Sean-Ryan Petersen is a multi-range camera and voice-over actor. He voices Valentino on the Cartoon Network show ‘Victor and Valentino’ but his credits also include recurring roles on ‘Blackbox TV’ and ‘Dive Olly Dive. We caught up with him to discuss his popular role and other projects.
Hi, Sean! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your role as Valentino in Cartoon Network’s “Victor and Valentino.” The show is a supernatural show for children. The stories are based on real myths and legends of Mesoamerican folklore. We love this approach. What should the audience expect to see?
The audience should expect many different Mesoamerican mythologies and folklores represented in this show. From children’s stories Abuelas would tell their grandchildren to myths that have
been passed down for generations. The show features creatures like the Chupacabra to the Lechuza and many more obscure creatures that even I didn’t know about. The deepest aspects of
ancient Mesoamerican culture will be interpreted as shown in the coming episodes and I am incredibly excited for everyone to see them. Additionally, viewers will get to explore different
types of food, activities, and family structure. All these fantastical adventures that Vic and Val get to go on are brought to us from the mastermind himself, Diego Molano.
This is giving us some Nancy Drew vibes. Tell us about Valentino. Thus far, we do know that Valentino has a half-brother named Victor. You struggle to appreciate each
other’s quirks and differences. However, we would like to know what’s your take on Valentino. Who is he? What is his personality like?
Valentino is a studious, cautious, and detailed oriented person. Compared to his rash, loud, and brave younger brother Valentino would rather stay home and read a book or reorganize his coin
collection, though he will do anything to protect his brother. Val likes to go for walks, take pictures, and learn the entire mythology and architecture of any place he plans on going to. The
brothers end up on some pretty crazy adventures and sometimes it’s their fault they are there in the first place. The brothers need each other and their dynamic is something that people will
enjoy watching develop throughout the season.
Valentino and Victor explore Monte Macabre, a small and mysterious town. What role does Valentino play in the series? Is he the “know it all” brother or the annoying jokester?
Valentino is and is not the know it all brother, he is and isn’t the annoying jokester. The thing is Val is the courteous, wise, “let’s open a book” kind of guy, yet you will see with the
encouragement of his brother he can be a prankster, and yes there are times where he can get stuck in his head and there is Victor to help him back to reality. They balance each other.
Was it a challenge to play Valentino?
Valentino is not very challenging to play. He is incredibly similar to me down to the coin collection. Valentino’s voice is my own voice pitched up to sound younger. The closest
thing I would attest to a challenge when playing Valentino is specific pronunciations of certain words in another language. Specifically, words in “Nahuatl” which Val would know the
pronunciation to and I have to learn. I have learned many different parts of my Latin American culter working on “Victor and Valentino”.
Do you have your own supernatural story to share?
I haven’t had any supernatural stories that I can say are that intense or notable. The closest story I have would probably be the tour I took of the Whaley House in Old Town in San
Diego. I was there for Comic-Con but my family and I took a day to see the rest of San Diego. The house was exceptionally creepy with this thick feeling of dread in every room only growing
stronger with every creepy tale told to us, nonchalantly, by our veteran tour guide. I didn’t see anything like a shadow but when I was in the room where the mother and baby had died I felt
like my breath was sucked out of my body and every fiber of my being was telling me to leave. After that we had some bomb Mexican food and Coldstones, so all was right with the world.
The subject matter of the series is fun and witty. How does the production bring
something new to a mystery series?
As an avid enjoyer of mystery shows and TV in general, I must say that Victor and Valentino is a nice breath of fresh air. Even I am pleasantly surprised by a new fact or twist I discover every
time I record an episode. Sometimes it takes the episode being animated and shown on TV to finally notice some things. The show with its writing, scenes layout, music, and voiceover acting
are all vibrant and full of pop culture references. All done to bring about subtle yet fun surprises to the way we approach each mystery and challenges our characters face. I won’t deny that this
series is full of plot twists, but I’m not going to spoil anything because where’s the fun in that? There is plenty of discovery to be made in every episode so feel free to rewatch. I heavily
encourage you to pause and look at the different frames you may spot easter eggs, references, or hints to future episodes.
What is going to surprise people about Valentino?
He’s like an onion. He has layers. I honestly believe people will be shocked that Val despite being the studious, cautious brother, is at the same time ready for hijinks and mischief. Val takes a particular liking to pranking one of Monte Macob’s favorite small business owners, the one and only “Donny J”.
Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue in the series and why?
At a certain point in time, Valentino is looking for Victor who was probably trapped somewhere (keeping it spoiler-free ) and Valentino runs into the person potentially responsible. In a
gambit to get out of the situation, Valentino gives a big over the top speech about wanting to see something cool that the person did earlier to try and play his ego. The speech ended with Val
exclaiming “THAT THING YOU DID WAS REALLY COOL”. This was by far my favorite line to record and I can’t wait to see it animated.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
This is one of my first jobs where the whole cast gets together to record. On past projects I often recorded solo. This is something that sticks with me because I have gotten the chance to
meet some amazing people throughout the recording. Every episode is an incredibly fun experience that I look forward to. The chemistry and genuine reactions are part of what makes
this such an amazing project and of course, getting to work side by side with the big man himself Diego.
In your opinion, what scene in the series is going to blow people away and why?
There isn’t an easy way to answer this question without spoiling some pretty major plot points but I can say this much stick around, continue watching the show, once everything is revealed it
will blow you away. Think of this in the sense of a game of Dungeons and Dragons the best twists and character backstories are revealed in bits and pieces. Though I do tell everyone to
watch one of my favorite episodes “A New Don”.
What do you enjoy most about your character and role?
Valentino is an incredibly fun character to play and I resonate with him to a very close degree. Every episode I record as Valentino I notice that my habits, tendencies, and sense of humor mesh
with his. Some say we have become one hahaha. From high-pitched screams to his sass there are moments when I’m not playing Val as much as just being myself.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about the series?
Nothing more than thank you to anyone who has watched and enjoyed the series so far. Be sure to stick around for more adventures as Vic and Val dig deeper into Mesoamerican mythology
and Latin folklore. SEASON 2 IS COMING, WOOwhOO!!!
Do you have anything else you would like to share about your career?
I am excited about a couple of projects I am working on, including more on the production and developmental side. I can’t give any details just yet, but these projects like Victor and Valentino
are passion projects that I am ready to throw myself into. Thank you very much for the interview and my social media handles are:
Instagram: @seanryanpetersen
Twitter: @seanryanmlp
Follow me to stay up to date on all my Adventures. 😀
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