'Dora The Explorer' voice actress reflects on keeping her role secret during school years

Kathleen Herles says her Dora role was accidentally revealed at school after she tried to keep it private

Kathleen Herles, the original voice actress behind Dora Márquez in Dora the Explorer, has shared how her attempt to keep her role private was unexpectedly revealed during her school years.

Speaking on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, Herles, 35, explained that she voiced Dora from 2000 to 2007 while attending school in New York.

She said she initially chose not to tell classmates about her work because she considered it “a job” and wanted to keep it separate from her personal life.

“I didn't want people to think I was telling them, like, ‘Hey, I'm telling you this so you can think I'm cool,’ ” she said. “I just wanted it to be something that I do outside [of school] and for me and for my family."

Herles described how the situation changed when she moved schools in sixth grade. She recalled that her mother informed the school and a guidance counsellor about her recording commitments, which entailed leaving early to travel from Long Island to Manhattan.

However, on her first day, the guidance counsellor walked her to homeroom and began explaining the situation to the teacher in front of another student.

“My first day, the guidance counsellor walks me to homeroom, and I hear her telling the teacher, but while she's telling the teacher, there's a student there, so the student hears everything," she said.

According to Herles, the information quickly spread among classmates. “And I'm like, ‘Why is this happening?’ So immediately the student goes back to the classroom and starts telling one person, who tells another person, and that was the end of me trying to keep it a secret,” she added.

She noted that reactions from classmates were mixed. “50/50,” she said, explaining that while some teased her, she did not consider it bullying, describing it instead as “annoying” comments.

Dora the Explorer aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2019, becoming a long-running children’s series with multiple voice actors following Herles’ departure.