Paul Castro Jr. is one of those prolific stars whose name you may not be familiar with, but whose work you’ve likely encountered more than once.
Trained at NYU studying the Meisner technique, Paul performed onstage in New York before becoming known for both his work on camera and his extensive voice acting career. If you’re into anime or gaming, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with his voice, whether from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth or his more recent starring roles in Disney+’s Twisted Wonderland: The Animation and Netflix’s viral anime series The Summer Hikaru Died. Paul and his wife, Aly Miller, are also run their own production company, Lynx Point Pictures. We got the chance to chat with Paul to dive into various aspects of his career and the roles he’s proudest of in the interview below.
Sweety High: As an NYU-trained actor who studied the Meisner technique, how have you applied those concepts as an on-camera and voice actor? Is it challenging to utilize those skills when you’re not actually working against other actors, and how have you adapted?
Paul Castro Jr.: My training at NYU’s Meisner conservatory has been instrumental in my success as a voice actor. Meisner really focuses on Stanislavski’s principle of “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances” (imagining yourself in a situation like, if Godzilla was attacking your city and how you would react, truthfully) and that philosophy is paramount in V.O., especially with the shift toward grounded performances in anime and cinematic video games.
I attribute a lot of my early success and getting my foot in the door at studios that didn’t know me, like Skylark Sound Studios, to approaching my auditions the same way I would for film and TV. When I booked the character Rindo in NEO: The World Ends With You, getting a lead role as an unknown in the L.A. voiceover scene was incredibly difficult. What helped was using my imagination to put a real person in the room with me, even when I was reading one-off lines, and having a genuine conversation with them. That comes straight from my Meisner training, and it’s something I rely on constantly.
(Photo credit: Chri Jon)
SH: How did you first get involved with voice acting? Did you know early on it was something you had a knack for? How did that career evolve?
PCJ: As a kid I always loved anime and video games, and working on them in some way was a dream. But I didn’t really understand what being an actor meant or how to become one until college, when I joined a comedy troupe and auditioned for the school play After Juliet. That’s when I fell in love with acting. It became my new obsession.
Once I learned about voiceover, it felt like the perfect marriage of my two loves. My first VO job of note was being the promo voice for Nick Sports, so anytime you’d see a bumper promoting shows like Rocket Power, that was me. The classic “Coming up next!”—yep, that was my voice.
Eventually I started begging my agents to send me more VO auditions. I worked on shows for Nick Jr. and Sesame Workshop, and somehow booked Clifford the Big Red Dog for PBS’s interactive web stories, games and promos. In 2020 I decided to take the leap, moved to L.A., and after booking Rindo Kanade, everything changed.
SH: How many acting credits do you have at this point? Which roles have been the most memorable or significant, and why?
PCJ: I honestly don’t know the exact number, because so much VO work never gets credited. I think IMDb has me at around 99, and I might have hit the 100 mark by the time this article comes out, which feels pretty surreal.
Rindo is definitely memorable because it was the longest I’ve ever worked on a single project, which was almost half a year with the same character. And from that same studio, Square Enix, I got to voice Chocobo Billy in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. Not moving to L.A. in time for the Remake auditions was one of my biggest regrets. I thought I’d completely missed my chance to be part of one of my favorite games of all time. When Billy came around, I wept like a baby.
But voicing Vegeta (mini) in Dragon Ball DAIMA was huge for me too. I was a massive DBZ fan growing up and Vegeta became my favorite character in the Buu Saga. I never could’ve dreamed of an opportunity to voice him, albeit in miniature form, in a brand-new series that became the late, great Akira Toriyama-sensei’s final work. That meant a lot to me.
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SH: What do you think are your unique talents as a voice actor? How have you showcased your versatility over the years?
PCJ: It’s a hard thing to self-analyze. You’d probably get the most truthful answer from casting directors and directors I work with. But I try to dig as deep as I can and be as emotionally available as possible. I’ve had to go to some really dark places with absolute honesty, and I think that’s been one of my strengths.
Some characters, like Ryota Miyagi in The First Slam Dunk, required really raw, deep emotional work. I also seem to get cast as characters with a lot of anger or suppressed rage, the Dragon in Belle, Riddle Rosehearts in Twisted Wonderland, and I think I’m willing to go to those dark places and give everything I have. Hopefully that resonates with audiences.
SH: What do people misunderstand most about your job?
PCJ: I think a lot of people assume it’s an easy hobby to jump into because everyone has a voice, so on the surface it seems accessible. But it’s extremely competitive, and technically one of the hardest forms of acting.
In VO, we have to match lip flaps, hit precise timings and work without scene partners, props or physical locations. That demands an incredibly active imagination. We also move very, very fast. You need instant access to your full emotional range—not just sadness—on a dime. It’s a real craft.
SH: What advice do you have for someone who wants to work in voice acting?
PCJ: Get obsessed with acting. Read about all the different methods. Go watch live theatre. Read as many plays as you can.
Then: get up and perform. Whether it’s theatre, improv…anything. People think VO is just using your voice, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The best VO performances come from full body acting. Working on stage helps build that.
(Photo credit: Chri Jon)
SH: Tell us about Disney’s Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation. What is the show about, and where does Riddle fit into this world?
PCJ: This show has been such a blast to work on. It’s an anime inspired by the iconic Disney villains we all know and love. My character, Riddle, is inspired by the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.
The series follows Yuuken (Yu) who gets transported to a magical school. With no way home, he enrolls and gets swept up in the chaos caused by Ace and Deuce, two first-years in the Heartslabyul dorm, led by Riddle.
Riddle has been one of the hardest roles I’ve ever done. Season 1 centers on his backstory and his obsession with rules. When students start breaking them, he starts to break too. He’s deeply complex, more than he seems on the surface, and once fans learn why he’s so devoted to these seemingly absurd rules, I think they’ll understand his “Red-Heart-Rage.”
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SH: The Summer Hikaru Died has an incredibly passionate fanbase. What has it meant to you to play Hikaru, and now see the anime renewed for Season 2?
PCJ: The Summer Hikaru Died was one of those mangas that, once I read it, and once I watched the full anime while recording our English adaptation, I immediately understood why it’s so beloved. I found myself catching up with the manga and waiting for updates just like everyone else.
Voicing Hikaru has been a privilege. Being an ambassador for the role, whether for fans watching the dub for the first time or longtime fans of the sub, has been such a joy. Meeting people at conventions and interacting online has been incredibly rewarding.
The show has everything I love: supernatural, horror, coming-of-age elements, themes of identity and grief and the question of what happens when the person you love comes back… but different. It’s amazing.
SH: You and your wife also run a production company. What have been your proudest moments there?
PCJ: My wife, Aly Miller, and I have been working in the independent film world for a long time. Our production company, Lynx Point Pictures, just finished our first feature film that we co-directed, Divine Blood, starring Aly, Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Robin Tunney (The Craft, The Mentalist) and Chloe Levine.
Aly wrote the film, and we both produced it. It’s by far the hardest thing we’ve ever done as artists, and we’re incredibly proud of what we made. We can’t wait to share more in 2026.
(Photo credit: Chri Jon)
SH: Is there anything else fans should know?
Keep watching Twisted Wonderland. It’s about to get electric. I also voice Yuhi Ohdo in the newest Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Go Rush!!, with new episodes dropping weekly on Disney/Hulu.
There’s more coming in 2026 that I’m really proud of. If you want to be the first to hear about it, follow me @paulcastrojr on all socials!
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