Camilo Madrigal is a supporting character from a beloved Disney animated feature film titled Encanto. He is the middle child of Pepa and Felix and the proud “theatre kid” of the Madrigal family. He has an intriguing ability to shapeshift and is one of the most popular characters in the movie.
The character of Camilo is voice acted by Rhenzy Feliz, who is also famous for his roles in Ruanaways (2017) and The Tender Bar (2024). However, the focus of today’s article is not on the voice actor but on the character of Camilo Madrigal himself. We have a lot of information to share with you and a lot of ground to cover, so without further delay, let us get right into it.
Camilo Madrigal: Character Background, Family, Nationality, Birthday
Camilo was born on December 28th in the Colombian Madrigal family to parents Pepa and Felix. He is also a younger brother of Dolores and an older brother of Antonio. His family is pretty big, and he has numerous cousins. He is a nephew of Julieta, Bruno, and Augustin and cousin of Isabela, Luisa, and Mirabel.
When Camilo was turning five, he received the gift of shapeshifting, and afterward, he moved from the nursery into his own room. He sometimes enjoys using this gift to make fun of his relatives and to take care of the children and infants that reside in the village.
The shapeshifting gift has proven to be not very useful to the community, so Camilo had the least responsibilities imposed on him by his Abuela Alma. Like all of his relatives, Camilo seems to be suffering from pressure and insecurities like most boys of his age do. Due to this, he often hides his fears under his cheerful behavior and is often described as “someone who does not know who he is yet.”
This behavior also hints that he has self-identity issues that need to be resolved throughout the movie plot. Unlike his sister and most of his cousins, he does not have any memory of Bruno since his uncle was secretive when he was still in the family and disappeared when Camilo was very young. Camilo learned about his existence by hearing some rumors from his relatives.
Camilo Madrigal: Character Development
The character of Camilo was created in the mind of being a teen who does not quite know who he is and is trying on a lot of different personalities. When he was originally created, Camilo was imagined as an “angry teen” with an antagonistic role in the movie, which was similar to Isabela with an arrogant and rude attitude, which was completely different from the relaxed and amicable Camilo we got in the final production.
The studio decided to let Camilo’s hair cover one of his eyes to convey his negative attitude. As far as his clothing goes, it was planned from the beginning that it needs to reflect his shapeshifting abilities. His clothing needed to have a chameleon motif, so the studio gave him ruana and black sandals.
Camilo’s Powers and Abilities
Camilo possesses the power to shapeshift, which was bestowed upon him when he was only five years of age. He can assume the shape and look of any living person he has ever seen. When he uses this ability, his clothes shapeshift with him too and match those of the person whose form he is taking.
Over the years, Camilo has perfected this power, and he is able to shapeshift only certain parts of the body if he desires to. This power also comes with specific side effects, as he will involuntarily shapeshift if he feels any stress, shock, or pain. For example, when he is afraid or nervous, his head will turn into an infant’s on top of his body, and his arms will turn small and skinny.
His power does have certain limitations since he is only able to shapeshift into people and cannot change his appearance into animals or objects. He also cannot mimic various traits beyond the physical appearance, and if he shapeshifts into his family member, the change will not give him his or her unique abilities.
As far as his natural and physical abilities go, Camilo is very agile and fast, which was demonstrated whenever he used his gift to become a kid or adult to slide, jump, and sprint while running through the falling pieces of the house in the movie.
Physical Appearance
Based on family photos, Camilo is the same height as Bruno; thus, he is 5 feet and 4 inches tall. He is a 15-year-old Colombian boy with a slender build, light-brown complexion, and curly dark hair. Of all the children from the Madrigal family, Camilo is the one who most resembles his Abuelo Pedro.
Although their physical appearances may differ in various ways, Camilo’s features and facial expressions are very similar to Pedro’s. As we already mentioned, he wears a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and his whole outfit has some chameleon motifs, reminding us of his shapeshifting abilities.
Trivia and Facts About Camilo Madrigal
- Camilo’s birthday is on December 28th on Holy Innocents Day, which is similar to the real world’s April Fool’s Day.
- While the movie Encanto was in early production, Camilo’s character’s name was Carlos, and he was described as a great singer with a habit of telling tales.
- Camilo’s name serves as a pun for “chameleon,” given his shapeshifting ability. His outfit is also filled with motifs that remind us of his gift.
- Camilo is of Colombian nationality.
- The name Camilo means “temple servant,” “freeborn,” or “noble.”
- In the earlier version of the Encanto film, Camilo’s appearance would change after Casita fell, implying that he was hiding his true self.
- Even though the production decided to limit Camilo’s gift to only shapeshifting into human forms, some concept art from The Art of Encanto implies that he was able to turn into animals.
Final Words
This concludes our article regarding a beloved character from the Encanto movie, Camilo Madrigal. We hope you found it entertaining and that it revealed pieces of information you did not know about this Colombian shapeshifter.
This is a truly heartwarming movie with some compelling characters in the Madrigal family that captured the hearts of Disney movie fans across the globe. Camilo is undoubtedly one of the unique ones, and it is likely that we will see his reappearance in some of the future movies in this movie’s universe.