Vico Ortiz

Vico Ortiz (born October 10, 1991) is a Puerto Rican actor, drag king, and activist. They are best known for their role as Jim in the HBO Max television series Our Flag Means Death.

Early life and education
Vico Ortiz was born on October 10, 1991, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they were raised. They are fluent in Spanish and English; Spanish was the first language they learned.

Ortiz received their education at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles.

Career
Ortiz started their acting career in 2011 when they starred in the short film Oprah's Audience Moves On. For the following years, they had many small roles in other shorts and TV shows.

Around 2017–2018, Ortiz told their agent that they wanted to go for roles of all genders, whether non-binary like them, or not. When they were hired for non-queer roles, they started suggesting to the writers that their characters could be non-binary, and some shows accepted to make the change.

In 2018, they starred in the queer web series Recon, about a group of teenagers attending a secret spy school, as Ren St. Claire, one of the main characters. Later that year, they starred in two episodes of the TV show Vida.

In 2019, they starred in another queer web series titled These Thems, where they played Vero, a non-binary character befriending a 30-year old woman who had just come out. Ortiz also wrote the Spanish subtitles for the show.

In 2021, they had recurring roles in both The Sex Lives of College Girls and S.O.Z. Soldados o Zombies.

In 2022, they had their first main role in a television show, Our Flag Means Death. Ortiz plays a non-binary pirate in this queer comedy about the romantic relationship between Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet which quickly became a hit. Ortiz says that their interactions with fans have changed their life, and that they felt encouraged to get top surgery after seeing fan art of their character, Jim, getting gender-affirming surgery from the show's cook and de facto surgeon Roach (played by Samba Schutte).

In 2023, they had two recurring voice acting roles in the animated television show Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake. They voiced the supporting characters Hunter, Skater Y and Fern.

Personal life
Ortiz is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns in English  and elle/le/e in Spanish. In an episode of the podcast Gender Reveal, they identified as genderfluid as well as non-binary, comparing their gender to a waterbed, "constantly moving, but in a fun way".

Ortiz performs as a drag king named "Vico Suave". Their character takes inspiration from both their Hispanic/Caribbean and American culture, as well as "men who are comfortable with their femininity", such as Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Bad Bunny. They have another drag king persona named AJ when performing with their boy band the Backstreet Butches. Ortiz's drag king career started when a friend convinced them to participate in a show before they even knew what drag was.

Ortiz is an activist in subjects such as Puerto Rican federal voting rights, anti-racism, and gender neutrality in the Spanish language.