One of the perks of this job is to meet famous people, and in some cases get to know them not just as celebrities but as the real, living-and-breathing humans that they are. From how they approach a morning to who they hang out with behind closed doors, and even how they take their tea or coffee. Recently while at GalaxyCon Columbus 2024, I had the opportunity to run into actor Vico Ortiz.

I have met Vico Ortiz on numerous occasions, as they frequent some of the same cons that I do for work - New York Comic Con, Emerald City Comic Con, C2E2, MCM Comic Con, and Florida Supercon. But while they and I had known each other for years now, I never had the opportunity to interview them or have a real conversation with them, person-to-person. It's fortunate that our interview series Awe Talk is both of those things.

In this hour-plus chat, we talked about Our Flag Means Death, the OFMD fans, Star Wars, Star Wars fans (Vico very much counts themselves as one), their upcoming one-person show, and also their new podcast series Today in Gay. And of course, we talked about each other; them more than me, of course.

Thanks to GalaxyCon Columbus 2024 for facilitating this conversation. Please visit GalaxyCon.com for a complete list of their upcoming events.

Popverse: So the first question is easy. What are you working on today besides being here at GalaxyCon Columbus?

Vico Ortiz: I love that you're like, ‘Easy.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, God!’

Speaking about all the things that we’re doing to make business and all that…. Right now, I’m most thrilled about, nervous about, and excited about is podcast called Today in Gay. It’s produced by Jasmin Savoy Brown, Nay Bever, Bex Taylor-Claus, and me. 

Has this been announced?

It will be announced literally next weekend. We’ll have a Substack where people can be a part of the community. So essentially, Today in Gay will be a sandwich of news between good news – like good gay news – and the news that is a little tougher to hear. Oftentimes we get thrown news about people without much sense or care, and so with our podcast we intend to create a safe space for anybody. We are an ally to listen to the news in a way that’s really intentional and caring, balancing good gay news with stuff that’s harder to hear. And the good thing is it's, like, celebrating who we are and also staying informed of the things that are happening. This will be available whenever you get podcasts, with a substantive community space. People can also write to us and tell us their good news and whatever.

Today in Gay is a big project where I will be working Monday through Friday, and I will be reading the news. We’ve done some rehearsal practices already, and it's been really exciting. I’m reading the news.

Welcome to the journalism club, Vico.

Thank you! Every evening I make my notes, and in the morning it's recorded. It’ll be up around 7:00 AM or 7:30 AM everywhere, so I have to wake up really early for this. 

This is something that’s new for me in terms of creating. It’s an intense and regular schedule. Usually with my work some days I work 6 AM to 11 PM and sometimes I work 10 AM to 2 PM; it’s all over the place. But with this, it's research every evening for an hour, and then in the morning, I’m recording – every weekday morning. It's really fun!

That’s going to be my 2025 project, but I’m also writing a solo show. I’m on my latest draft right now, and I’m very excited about it. It’s essentially a love letter to my parents using drag as a vehicle for storytelling. My current title is ‘Rise of a King,’ but I’m figuring out what going to be the thing. But the synopsis of the show is how drag helped me understand how I was invalidating certain parts of my life, and then with drag I have been able to validate them all – celebrating them all. And then I realized why am I not doing that in my day-to-day, not just in drag. And so with that, there are stories about my life, my childhood, my adulthood, and connecting all of that with drag performances. It’s a love letter to my family, and I hope the show connects people to themselves, their family members, and their co-workers, their friends, and everybody.

So those two are the big projects that I’m currently working on aside from audiobooks, animation, acting, and all that. It’s a lot of fun.

That’s a lot to take in – and I’m excited for you to be pushing yourself here. Going back to being a reporter on the Today in Gay podcast, as a reporter myself I have a lot of thoughts and an even deeper kinship with you. How does that feel to you, Vico – in terms of seeing the news and various versions of it, finding the truth in it, and then finding something you can say about it?

It's really interesting because, even I was like, ‘How are we feeling about this?’ with Ray Ray and our researcher, Hannah. Hannah is incredible, and she researched from all outlets. So we are reading the news from every single corner of the world, and the perspectives of these people or other people and what not, and I’m reading all the versions. So I go from like ‘How do I feel about all this?’ to finding the statement, reporting the headline, and then forming an opinion of my own. So far I’ve been like ‘Hey, I read this, and then it makes you feel this type of way, right?’ It’s different.

It almost feels like I’m in a community, talking to people about what we’re going through. We’re all queer, and we also have different backgrounds and different perspectives. So for some things, we’ll all agree, and there will be others with which we won’t all agree. With all of that, we’ve been able to have these really beautiful discussions that are expansive, rather than just like ‘I’m right’ and ‘You’re wrong.’ It’s interesting. So that’s why when we have different feelings about a particular piece of news, rather than just shutting somebody out it's an opening for a discussion.

I feel like sometimes we will read something on social media, and we process it internally and make a decision and then that’s their thing. But with this, we’re not only processing it individually but processing it with the team. We have a discussion that informs your perspective so that what ultimately may be your final decision on something is now informed by a community.

Recently I've been really just processing the fact that we are walking contradictions, even just biologically; our hair is dead cells we generate. We are alive, and we generate dead cells; that is a contradiction in itself. Our bones are strong, and they are surrounded by fleshly, soft tissue. But they are working together to make us who we are. So how is it not possible to have our own internal, emotional contradictions in our opinions, feelings, and existence? If I feel angry about something, I can also feel multiple things around that. I can be happy and sad. It's not one thing or the other; I can be all of it.

Nothing is black and white. In art school, I learned even the colors black and white aren't actually black or white.

Yeah. Sometimes there is this desire to be happy or sad, but you can be both about the exact same thing. It can all co-exist. In this space, you're allowed to feel different things. For me, it's about coming to terms with myself holistically. All the different versions of yourself are all one thing, and with the podcast,t it's all of that in the macro. It's all the different versions, all the different voices,  coming together to find some things that work together. 

I read a quote recently that, pardon me for butchering it, that once you expand your mind into a new idea you cannot go back to a time before. We're always operating from different paradigms, right? And once you've expanded to a new paradigm, it's hard to go back.

Yeah. Once you know something, you cannot not know it. And that's beautiful because we are in a constant state of expansion with new ideas and everything. Things we have now, like iCloud, who would have thought of that 50 years ago?

It's like fashion. Imagine something you or I wore in 2000. It may still be in our closets, and technically it might still fit but it feels weird to try it on. You could if you're in the mood for it, but it takes a certain kind of courage.

We're always messing with our position in life, whether we are 'young' or 'old', or 'wise' versus 'innocent'... or 'awake' or 'asleep'. It seems like we're all in a transition right now, and whether you want it or not it's happening. Once you accept that things always change, then it opens you up to receiving things in a healthier way. And also being able to permit yourself to change.

Absolutely. Change is the one constant. That's something we'll hit on later. 

I met you about two years ago at one of the ReedPop shows, and in the matter of a year, we saw each other in London, then Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Miami. And conventions aren't all that you do, so you must travel a lot - not just for work, but for personal reasons as well. You might sleep in a new bed each week, in a new building in a new town, surrounded by all new people - with some exceptions. Here now in the GalaxyCon Columbus green room, I've noticed you're sticking with your Our Flag Means Death cast which I imagine has become a bit of a family.

In all this travel, do you have a process - a comfort thing you have or do to have some stability? Maybe its a food you always find in town, or a call you always make, or a meditation you always do? How do you find your center when everything else is changing around you with all this travel?

[Pause]

Sorry... this isn't...

I don't think I've ever shared this because I've never been asked this question. I always carry this crystal.

[Ortiz pulls a crystal out of their left pocket to share.]

This crystal. This is black tourmaline, and I've had it since 2017. This always comes with me. This never leaves my body. It has always been with me. Even when I'm wearing a costume on a set or a stage, I will find a place to put this on me. When I was doing Our Flag in New Zealand, this was with me. This is everything. I'll always have this on me, always and forever. This little piece of rock. I feel like it's kind of the one thing that I know, that's always there, and its usually in my left pocket.

And when I have a different wardrobe or whatnot, I have to put it somewhere else. When I was Jim in Our Flag my outfits didn't have pockets, so I had to get creative with where I put it. But I always have it with me.

How does it make you feel? 

It makes me feel okay, where ever I'm at. I have this here, and sometimes I do this depending on the moon, cycles, and all that jazz.

[Ortiz manipulates the crystal in their hand.]

But just knowing that wherever I am, if I put my left hand in my left pocket it's there. It's a little reminder of like, 'Okay, I'm here in this present moment.' Wherever I am, this is me.

But I don't think I have much travel in 2025. I say that now, but then it can change at a drop of a hat. But this is something that I always bring with me.

How did you come to find this crystal?

I was filming a little web series in New York in December of 2017, and I was walking around and found this market. I, straight-up, all of a sudden, saw this crystal hanging there. I saw this one specifically. I love crystals, but I saw this one specifically, and immediately... I have not been drawn to a crystal this intensely, and I was just like 'Oh, i must have that one.'

Sounds like love at first sight.

It was. I didn't have eyes for any other ones.

At the time, it was a necklace and I wore it as a necklace, like underneath. I would tuck it inside my binder and have it close to my heart, and eventually, it broke. I was like 'Never mind,' and 'It's going to go in the pocket now.'

Like a chamber or a nest.

Exactly. And I accepted that as a new way of holding it. 

It's one of those things where I was walking around that market, and I'm seeing a bunch of things such as perfumes, clothing, and a lot of stuff... then all of a sudden I see this and that was the one. I have a very clear memory of being there, seeing it, and feeling that intense pull, and so here we are.

Love at first sight is real, and I don't mean just romantically. But there was a connection there, and you being able to see it, feel it, and be open to realize it...

100%. It's really cool when that happens, and you open yourself to it. 

Sometimes I've walked across a stranger on the street that I feel randomly drawn to. I'll be open to the feelings, but I don't need to ask their name. But I'm able to, at the moment, acknowledge it and be aware of how I'm really drawn to that person's energy. At the time I wondered where in another dimension, lifetime, or space this person and I made a connection. We're actually really connected, and all of a sudden there becomes this reminiscence while at the same time, they're a stranger to me. But sharing that moment where I, or they, or we together, realize that there were other places where we were not strangers, and that just always tickles me.

I honor that moment, and then I continue doing my thing in life like... whatever. But it's really cool when that happens. It's like your gut or your instincts telling you. Oftentimes we're told not to listen to that, and so I'm in the practice of trusting my gut, trusting my instinct, trusting my energy, and just honoring that. It's really cool.

Speaking of creature comforts, do you have a comfort movie, TV series, song, or anything like that you put on to put you in a certain mood? Or maybe something that'll help you get in a rhythm, like driving over a bridge you remember for the familiar bumps.

Interesting. So there are my concert songs when I do road trips; I always sing the same ones. I love 'Elephant Love Medley' from Moulin Rouge, both the Broadway versions and the movie versions. I love singing.

'Masquerade' from Phantom of the Opera. Granted, I don't know the lyrics but I just love humming to it. There's an intensity to it, and that scene leading to the reveal of the face... I know more of the music side than the lyrics side, but I just love it like bacon soup. 

And then I love singing 'Sunrise' from In the Heights. I love singing both high and low.

Those are my comfort songs.

How about comfort shows or movies?

Recently I've been on a kick of watching movies from my childhood, and its been really fun. I've recently watched Little Nemo, and I still have it memorized in Spanish so I don't know it in English. It really tickles me to be watching it and be like, 'Man, I still know what they're going to do.' All of the beats, the voices... I got them down.

And recently, there's a show I've watched four times in a row: Agatha All ALong. It's been a spiral of hilariousness because I have turned all my friends into watching it. Every time I see a friend for the first time in a way, I'm like 'You need to watch this show'... and of course: Down, down, down the road...

[Ortiz sings a line of 'The Ballad of Witches' Road' from Agatha All Along]

That song gets me every time.

Every time I've watched the show... every little detail, every little choice, was intentional and I'm floored. Everyone's just beautiful and I hope that Marvel continues to explore this side of the universe. I appreciate the callbacks to other witch shows and movies, not just in Disney.

There is a Practical Magic easter egg in there that gives me goosebumps every time.

I have not seen that! I have noticed recently that a lot of people reference that movie, but I have not seeing it yet. I need to watch it, of course, because it's like... 'Why have I not seen this already?' I feel like I know it because of references people make about it in memes, videos, and songs.

I'm currently making a little list, like a movie club, of pop culture movies to watch to make sure I've actually watched them instead of just seeing it second-hand. 

Have you seen The Craft?

No, that's on the list! I was like 'Why have I not...?'  But I feel like I have watched it because it's so much a part of our culture. 

But I kind of get it too. When I started doing drag, my second performance was as Freddie Mercury and when I told my mom about it, she had no idea who he was because in Puerto Rico he wasn't that big.

But yeah, I'm catching up. I'm catching up.

Have you seen Labyrinth?

Oh yes. Yes, Labyrinth I have seen. It fulfills my musical David Bowie fantasies. I've seen Dark Crystal, as well... and Stardust I loved as a kid. I still love it.

Yeah... Labyrinth I watched, and I did a show a while back in L.A. called the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball.

I know that!

I used to be in that for like seven or eight years. I was in tails for a while, and then I became a fairy. I know Erika Ishii from there; there are so many people I know from there, like Marisha May from Critical Role.

That is great.

When I was prepping for this interview, I rewatched some of your projects and also all the interviews and panels I could find online. In it I felt like I noticed something in you that my partner says I do, but I don't want to project. But Vico, do you tend to turn a lot of your hobbies into careers?

Yes! Especially true, but not always.

I do love painting. I'm not a painter by any means, but do love painting. It's been really beautiful, and a therapeutic way to transmute feelings and energy into something physical. It feels good to put my hands on something and then be able to create something. Let the pencil do its thing, let the painting do its thing. I don't have a technique for it; I just bring a bunch of acrylics in a can and put it on a bunch of canvases whenever I'm feeling a certain way. I just sit down, watch a movie, and let it happen. 

I don't plan on selling any of it. I just like to put it on my walls and collect them, and be like 'I did this when I was doing this' and 'I was feeling bad' or whatever. 

But yeah, for the most part, my hobbies have turned into careers.

Beginning with fencing?

Yes. Fencing was a career. I did competitions, and I led workshops.

Voice work is a job, but I also love doing voices so that's something I used to do as a hobby for free. I love giving different voices to different things.

Drag was something I was doing for myself, and then it also became a big part of what I do professionally.

Painting will be the one thing that I don't turn into a career. I feel like I'm putting a piece of my soul into a canvas, and its something I would like to be in my home that's just for me.

I really appreciate the work you put into your career. You are a small-business owner, and you are your business. You are in the Vico Ortiz business. What is it like to do the creative parts, but then also to balance it and be able to be the business person in charge of your career(s)?

Well, right now I have a Patreon account that I'm shifting some stuff to. In 2025, it's going to be geared towards affirmations. I already have affirmations that every other week in Spanish; it's like a guided meditation. I also talk about all the behind-the-scenes of life like animation, conventions, theater, film gigs, and my day today. I love my plans. 

I'm always showing what I'm doing, like redecorating, or caring for my plant babies, and all that jazz. And I have a tier where I show them a little more of the writing process on my solo show. And I have a tier where I share my music and how it's been for me, but that's a little more personal. On my Patreon, I do a hangout every month.

It really is a business, but I also really want to make it more community-oriented. I want to open it up to be a community space, to make sure I'm not only talking but also listening. It's about holding space for people and being a place I can be present with myself and also with them in that space.

I'm also making sure to make it as accessible as possible, because... yes, I have to pay rent but there's a balance. If you can buy a $6 coffee, you can do $5-a-month to have access to so many things through this community. I want it to be accessible for everybody, especially with how things in the world are going. It's balancing the fact we are in a capitalist society with also the idea that we don't need to make it insane. 

I appreciate how you're not making business a dirty word. It's like supporting artists in high school the same way there'd be fundraising for a sports team or the drama team. Giving a way to support artists so they can do what they do; so they can feed us creatively and socially.

I value how you're centering it on community, and not like... 'Let me show you my accounting spreadsheet.'

[Laughs] It's wild because I am a business and I do my best to integrate myself with that as much as possible. I do have meetings with my manager, and we'll sit down and figure out how I can integrate more of the things I do in this. If I do have some conventions in 2025, it's balancing that with my show and everything else I enjoy. It's about figuring out how to integrate all those various things into one thing -

Into Vico Ortiz.

So I can bring joy to people. In my storytelling, I want to celebrate joy and celebrate queer joy. Whether it's conventions, doing a drag performance, or another event - but maybe all three, and more...?

Recently I took part in a fan-organized event, and it was incredible. We raised almost $2000 in tips for a charity, and it was so cool to get to be a part of that. I did that because I wanted to do it. I know the importance of showing up as an artist in spaces. 

But it's a balance of doing fundraising while also being like, 'I need to pay rent.' But yeah, it's all about integration.

The first time we met was at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, a couple of minutes before you and the Our Flag crew went on stage for a panel. The DJ put on 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac, and I remember the fans getting into it - but then also you, backstage rocking out just for yourself. It was the most human, realistic moment I saw that weekend - you were doing it just for yourself, without any mind to the backstage crew there. It's in that that I believe I got a real glimpse of who you are inside.

Thinking about that now while two years later, I realize you and the Our Flag crew are a rock band. You travel the world to go up on stage and perform a set - a set with heavy improvisation - to rapt fans. The TV series were your albums, and now you're on tour. And in terms of the duration of it, the tour is even bigger and longer than the time spent filming the show. Sometimes the band members rotate in and out, but every time I see the Our Flag crew backstage or arriving backstage, you're together. I bet the group of you even do stuff outside of cons just for yourselves, together. 

I love every single one of them. Honestly, aside from going to a convention, going to a new city I've never been to before, and trying to explore new things, these kinds of trips are me getting to be with my fam - and when I say fam, I mean both the fandom and my colleagues - my friends of the cast. 

I miss them too. After a month or two between a convention, I'm anxious. 'Are any of them traveling to LA?' Whenever any of them are in Los Angeles, we always grab lunch. Here in Columbus, we have dinner together and we catch up on life.

I love that I get to hang out with people that I have grown really close to. We've gotten closer from conventions because on the set we were working together, but we're learning lines, working on our own things, and all that jazz. So yes, while we're spending 12 to 14 hours on set, we're also grabbing dinner and all that jazz. But with conventions, we've gotten to grow deeper together as people outside of work. Yes, conventions are work, but we're also getting to know each other.

It's also really cool to see the different iterations of the Our Flag cast at conventions, as it's not always the same.

What are the dynamics like depending on the crew?

In this recipe of like Nathan Foad, Kristian Nairn, and myself, I've adopted the more zen-like calm of the group. But when you add Samson Kayo or Con O'Neill, it will reboot the group - the three of us will become the unhinged chaos kids. It's really cool to see all the different combinations that we all have. 

Similiar, Samba Schutte and I are like the mommy and daddy of the group. He's mommy, as you know.

Of course.

It's really fun.

It's also really fun when we see our captain, Rhys Darby because when he's here it adds even more dimensions. 

But it feels really good to be with family and the fandom. 

I've attended six of the Our Flag Means Death panels so far, and I appreciate how you're essentially doing an hour-long improv set with audience interaction. The cast changes, the fans change, but there's always a groove it gets into.

Yeah, there's a groove - with panels, but also with publicity in general. You run it like a show, whether you're doing an hour, 15 minutes, or something longer -

Like press junkets.

Yeah! In that case, you're saying some of the same things but doing it differently each time. Its essentially an hour-and-a-half of back-to-back 15-minute interviews with various media, and not all of them ask the same questions - but sometimes they do. So you've got to make your answers like it's the first time you've ever been asked, and it's really an art.

This is out of left field, but how can we get more projects where you have a sword in your hand?

Oh god.

How can we manifest that, Vico?

I don't know. Hashtag, light a candle, put your crystals out to recharge in the moonlight, whatever. I would love to do that.

You got into the film business with that sort of thing - from your background as a fencer.

Literally, yeah! The reason I'm in the union is because I was doing that kind of work on sets. One of my first gigs was with Lake Bell on Children's Hospital, doing swordwork. And now it's come full circle, as we're both on Harley Quinn as voice actors. Her character and mine have had interactions in the show, but we haven't been in the same recording studio yet. But I'm like 'Man, our voices are together!' I don't know if she'll remember, but I remember her from Children's Hospital. I would love to see her again, and be like 'Yo, remember that time you were pregnant and I caught you with a sword?' That would be dope.

But yeah, anything with swords.

Can I say Star Wars right now?

I'm into it. If anyone wants to have me with a lightsaber, I'm for it. 

Let me jump ahead - are you a Jedi, a Sith, or something else?

I'm a dark Jedi.

Yeah. You have swordplay skills, but your empathy for people and sense of justice has to put you in with the Jedi Order. In a way,  you are kind of our world's Jedi, Vico. And you do know a lot about Star Wars.

It's funny you say that because one of the reasons I'm a vegetarian is because of Star Wars. As a teen, I was so enthralled by the Jedi concept of being at peace with everything.

You and Yoda.

Yeah, Yoda's been there. I gotta be the peaceful warrior. 

Sure, I've had my moments. I have to honor my anger, but I think that's positive - to realize it's there and not box it up, but to process it. From the Jedi, there's a theme to understanding your anger and fear rather than just being like 'You cannot feel that because you will turn to the Dark Side.' I can feel that.

I love seeing stories in Star Wars where they honor the darkness of Jedi and realize that being self-righteous isn't the way. If they refuse to believe they've done anything wrong, they're making it worse by bottling it up. You've got to feel the peace.

That's why I would say I kind of all into the Dark Jedi space where I understand my anger, and I understand my fear. I understand these big, powerful emotions. I don't act on them, but I don't pretend they're not there.

I'm going to try to wrap this up by talking about the future - your future. What is the dream opportunity that you would drop everything, within reason, to do? I'm not fishing for a headline like a 'Vico Ortiz wants to play Batman' but what the thing you maybe told your manager, if this offer comes in say 'Yes' without even asking me?

Are we talking in acting?

Literally anything. It could be a convention on the moon, you hosting the Tonight Show, anything.

... I'm a little scared of saying it. But if there's ever a chance for me to go into space, I would love to. 

I'm getting a little emotional, but the idea of seeing Earth from the window of a ship is so powerful. I am fascinated by the vastness of it all.

I would need to train and all that jazz because I'm sure I can't just put on a seat belt and be shot to the moon.

We need to find a convention with an airport that does those zero-g plane rides for you and the OFMD crew.

10 seconds of weightlessness. I would love that. I would cry. It has nothing to do with acting, but that would be dope. 

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Like this? Dive in for more Awe Talks in our archives and in our future with Mike Flanagan & Kate Siegel, William Shatner, Con O'Neill, Danny Trejo, and more.