Joseph Balderrama

Joseph Balderrama (born 1986) is a Mexican-born actor. His films include Stan & Ollie (2018). On television, he is known for his roles in the Netflix series Heartstopper (2022–present) and the BritBox series Hotel Portofino (2023). His voice work includes the video games It Takes Two (2021) and Diablo IV (2024).

Early life
Balderrama was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and an American mother and moved to England when he was ten. He attended Alleyn's School in Dulwich, completing his A Levels in 1995. He also studied abroad at Phillips Academy Andover during his time at Alleyn's. He joined the National Youth Theatre. He graduated with a Scottish Master of Arts in History from the University of Glasgow in 1999 followed by a three-year acting diploma on a scholarship at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2002.

Career
After graduating from drama school, Balderrama made his professional stage debut as Benvolio in the 2003 English Touring Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Adam Croasdell, Laura Rees, OT Fagbenle, and Michael Cronin. He also made his television debut and feature film debut with small roles in an episode of the ITV police procedural The Vice and the horror film Alien vs Predator respectively. Balderrama played Santiago in the 2006 film The Flying Scotsman. He appeared in the Oxford Castle productions of The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet, Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, No Such Cold Thing at the Tricycle Theatre in London, and The Miser at the Royal Exchange, Manchester.

In 2010, Balderrama starred in Oliver Cotton's Wet Weather Cover at the King's Head Theatre and Arts Theatre, the latter of which marked Balderrama's West End debut. He also had roles in the BBC Four docudrama Canoe Man and the comedy Schizo Samurai Shitzu. He appeared in The White House Murder Case at the Orange Tree Theatre and The Rubber Room at the Old Vic in 2012, and Labyrinth at the Hampstead Theatre and Drones, Baby, Drones at the Arcola Theatre in 2016.

Having begun working on video games in 2008 and early on in his voice work, Balderrama voiced the likes of Stavo Delgado in Wheelman, Killer Moth in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, and Sangres in Payday 2. He then voiced Cotter in Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series in 2014 and had a small role in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre.

Balderrama returned to the West End in 2017 for All the President's Men at the Vaudeville Theatre, and to the Hampstead Theatre in 2018 for Dry Powder. He portrayed James W. Horne in the 2018 biographical comedy film Stan & Ollie with Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly and had a recurring role as Tony in the BBC One drama Press. He had further voice roles in video games such as the English dub of Dragon Quest XI, The Crew 2, and Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

In 2020, Balderrama had a recurring role as Tim in the HBO and Sky One science fiction series Avenue 5. In 2021, he starred in A Fight Against… (Una Lucha Contra…) at the Royal Court Theatre and the video game It Takes Two with Annabelle Dowler; for the latter, Balderrama performed motion capture and voiced the lead character Cody as well as Dr Hakim. The following year, Balderrama began playing Julio Spring, Charlie Spring's (Joe Locke) father in the Netflix series Heartstopper and appeared in the film Uncharted. Balderrama joined the cast of the BritBox series Hotel Portofino for its second series, which aired in 2023, as Luigi Farrino. That same year, he voiced the Sorcerer in Diablo IV.