There are a variety of familiar voices in Human Resources, a new animated workplace comedy from the creators of Big Mouth that follows the monsters that work hard to help make us human. Sure, these monsters have some very distinct looks that you won’t soon forget, but it’s their voices that ring in your ears long after the show’s half-hour episodes come to an end. Before you start googling around to find which popular pipes give life to your favorite characters, read on. We’ve laid out exactly what you need to know about each character and the actor behind them; so use this as a guide while you watch Season 2 of Human Resources, streaming now, only on Netflix.
Maury the Hormone Monster is an expert at his craft who can’t help but find everything sexual. It’s his job to push his clients into embracing their carnal nature, without any regard for repercussions. A typical day at the office for Maury finds him assisting teenage boys with the often daunting process of navigating puberty.
While some of his sexual suggestions may be a bit too off the cuff for some of his clients, he never fails to execute his mission: moving kids into adulthood with a wink and a grin. As the embodiment of the adolescent male’s near-constant parade of sexual urges, Maury can find it difficult to maintain romantic relationships, like with Hormone Monstress Connie (Maya Rudolph), but he always ends up doing right by the clients he serves.
Nick Kroll may be best known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series Kroll Show and The Oh, Hello Show and FX’s The League. Of course, he also stars in and co-created Big Mouth, the series from which Human Resources spun off. Kroll has contributed a mixture of live comedy, sketches and character acting over the years in addition to publishing a book in 2005.
There are two things you need to know about Connie: She doesn’t use deodorant and she only takes bubble baths. Like her male counterpart Maury, Connie the Hormone Monstress is a whip-smart monster with great one-liners and even better hair. She’s all about glamour, but don’t let her passion for the finer things in life fool you. She has no filter and she’ll say whatever’s on her mind at any time. Her job? To help girls go through puberty. She’s sassy beyond compare, but always takes time out to make sure anyone she works with is taken care of.
This firecracker of a Monstress loves heating up when chatting with her adolescent clients about sex (and thinking about it all the time, natch) and teasing Maury when she feels like being facetious — the two are in an on-again, off-again relationship. Don’t get it twisted — you definitely want her on your side. Though she usually works with younger clients, she’s extending her services to adults in Human Resources, as she works to assist new mother Becca with the bedroom difficulties that come along with bringing home a new baby.
Since her days on Saturday Night Live, Emmy Award–winning actor, comedian and singer Maya Rudolph has starred in a variety of sitcoms and films like Grown Ups, Bridesmaids and 50 First Dates. She’s dabbled in everything from improv comedy to music (taking after her famous mother, singer Minnie Riperton) and even performs in a Prince cover band called Princess.
Emmy the Lovebug just wants to have fun, get drunk, meet guys and embrace her youth. She doesn’t really know if she’s cut out for this whole “job” thing, and as such, she’s always swimming in self-doubt. Whether that means telling her latest fling she isn’t ready to have sex or owning her latest assignment, like taking over for her boss, it doesn’t really matter — she’s not quite sure she’s up for the task. That’s probably why she’s still an assistant instead of a full-time Lovebug. Well, that and the whole self-loathing thing.
Emmy can be incredibly smart and approachable and might make a great Lovebug, if only her fear didn’t keep paralyzing her and setting her back. Unfortunately, that also means she’s always causing chaos for her human clients, including showing up and having zero idea how to proceed during a crisis and serving up some seriously bad advice. She means well. She just needs some practice.
Aidy Bryant is a regular on Saturday Night Live, for which she’s received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She also developed and starred in a Hulu series called Shrill, based on author Lindy West’s book of the same name.
We all have that nagging voice in our heads telling us that we need to get up right when the plane lands and stand in line. Or that something awful is going to happen if we don't do something to counteract it now. Right now. Pete the Logic Rock works hard to keep his clients rational and logical, as his name implies. That includes calming them down when they're freaking out, too, which they tend to do a lot.
When he deals with beings who are all ruled by emotion all day, like Lovebugs, Hormone Monsters and Depression Kitties, that’s a lot harder than you might think. Pete might want to keep you from doing or thinking those absolutely wild thoughts, but he’s definitely not a strict or a bad guy. He’s a caring, sweet nerd who wants to connect with his co-workers, especially a particular Lovebug named Rochelle.
Randall Park got his start on web series hosted at Channel 101, like Dr. Miracles and IKEA Heights. Since then, he snagged a starring role in the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and has starred as Kim Jong-Un in The Interview as well as the Netflix film Always Be My Maybe opposite Ali Wong. He’s even left his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe as FBI Agent Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man and the Wasp and WandaVision.
We first met Rochelle in Season 5 of Big Mouth, but she was initially known to us as Missy’s Hate Worm. In Human Resources, we get to know her as a kind, ambitious and self-confident Lovebug who’s totally killing at her job — so, basically the complete opposite of Emmy. Of course, as is usually the case with type A personalities, this means Rochelle is quite competitive, and her drive to be the best can make her a difficult person to work alongside. Still, she’s a fantastic friend and a great problem-solver, and Pete the Logic Rock has the hots for her. It’s kind of adorable when opposites attract, isn’t it?
Emmy and NAACP Image Award winner Keke Palmer has appeared in a wide variety of TV shows and movies, debuting in Barbershop 2: Back in Business and went on to star in Hustlers, So Uncool and a litany of other films. In 2019, she was included on Time magazine’s list of most influential people in the world. She received an Emmy for her time as a co-host on the talk show Strahan, Sara and Keke before going on to become the first Black woman to host the MTV Video Music Awards in 2020.
Another returning cast member from Big Mouth Season 5, Walter is a passionate Lovebug who can very quickly turn into a Hate Worm. When he’s living his best life, he’s as kind as can be, and a hopeless romantic. When he falls in love with someone, it’s forever... or at least it can feel like it, thanks to his somewhat obsessive tendencies.
Nonbinary, queer actor and writer Brandon Kyle Goodman also contributes to the Big Mouth writer’s room. He’s starred in series like Netflix’s Feel The Beat, Plus One, and a variety of other media projects.
We’ve all said or done something we immediately regretted. Lionel the Shame Wizard revels in helping his clients feel intense amounts of shame, often to the point of tears. Lionel absolutely loves tormenting others, and he routinely (and happily) causes some totally brutal emotional breakdowns. This causes some obvious issues with HR, but Lionel is so immersed in his own little world of causing emotional harm to his clients that it doesn’t really matter.
In addition to playing Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter film series and Ares in Wonder Woman, David Thewlis has appeared in films like James and the Giant Peach, Total Eclipse, Dragonheart and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Most recently, ahead of Human Resources, he starred in the 2020 Netflix film I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
Rita is a huge deal in the Shame Wizard community. You might even call her a celebrity. With all of the books she’s written on the subject and the lectures she’s given at Notre Shame and SHAMEx, you could say she’s an OG Shame Wizard. But Rita doesn’t give her son, Lionel — who we know as the Shame Wizard — very much attention. She’s too busy catering to Kitty Dukakis, the Depression Kitty, because the pair have been in a relationship for centuries. Weirdly, Lionel harbors some uncomfortable feelings for his mother. But that’s a whole other article. Let’s just agree it’s because they’re all Shame Wizards.
Dame Helen Mirren is an acclaimed Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actor who got her start acting on stage with the National Youth Theater in the UK. Her breakthrough film role was in 1980’s The Long Good Friday. She’s since appeared in dozens of films and won a variety of awards and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also earned the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement and received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Asha is a mysterious and beautiful Shame Wizard who immediately comes onto Lionel when they meet at the International Creature Convention. She has a one-night stand with her fellow Shame Wizard, though it’s part of a ruse she has with her husband Arsalan. It turns out Asha and Arsalan are a married couple who like to involve men in their love lives by way of some complicated, somewhat dangerous plots. We don’t know much more about Asha, but if she’s willing to go after Lionel, we can tell she’s pretty open-minded.
Lupita Nyong’o has racked up five NAACP Image Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She made her acting debut with the short film East River in 2008 and earned a master’s degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Her first feature film role was the period drama 12 Years a Slave in 2013, for which she won the best supporting actress Academy Award. She went on to appear in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Marvel’s Black Panther and in Jordan Peele’s 2019 horror film Us.
Simon Sex is a hormone monster and Maury’s longtime friend. He’s a free spirit, loving and tender, and dresses like a hippie. With that in mind, he’s all about peace and love, smoking hallucinogens, and being just as vile as Maury in conversation. We don’t get to see him very often, but he always steals the show when he does appear.
Jemaine Clement is an actor, musician, comedian and filmmaker best known as part of the musical duo Flight of the Conchords with partner Bret McKenzie. The Emmy-nominated artist has appeared in Men in Black 3, Dinner for Schmucks and The Festival, and he’s also lent his voice to Despicable Me, Moana and The Lego Batman Movie. In 2014, he starred in and made his directorial debut, alongside Taika Waititi, for FX’sWhat We Do in the Shadows, which he co-wrote (with Waititi).
Claudia may seem like a minor character in Human Resources, but her role is bigger than you think. She’s a human doula who works for Becky, Emmy the Lovebug’s latest client. But she also holds the key to why Sonya was fired from her job. We won’t get into specifics, in case you haven’t gotten that far into the show just yet, but Claudia is central to the narrative.
Janelle Monaé is a powerhouse: She’s a singer, rapper and actor with eight Grammy nominations, an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award. She followed her 2007 conceptual debut EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) with The ArchAndroid, the complete concept album that filled her original EP’s gaps. From there, she went on to make her film debut in 2016 in Hidden Figures and the Academy Award–winning Moonlight. She’s since starred in series like Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. Though her role isn’t heavily featured in the show, this multi-talented pop star is actually always present in one sense. Monaé’s song “Make Me Feel” is the theme song for Human Resources!
Andrew should be a familiar face for Big Mouth viewers. As Nick Birch’s best friend, Andrew is a mid-pubescent teenager who’s always looking to his hormone monster Maury for validation. He’s a hapless, awkward nerd who can’t stop thinking about girls, to the point where it becomes an obsession. Despite how girl-obsessed he can be, he’s a great friend to Nick and a hopeless romantic, even though he doesn’t really understand relationships outside of their very basic framework.
John Mulaney is a stand-up, actor, writer and producer best known for his work on Saturday Night Live. He also won an Emmy for his 2018 special Kid Gorgeous, before premiering his Netflix special, John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch, in 2019. Formerly the star of his own Fox sitcom, Mulaney, he’s known now for voicing Andrew Glouberman in Big Mouth, the Netflix series from which Human Resources spun off.
Keith, also known as Keith from Grief, is a grief sweater. He’s a quiet guy until you don’t give him a hug. And when you’re grieving, you’re supposed to give him plenty of cuddles to make yourself feel better. Skip out on the affection and this part of the grieving process, and you’ll find Keith turning into a literal monster.
In real life, Henry Winkler is far from a fuzzy monster. Though this iconic performer is best known for portraying Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on the sitcom Happy Days, he’s an established character actor who’s appeared in dozens of roles over the years. As the Fonz, he cemented himself as a comedic legend, but Winkler’s been featured on the big and small screen in titles like The Waterboy, Arrested Development, Barry and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He’s won several Emmys, two Golden Globes and one Critics Choice Award. Plus, he portrayed a character that remained a pop culture icon for years after Happy Days went off air.
Dante the Addiction Angel is bad news for anyone who gets close, especially Emmy the Lovebug. Emmy’s already heading down a dangerous path when she finds she has to take over for her previous boss after she’s fired from her job. Dante is tattooed, pierced and a bit of a heartbreaker. He’s vapid and selfish and barely cares about the women he carries on with, but for many of them, that’s kind of his charm. It’s like his name says — he’s addictive.
Hugh Jackman is an Australian actor best known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men series. He’s the recipient of a Golden Globe, Grammy, Primetime Emmy and two Tony Awards. This multi talented performer has appeared as a headliner in various genres, including Van Helsing, The Prestige, Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman. In addition to films, he’s appeared on Broadway in The Music Man and a number of other shows, lending his singing voice to several different soundtracks and performance art showcases.
Danielle is an easygoing young woman who’s dating Nadja. After the pair have sex, Nadja finds out that she’s going to University of California, Berkeley, which scrambles her plans with Danielle, who’s been accepted to Rutgers University. We don’t learn too much about Danielle beyond her conflict with Nadja, but she handles things just about as well as any one of us would.
Ariana DeBose is an actor, singer and dancer who made her TV debut on So You Think You Can Dance in 2009, following it up with Broadway roles in Bring It On: The Musical, Motown: The Musical and the original run of Hamilton — she was also in the Disney+ film version. She went on to star in the Netflix film The Prom and a smattering of other series and most recently wowed audiences in 2021’s West Side Story, for which she won the Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Petra is a tough-as-nails Ambition Gremlin with a foul mouth who’s responsible for making sure her clients go after what they want. All she wants is for them to keep on winning, even if that means pushing someone else under the bus. Petra even takes the initiative herself to make changes in her clients’ lives. She’s right by first-time mom Becca’s side throughout her entire pregnancy and then some, making sure there are no sacrifices Becca has to make in her law career just because she’s about to give birth.
Rosie Perez is just as ambitious as her character. The Oscar and Emmy nominee got her start as a dancer on Soul Train in 1986 and went on to star in Spike Lee’s 1989 flick Do the Right Thing, followed by 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump. In more recent years, she’s used her star power to land roles in films like Birds of Prey and HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant.
Becca is a lawyer who’s about to become a mother for the first time. She’s trying her best to navigate her high-powered career as she gets used to impending motherhood, all the while dealing with a new Lovebug in the form of Emmy — as you can imagine, it doesn’t go quite well. Becca is whip-smart and confident but finds herself dealing with anxiety and postpartum depression. Tito the Anxiety Mosquito and the Depression Kitty help her come to terms with these very real problems. And while she appreciates her husband, Barry, their relationship has become more tumultuous since Becca is about to give birth.
Ali Wong is a stand-up and actor whose Netflix comedy specials — Baby Cobra, Hard Knock Wife and Don Wong — address her own issues while pregnant. She’s also acted in films like Birds of Prey and Onward and starred in the animated comedy series Tuca & Bertie. Most recently, she wrote and starred in the Netflix rom-com flick Always Be My Maybe. Beyond acting onstage and on-screen, she contributed as a writer to the first three seasons of Fresh Off the Boat. In 2020, she was added to Time’s list of 100 Most Influential People.
Mona replaces Connie as the Hormone Monstress working with Missy Foreman-Greenwald. She’s attracted to Connie and isn’t shy about showing it. Mona is a chaotic force who wants Missy to stop being a Goody Two-shoes and turn her into a hypersexual presence who isn’t afraid to get what she wants in life. Oh, and that lighter she carries around? She definitely threatens everyone she meets with it.
Thandiwe Newton, formerly credited as Thandie Newton, is an actor known for a variety of film roles. The Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award–winning performer starred in films like Beloved, The Chronicles of Riddick, Crash, The Pursuit of Happyness and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
