# Joseph Balderrama

Joseph Balderrama (born 1986) is a Mexican-British 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… (Spanish: 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.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2004 | Alien vs. Predator | High Priest | |
| 2006 | Alien Autopsy | News Presenter | |
| 2006 | The Flying Scotsman | Santiago | |
| 2007 | I Want Candy | Man | |
| 2011 | Jack and Jill | Spanish Valet | |
| 2012 | The Unfortunate Truth | Seymore Galintinee | Short film |
| 2013 | The Scampi Trail | Mr. Pepe | |
| 2014 | Job's Dinner | Eli | Short film |
| 2014 | White Collar Hooligan 3 | Detective Pablo | |
| 2014 | The Engagement | Ricardo | Short film |
| 2015 | Last Love | Roberto | Short film |
| 2015 | Spectre | Head of Nation | |
| 2017 | Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas | Mummy / Construction Worker | Voice role (English dub) |
| 2017 | The Current War: Director's Cut | Horace Kaden | |
| 2018 | Stan & Ollie | James W. Horne | |
| 2019 | A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon | Additional voices | |
| 2019 | Master Moley | | Short film; voice role |
| 2020 | Dolittle | Prisoner | |
| 2022 | Uncharted | Carlos | |
| 2022 | The Batman | Lead Detective | |
| 2022 | The Contract | Elio | Short film |
| 2022 | Tad, the Lost Explorer and the Emerald Tablet | Mummy | Voice role (English dub) |
| 2023 | Under the Boardwalk | Chauncey | Voice role |
| 2024 | The Substance | Craig Silver | |
| 2025 | F1 | | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | The Vice | Bell Boy | Episode: "Birdhouse" |
| 2005 | The Robinsons | Alfonso | 1 episode |
| 2007 | The Bill | Santi Garcia | Episode: "Lead on a Merry Chase" |
| 2007 | Bremner, Bird and Fortune | Mexican Rory | 1 episode |
| 2007 | The Omid Djalili Show | John Boy Ross | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Holby City | Ray Glover | Episode: "The Extra Mile" |
| 2010 | Canoe Man | Carlos | Television film |
| 2010 | Schizo Samurai Shitzu | Hood | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | Episodes | Tour Guide | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Borgia | Gugliemo Farnese | Episode: "1495" |
| 2014 | Not Going Out | Mario | Episode: "Surprise" |
| 2015 | I Live with Models | Client | Episode: "Anna the Agent" |
| 2017 | Snatch | Filippe | Episode: "A Family Affair" |
| 2018 | Press | Tony | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Turn Up Charlie | Ethan | 1 episode |
| 2019 | Living the Dream | Frank | Episode: "The British Method" |
| 2020 | Let's Go See... Egypt | Captain Ollie / Lucas | Voice role |
| 2020–2022 | Avenue 5 | Tim | 6 episodes |
| 2021 | The Great Escapists | | Miniseries |
| 2022 | Tulipop | | Voice role |
| 2022 | The Creature Cases | Armadillo | Voice role |
| 2022–present | Heartstopper | Julio Spring | Recurring role |
| 2022 | FBI: International | Dr. Luc Michaud | Episode: "Get That Revolution Started" |
| 2022 | Best & Bester | Various | Voice role |
| 2022 | Big Tree City | Tricks / Russell Plaza | Voice role |
| 2022 | Combat Ships 3 | Narrator | Docuseries |
| 2023 | Hotel Portofino | Luigi Farrino | Main role |
| 2023 | Jack Ryan | Javier Oreja | Episode: "Proof of Concept" |
| 2023 | Ancient Empires | Parmenion | Episode: "Alexander the Great" |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Haze | Additional voices | |
| 2009 | Wheelman | Stavo Delgado | |
| 2009 | Colin McRae: Dirt 2 | | |
| 2010 | APB: All Points Bulletin | | |
| 2011 | Operation Flashpoint: Red River | Marines | |
| 2012 | Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes | Killer Moth | |
| 2012 | 007 Legends | Additional voices | |
| 2013 | Lego City Undercover | | |
| 2013 | Payday 2 | Sangres | |
| 2014 | Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series | Cotter | |
| 2017 | Dragon Quest XI | Don Rodrigo | English version |
| 2017 | The Lego Ninjago Movie Videogame | Kai | |
| 2017 | Need for Speed Payback | | |
| 2018 | A Way Out | Additional voices | |
| 2018 | Lego The Incredibles | Citizen | |
| 2018 | The Crew 2 | Tio | |
| 2018 | Overkill's The Walking Dead | The Family | |
| 2019 | Ghost Recon Breakpoint | Various | |
| 2020 | Relicta | Dr. Ollin Kwarizmi / The Parasite | |
| 2020 | Troy: A Total War Saga | | |
| 2021 | It Takes Two | Cody / Dr. Hakim | |
| 2021 | Evil Genius 2: World Domination | Espectro / Blue Saint | |
| 2021 | Battlefield 2042 | Santiago "Dozer" Espinoza | |
| 2022 | Horizon Forbidden West | Additional voices | |
| 2022 | Triangle Strategy | Patriatte | |
| 2022 | Sniper Elite 5 | Lt. Jeff Sullivan | |
| 2022 | As Dusk Falls | Lone Cop | |
| 2023 | Peppa Pig: World Adventures | Señor Cat | |
| 2023 | Diablo IV | Sorcerer | |
| 2023 | Aliens: Dark Descent | Sergeant Rico Martinez | |
| 2023 | Jagged Alliance 3 | Fidel | |
| 2023 | Lies of P | Arlecchino | |
| 2023 | Transformers: EarthSpark | Ratchet | |
| 2023 | Alan Wake 2 | | |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Romeo and Juliet | Benvolio | English Touring Theatre |
| 2006 | The Merchant of Venice | Gratiano | Oxford Castle, Oxford |
| 2006 | Arabian Nights | Ali Babba / Ensemble | Mirror Tent BMW, Cowley |
| 2006 | Hamlet | Laertes | Oxford Castle, Oxford |
| 2008 | Accidental Death of an Anarchist | Bertozzo | Mercury Theatre, Colchester |
| 2008 | No Such Cold Thing | Sergio | Tricycle Theatre, London |
| 2009 | The Miser | Maitre Simon / Dame Claude | Royal Exchange, Manchester |
| 2010 | Wet Weather Cover | Pepe | King's Head Theatre / Arts Theatre, London |
| 2012 | The White House Murder Case | Capt Weems | Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond-upon-Thames |
| 2012 | The Rubber Room | Mr. Rodriguez | Old Vic, London |
| 2016 | Labyrinth | Minister / Business Man | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 2016 | Drones, Baby, Drones | Jay Neroli / Ramon | Arcola Theatre, London |
| 2017 | All the President's Men | Menendez / Murphy / Durbin | Vaudeville Theatre, London |
| 2018 | Dry Powder | Jeff | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| 2021 | A Fight Against… (Spanish: Una Lucha Contra…) | Bob | Royal Court Theatre, London |

## Audio

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | The Old Man and the Sea | Manolin | BBC Radio 4 |
| 2019 | DK Life Stories: Nelson Mandela | Narrator | Audiobook |
| 2019 | On the Plain of Snakes | Narrator | Audiobook |