went on to earn a Academy Award nomination and collected seven Annie Awards in 2020, proving his ability to modulate vocal registers far removed from the romantic ballad.

In 2021, Lin-Manuel Miranda was chosen to perform the central song of the Disney film Encanto. The song, titled Dos Oruguitas, called for a restrained, acoustic delivery free of the commercial vocal effects he was known for.

And the gamble paid off.

In March 2022, he performed that song on the stage of the Dolby Theatre during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, in front of more than 16 million live viewers. That appearance in Los Angeles opened the doors of casting offices that had until then seen him as a mere radio-friendly pop product.

The irreverent comedy and the set in Madrid

In 2022, Mexican director Manolo Caro offered him the lead role in the musical miniseries Érase una vez… pero ya no for Netflix. The challenge meant sharing scenes with seasoned actors such as Rossy de Palma and Asier Etxeandia. He had to undergo months of intensive acting training, change his physical posture and refine a neutral accent to play Diego and Maxi across two different timelines.

Because shooting a comedy with musical numbers demands a level of physical discipline that music videos rarely require. During the shoot in Spain, recording days often stretched beyond twelve hours a day, between complex choreography and long continuous takes.

In 2024, he expanded his screen experience with his first American comedy production, Space Cadet, produced by Prime Video and directed by Liz W. Garcia. In the film he played Toddrick Spencer alongside a cast led by Emma Roberts. Filming took place on locations in New Jersey.

Broadway Trial Without a Safety Net

Broadway has no patience for singers who go off-key live.

On November 25, 2024, he made his stage debut at the Ambassador Theatre in New York as part of the cast of the musical Chicago. He played the lawyer Billy Flynn, a demanding role that required mastering the English stage dialogue over nearly two and a half hours of performance.

For four consecutive weeks, she performed eight live shows a week, a relentless pace of double shows on weekends that took a toll on her voice. Backstage on 49 Street, she worked daily with diction coaches before going out to sing All I Care About with a live orchestra.

His Broadway contract ended on December 22, 2024, after a total of 32 performances, with average house occupancy just shy of ninety percent of capacity.