Due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the actors appearing at this panel could not speak to promote any work that was considered a “struck project.” Actors did their best to answer fan questions as best as they could in respect to both the SAG-AFTRA strike and the WGA strike.
The following are some highlights from the Fan Expo panel Query and Quiz with the Inquisitive Harvey Guillén, who stars on What We Do in the Shadows and has also appeared in the films Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Blue Beetle.
- Harvey loves that there are seasons in Toronto – where What We Do in the Shadows films. The show is usually filmed in the fall and winter, but he did spend one summer here, however, it was during the pandemic. As insane as it sounds, he is certain that our transit system is better here than in Los Angeles.
- Felt like an old soul as a child. “I was pretty mature for my age, but now as an adult, I’m very immature.”
- Grew up with a single mom. “We were very poor. I didn’t realize Annie was a movie. I enjoyed watching it during Christmas one year and I remember looking at the kids singing and thinking ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up! Be an orphan!’ He would later find out that they were actors. While his mother might not have been able to provide him the opportunity to do it, she made sure that he knew he could do it. He found his own way to pay for improv classes by selling recyclable cans.
- He felt an instant rapport with the kids in the audience who laughed along with his character.
- It makes him sad that arts programs are the first to lose funding. “When the pandemic happened, people didn’t run to the sports to escape, they looked to the arts.”
- “We escape our reality because it can get really dark. The arts can also make you a better communicator and leader.”
- Harvey is a “big fan” of the Scream franchise and was really starstruck to see Neve Campbell, as well as Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) at Fan Expo. “I grew up watching both of them and they are so iconic. It’s never lost on me that I’m so lucky to be where I’m at. I still fanboy over them. I try not to, but it just doesn’t work.”
- He also grew up watching George Lopez and Danny Trejo. It’s “mind-blowing” when he receives texts from them.
