Star Wars Outlaws star on fighting for role as franchise’s first Venezuelan-born hero

“I hope it serves as a source of inspiration for the Venezuelan people,” says Humberly González

Star Wars Outlaws / Ubisoft

Humberly González is the first Venezuelan-born Star Wars hero, and that’s not something she takes lightly. In open-world Ubisoft game Star Wars Outlaws, the actress provides performance capture for Kay Vess, a Han Solo-like scoundrel set on pulling off an audacious heist in order to escape a cartel’s hit list.

It’s unusual for a Star Wars video game to follow a regular, human protagonist rather than a gifted individual, be them superpowered Jedi, skilled combatant, or masterful politician. It’s even more unusual to have that protagonist be a South American woman. It’s clear from our interview, though, that flying the flag for Venezuela serves as a huge source of pride for González.

Getting her start in with guest roles on Orphan Black and Saving Hope, González is best-known for Killer High, Utopia Falls, and Ginny and Georgia. She also provided voiceover and motion capture for Ubisoft video games Far Cry 6 and Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

Below she talks about the importance of representation, bringing hope to her people, and how it was her destiny to play Kay. 

Star Wars Outlaws / Ubisoft

We’ve never seen a Venezuelan-born main character in Star Wars. How important is representation? 

Humberley Gonzales: Incredible. I cannot believe I get to say I’m the first protagonist who comes from and was born and raised in Venezuela, and I get to have that representation in such an incredible franchise that I know my people will also know. And it’s so important, especially because it’s so tied to Kay’s story, that she comes from lack. 

She comes from a life that she feels was rigged against her, that she wasn’t dealt the best cards to thrive and to keep going forward. But what she has is resilience and this charisma and this passion and strength that keeps driving her forward. 

And I can say that about the Venezuelan people who have been dealt a really sh***y card, who continue to struggle through that, the political turmoil that my family and I had to flee, that we’ve been experiencing for the last few decades and continue to see in the world. This is a story that gives me so much fuel to keep going forward, because when I get to bring characters like this to life and they come from me and what that represents it, I hope that it serves as a source of inspiration, representation and for the Venezuelan people to see that it is possible and that it doesn’t always have to end in demise and pain. 

Something Kay possesses that I hope I can always bring back home is hope you don’t lose. You don’t give up, because freedom is worth fighting for. We’re going through a tough time right now. I can’t even go back home. I haven’t been in ten years. It’s hard. 

Do you still have a lot of family members there? 

Yeah, and my brother. I don’t have any of my family here. They’re all there. It’s crazy, because we did win. Venezuela won. We wanted democracy, we wanted freedom, and then he still refuses to let go because it’s all rigged. It really is, and it feels like they’re in an espionage movie right now since forever. 

How are we still here 22 years later? It’s wild, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of the stories I’m bringing to life and how much more meaningful they are now than ever, that I got questions like that, and I truly appreciate it, that it doesn’t go unseen, that someone like me made it out of there. The sacrifice my dad made to bring me here, to learn a new language, to follow my dream. 

And I’m like, that’s Kay. And so many days on set, I just kept thinking of my family, my mom, the things Kay struggles with family-wise, it is so similar. There’s this estrangement and this thing where she feels like she’s out on her own, she can only do it alone, and there’s no one looking out for her. And you have to slowly start letting people in to help you. It’s like, oh my God, I feel you girl. What do you do to survive in this world? 

It’s so interesting how sometimes these stories come into your life for a reason, and now that we’re about to reveal the game, I feel like it’s even more poignant that I’m like, what are you fighting for? 

Star Wars Outlaws / Ubisoft

What was the most challenging day you had on set? 

If there were days that, health-wise, I wasn’t feeling too hot, I would say I needed to make sure that I focused on the work and took time for myself. I got very good at if I needed a timeout or some time alone to just breathe and take a rest, that I would. It’s new for me and challenging to be there every single day and pretty much every scene. 

It takes a certain level of stamina and focus that if you haven’t stepped into that role you’re not used to, and because I hadn’t done that before in a long-term project, I did learn a lot about myself as an artist.

How I can help myself deliver the best job ever. And when I wasn’t having a good day, I made sure that there were a few people on set who knew that I was just having a bit of an off day, and how they could support me and ask for help and make sure that if I really did need a moment, to ask for that as well. 

We’re not saving lives here, we’re making a video game. So I think my health comes first and my mental health comes first. It’s just those tough days on set are better shared with people too. You don’t have to suffer alone. I’ve learned that, so I feel really lucky that the people I work with also became friends, so I felt very supported.

What was the most enjoyable day that you can remember on set?

Ooh, I mean, when the whole cast got to be together it can turn into chaos because we all have such big personalities and love to joke around. They gotta quiet us up. But it’s so fun because you get to see everybody’s personality, everybody’s passion for the game and getting to spend a whole day with everybody being like, we’re in Star Wars right now. We’re making this happen.

But some of the most fun parts were when they did like the makeshift Trailblazer and I got to fly it and I had people actually moving it around, so it felt like I was in a real spaceship. 

There was also a speeder that I got to be on and they moved it and it was really fun. It felt like I was actually on a set, and the times where there was a bit more fight choreography, when it was really active and you’re running around and you’re shooting and escaping and it was like high-stakes scenes, those were really fun to shoot. 

Star Wars Outlaws / Ubisoft

Speaking of stunts, what was the biggest stunt that you did? 

Well, I obviously had a stunt double, but I did get to learn some of the choreography, and when we were filming the trailer, all of the stuff that you see Kay do in the trailer I actually got to do. So I got to punch some people out and then jump on my bike and speed away.

I got to do some tucking and rolling and falling on mats. I got to jump over a table. It was very fun. Anything that was really intense, obviously the stunt people did it and I was not allowed because I’m precious cargo. 

What is it about the scoundrel story that’s so compelling?

I mean, hey, I stepped into the scoundrel story and it was really exciting to know that once I found out it was Star Wars. And then I got to know that there aren’t lightsabers. I am just this girl who has a dream and a mission and she will achieve it at no cost. She was a rookie and so we knew that she was going to have these flaws and vulnerabilities. 

So all of that infused this new scoundrel story where I didn’t want to just have her be like any scoundrel story you encounter, I really did want to infuse her with a bit of Umberly, so there’s gonna be heart and vulnerability and not softness, but I think you had to see a chip in the armor so that she was relatable and she was someone you wanted to root for her and you wanted to see grow. 

So the ‘fake it ‘till you make it’ attitude and the ‘trust no one’ that makes her tough, but they’re not fully fleshed-out beliefs she has. It is simply a survival mechanism for her. So to me, that already makes it such a new story and a new perspective.

Star Wars Outlaws / Ubisoft

There are lots of possible interactions Kay could have with classic Star Wars characters. Who would you like to see Kay interact with from Star Wars, and what would happen?

It would be really fun to be in a room with ND-5, C-3PO and R2-D2. I would like to be with my droid bros and see what happens. You know, it’s these iconic droids in the world. But you know Kay, she really appreciates creatures and non-humans. I think she gravitates towards them.

That would be a very fun room to be a part of, and all of the different personalities and sounds that just came to my mind. I’m like imagine if we were at a roundtable playing sabacc or something.

Did you improv at all? What kind of things did you add to the character? 

A lot of things were definitely written. I think they come out so naturally because I do also have a dog who, very much like Nix, follows me around and is a mirror to my emotions. He’s my emotional support. I’ve had him for 14 years of my life and it’s a duo that I very much recognize. I remember when we were filming, the interactions between me petting another animal and Nix getting jealous, and I loved it, because my dog does that. 

It’s like, it’s OK, buddy. There’s enough love to go around. You don’t have to be jealous. I have to say, though, that I talked to Nix even in between scenes, even when we weren’t filming. I was always interacting with Nix and the puppeteer that brought him to life. If it came out, it was a very natural thing, constantly interacting with him.