Kathleen Herles, The OG Voice of Dora The Explorer, Passes The Baton To The Next Generation In Paramount+’s Dora
Dora the Explorer is back for more adventures in the Paramount+ animated series DORA. With new CG animation and imaginative storylines, Dora and her best monkey pal Boots explore a fantastical rainforest with their trusty Map and obstacles set in place by the sneaky fox Swiper. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with Diana Zermeño and Asher Colton Spence, who voice the two best friends, as well as Kathleen Herles, the original voice of Dora the Explorer, who returns as Mami.
That’s right, at just seven years old Kathleen Herles landed the role voicing Dora the Explorer and now nearly three decades later she’s returning to the franchise as Dora’s mom! “It's overwhelming. It's exciting. I remember auditioning for the role and following up with my manager every week being like, ‘Did I get it?’ because I was just so excited that Dora was coming back,” Herles told me. “To be able to be a part of it as Mami [is] so special for me. It's like passing on the baton to a new generation. To hear Diana and Asher do such an amazing job of taking on these iconic roles, I think this new generation is just going to fall in love with Dora all over again and it's going to be revolutionary again. I'm so excited to see how everyone receives the show.”
Voicing the Latina icon is not lost on newcomer Diana Zermeño. “My favorite moment recording Dora was back in the early days, like two years ago, when I first started recording. Animation had just started and I remember I had to re-record a line and they played it back and I got to hear my voice with the animation,” she shared. “It was so special to me because Dora is super big and everything. To be able to be part of the show and see myself as part of the show, it just feels really great.”
With catchy music sure to get the whole family dancing, Asher Colton Spence called meeting the “joyful” song director his favorite memory. “The music for the show is so amazing and great. It really fits the theme. The music is used in very different ways. Sometimes there's a travel song and sometimes it represents a specific culture. I remember there was an episode with a quinceañera,” said Zermeño. “They played really great music that had to do with that. It's also really fun to record the music. I've never done anything like it.”
Throughout the years, Dora has been considered an “every Latina,” with no specific ethnic identity, despite being played by actresses of Peruvian, Cuban, and Ecuadorian/Colombian descent. She’s even hinted at being Peruvian in the live-action Dora and the Lost City of Gold film. But “it’s a little different now,” teases Herles. Both she and Zermeño were able to tap into their real Latindad to bring into the series. “Dora, her mom is Peruvian, which, I myself, my parents are both from Peru, so that's really special for me. Dora's dad is Mexican and Cuban, so there's like that multicultural aspect, which is nice because a lot of U.S. Latinos have a multicultural background,” she explained. “I think that's really important to be represented.
Zermeño continued: “Dora's dad is Cuban-Mexican and my whole family is from Mexico. My mom and my dad were born there and ever since I was little I spoke Spanish. I grew up with the culture, so it feels really, really great to have such a big character for kids to be Mexican and to be bilingual and teach other kids Spanish.”
Herles’ biggest advice for her predecessors? Keep your Dora merchandise collection! “I've been doing the con circuit and I always travel with a life-sized Dora doll. I really hope they make one so Diana can also have one because it's amazing,” she laughed, showing off the giant Dora doll. “The merchandise is so awesome and I just can't wait to see the new things they're going to make. I know Diana and Ash are going to have a collection. Don't throw them away! Keep them somewhere ‘cause, when you're my age, you're going to go back and be like, whoa, and just fall in love with it all over again.”
DORA premieres April 12, exclusively on Paramount+.
