As the voice of Rocky in the blockbuster film Project Hail Mary, James Ortiz could make history as the first puppeteer to be officially nominated for an Academy Award.

From the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, Ortiz grew up doing theatre and eventually shifted from predominantly acting on-stage to puppetry. He told Them that his identity as “an outwardly queer person” led to him receiving signals that he might “struggle getting work as an actor.” Puppetry, he said, allowed him to mix his passions of design and engineering with his love of performance while still allowing him to be somewhat removed from the public. 

Ortiz also wrote, designed, and directed the off-Broadway play The Woodsman, which won an Obie award for puppet design in 2016. 

While intricate and technical, puppetry is also a uniquely creative field that serves as a space between conventional forms of acting and voice acting. In Ortiz’s experience, his queerness has always played a role in his puppetry. From a college production of The Rocky Horror (Puppet) Show to Project Hail Mary, the medium of puppetry allows Ortiz to showcase that identity inherently, even if it might not necessarily be intentional. 

“My own queerness being present in what I did with Rocky was not something that I was necessarily actively trying to insert,” Ortiz told Them. “It’s just who I am.”

 

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Project Hail Mary showed a compellingly human side to a science-fiction drama, and carried the box office to its best opening quarter since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Ortiz’s role as the Eridian, Rocky, added both levity and emotional depth to the film, which also starred Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller. Unlike their characters, however, the alien was portrayed by a team of puppets, led by Ortiz. 

Rocky’s character in the movie is canonically a genderless alien from the planet Erid, and has become a very meaningful figure for many LGBTQ+ audience members. However, Ortiz wasn’t always intended to be the voice of this character — as the lead puppeteer for the role, Ortiz initially read lines as a placeholder for another actor to eventually speak over, but directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller ultimately decided to keep his voice.

James Ortiz has been submitted for the Oscars in the category of Best Supporting Actor, which has left him “shocked.” Previously, puppeteers haven’t been nominated for acting categories through the Academy, which has only recognised conventional forms of acting. Should Ortiz’s bid officially be accepted by the Academy, it would be a historic moment for the awards and a clear turning point towards accepting puppetry as a recognised form of acting.

But Rocky didn’t just have an impact on the viewers who grew attached to the charismatic character on screen — Ortiz himself has been inspired by the character, too.

“Playing Rocky reinvigorated my love of playing characters,” Ortiz said. “I hope to continue to play characters that are kind of undefinable.”