Maria Canals-Barrera Launches Season 2 of the Vocal Qs Podcast
Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
After a long hiatus, Vocal Qs is making it’s glorious return with a special preview episode featuring none other than ‘Justice LeaguE’ and ‘Wizard of Waverly Place’s Canals-Barrera.
It's been awhile, to say the least. When the first season of Vocal Qs was completed, it was the height of the pandemic. Everyone was at home, likely bored, and looking for new things to do. I finally dove in and did a podcast. A successful one. Full of amazing, iconic voice actors.
Then work changed. Then then family changed and grew. Then life changed... However, here we are now, we're finally ready to start unveiling new episodes of Vocal Qs and get Season 2 rolling... almost.
In the meantime, enjoy a bonus episode with voice acting legend, actor, singer, impressionist and all around wonderful performer, Maria Canals-Barrera.
Whether she is appearing on TV, film, stage or lending her voice to countless hit shows, Maria Canals-Barrera is a multi-talented actress who has showcased her talent across the board in entertainment. Maria is best known for her starring role as the mortal mother of three teenage wizards, in the three time Emmy Award-winning series "Wizards of Waverly Place.” Canals-Barrera also starred as Mitchie's mom, Connie Torres, in the Disney Channel Original Movies "Camp Rock" and "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam."
Her most recent film project is "Seven Cemeteries" costarring with legend Danny Trejo. It's a fun-filled, comedy-western-horror mash-up that's reminiscent of the good times had in early Sam Raimi films. Canals-Barrera is certainly proud of the fact that she not only got to try different accents (as she has an excellent ear for them), and costar with one of the biggest Mexican bad-asses alive, but also got to once again be in a film that tells a Latin-American perspective. Canals-Barrera has been a long proponent for Latino/Latina/Latinx representation in mainstream media. Naturally, that had a lot to do with her growing up the daughter of two Cuban parents in Miami, where she was taught to love her culture and her country at the same time.
Canals-Barrera’s parents - photo courtesy of X
“[My Mom] loved America. She loved being Cuban” recalls Canals-Barrera. “Cubans are very proud people in that we had to speak Spanish at home, and cooked Cuban food, but they also loved America because this country opened its arms to them. I remember we would drive past the animal hospital. My mother would say, look at that. An ambulance for a dog. Is this a great country or what?” Her mother represented so much that one can now see Canals-Barrera. She is fierce, determined, a supportive mother and embraces a sense of pageantry. Her mother was in fact a beauty queen, and in 1957 won the “Reina del Carnaval”, in Holguín, Cuba.
That strong mother-figure is something Canals-Barrera has embodied several times. Two of her most notable roles has been playing a Disney Channel mother. Canals-Barrera played ‘Theresa Russo’ for over one hundred episodes on “Wizards of Waverly place” as the mother of Selena Gomez’s Alex Russo, and followed it up with two “Camp Rock” films where she got to see another young Latina superstar grow up, this time in Demi Lovato. During the interview, Canal's-Barrera touches on watching these extraordinary young performers grow, some of the struggles they kept hidden so well, and how she’s so proud of them. It must have been a relatively easy transition to playing real life mother two her two daughters, Bridget and Madeleine, the former also living the acting life.
If you have followed the Vocal Qs podcast, then you likely heard the other interviews with Canals-Barrera’s “Justice League Unlimited” colleagues, and there’s an interesting trend among those who have been on the show. They all, almost as if specifically picked for those characters, embody the characteristics of the heroes the portrayed in the early 2000s.
Michael Rosenbaum, known for voicing the Flash is lighthearted and comedic. The great Carl Lumbly, who lends his smooth melodic voice to Martian Manhunter is soft spoken and wise. Susan Eisenberg - Wonder Woman herself is a lover of nature, animals and believes in the human spirit, and George Newman, who took over as Superman, couldn’t be more of a Smallville-boy-next-door type if he grew up on a farm. When those characteristics were brought to Canals-Barrera’s attention, she simply uttered “you nailed it, you nailed it.”
Listeners will have to listen to the full podcast (below) in order to discover what characteristics Canals-Barrera thinks she shares with Shayera Hol of Thanagar, but she can tell why she is so thankful for the opportunity. “ I'm so grateful that God blessed me with that project, because it has tremendous longevity. People stop me on the street every day. ‘Oh, I grew up with that show! It was my childhood!’ Just wonderful things. So I'm very grateful for for Justice League.” but the story or the influence doesn’t end there. The most recent iteration of Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders, is Latin-American, and has been the newest incarnation of the superheroine for almost a quarter of a century now. Is that a coincidence that it coincided chronologically with Maria’s portrayal? Perhaps. Yet Canals-Barrera gives credit to the showrunners and directors of those Justice League episodes, Bruce Timm (creator) and Andrea Romano (casting director) for “opening the door” for representation. Canals-Barrera often talks about simply “letting us in” when speaking of Latin-American actors, and that they need to simply be a part of stories more and more. “Bruce and Andrea were open to casting somebody of Latin heritage. I think that they should be the first ones to take credit for that, and then I think that my interpretation, as well has something to do with [the new Hawkgirl], and I think it's very cool.”
Be sure to join us for the special preview episode of the sophomore season as we talk about Disney Channel drama, Representation, Cher, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and of course... Hawkgirl and the Justice League!