VAM 188 | Interview with Paul Castro Jr., Part 1
Welcome to episode 188 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Regular listeners to the podcast may recognize the name and voice of my next guest from the lovely comments that he called in and left for my 10th Anniversary podcast episode. I’m talking about the talented, ambitious, and industrious Paul Castro Jr.! Paul has extensive experience performing on stage, on camera, and in front of the microphone! You can hear his voice acting work in the Square Enix game: NEO: The World Ends With You where he plays the lead character, Rindo Kanade. He also plays the character of Dragon in the award winning anime film, Belle. If that wasn’t enough, imagine my surprise to discover that Paul worked with me on the game Lost Judgement: The Kaito Files, where I played Kaito and Paul played Jun Sadamoto, a young man who believes he’s actually Kaito’s son! It was a true pleasure to hear Paul’s voice in our scenes together!
In the first part of this interview, Paul shares with us how he got started as an actor. When Paul was young and growing up in New York and New Jersey, he had no idea what acting even was! While he was a fan of animation and video games, he never gave much thought to how actors might be providing the voices for the characters that he watched and interacted with. He just enjoyed the content for what it was. It wasn’t until he was in college and trying to decide what he wanted to pursue as a career, that he stumbled across an improvisational comedy group and decided to give it a try. He was surprised to discover that not only did he enjoy acting more than any other subject he had tried in college, but that acting was a legitimate career choice that some of his fellow comedy troupe members were pursuing.
Paul made up his mind to commit fully to pursuing an acting career as quickly as possible. He decided to leave the college he had been attending, Monmouth University, and audition for NYU’s conservatory acting program known as the Tisch School of the Arts. He was accepted into the Meisner Studio and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree there. During his time in school, he took every opportunity he could to develop his acting skills and to expand his understanding of the entertainment industry. He worked both in front of and behind the camera in film and TV productions. He assisted established professional actors with their film shoots and with their self-tape auditions. He read every book that he could about managing the business aspects of an acting career, and he jumped at every opportunity that presented itself so that he could learn as much as possible, as fast as possible. It’s truly impressive how diligent and tireless he was!
As much as Paul enjoyed acting on stage and on camera, he had a special passion for animation and video games. His love of those mediums inspired him to reach out to his professors to try and discover what it would take to work as a professional voice actor. They not only gave him great advice, but some of them mentored him as well. What’s funny is that a number of his mentors were actors and producers that I worked with when I was voice acting in New York City back in the late 1990s! It was around the time that Paul was working with these shared colleagues of ours that he started listening to my Voice Acting Mastery podcast, which he credits for helping him better understand what it would take to succeed as a professional voice actor. I’m so glad my podcast episodes could help him on his journey, and I hope that by sharing his story with my other listeners, all of you can be inspired to take what you learn here, put it into action, and follow Paul’s example!
VAM 186 | Interview with Lucien Dodge, Part 1
Welcome to episode 186 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
I’m very pleased to share with you the first part of my interview with voice actor and voice director, Lucien Dodge! You may be familiar with Lucien’s voice acting work in anime including Zoisite in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon, Amuro Ray in Gundam: The Origin and Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway, Keita in Sword Art Online, Akaza and Kazumi in Demon Slayer, and Waver Velvet in Fate/Zero! In games he’s played Dust, in Dust: An Elysian Tail, Mega Gnar in League of Legends, Buzzard in Mad Max, and Dr. Vanus in Smite. Lucien also voice directed me in the dub of the anime Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon where I played the main antagonist, Kirinmaru. I had such a great time working with Lucien on that dub that I thought it would be a good idea to have him on the podcast to talk about his own voice acting experiences and his approach to the art form.
Lucien and I share a lot of similarities when it comes to our voice acting journeys. We both have a great appreciation for anime, we both were incredibly shy when we were young, and we both became fascinated with what it took to be able to share the most authentic and believable acting performances with our audiences. Lucien grew up in Ithaca, NY where he went to a private school with very small classes. While his school didn’t have an acting program per se, they did encourage all of their students to participate in a play every year. You might think that since Lucien was so shy, he would not have any interest in participating in the school play. It turns out that the opposite was actually the case. Lucien found that playing a character gave him permission to be more courageous and assertive than he would be if he had to perform in public as himself. I had a similar experience when I was young! Acting as a character gave me an opportunity to build up my own courage and confidence without feeling like I was making myself personally vulnerable to criticism.
Fortunately, Lucien’s mother noticed how much acting seemed to be helping him overcome his shyness. She encouraged him to pursue more acting opportunities, and helped him to attend acting classes based on Sanford Meisner’s techniques. She also helped him attend a convention for radio dramas known as the National Audio Theater Festival. But it wasn’t until a family friend gave Lucien the video box set of the anime series, The Slayers, as a birthday present, that Lucien discovered his love for anime. Coincidentally, that was the first anime show that I ever worked on! After Lucien saw it, he was hooked. For his next birthday, his father gave him a microphone and a small 4 track cassette recorder so Lucien could start practicing his voice over skills. Lucien became obsessed with trying out different kinds of voice acting with his new tools. Fun fact: I also had a 4 track recorder when I was young and actually recorded some of my earliest attempts at voice acting on it!
After high school, Lucien decided to pursue voice acting as a career. He spent a year in college, but quickly realized that it didn’t serve his purposes very well, and decided to dive into the voice over industry in New York City. I too began my voice acting career in New York. Lucien and I even got our first New York anime dubbing jobs from the same studio, TAJ Productions where I got my start on The Slayers and he first worked on an episode of Pokemon. Lucien faced many challenges pursuing voice acting in the Big Apple, and during his eventual move out to Los Angeles, but I’ll let him tell you all about his adventures himself!
VAM 185 | Interview with JP Karliak, Part 2
Welcome to episode 185 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with the fabulous JP Karliak! You may be familiar with his extensive work in animation including Boss Baby: Back in Action, Spidey and His Amazing Friends, TrollsTopia, Dogs in Space, and the New Looney Toons! In games, he’s worked on Skylanders, Crash Bandicoot 4, and Marvel Avengers Academy. You can also hear him in anime shows like Fate/Grand Order the Movie and Neon Genesis Evangelion. He’s also the founder of Queer Vox, a not-for-profit training academy and community for LGBTQIA+ voice over talent, and co-founder of the non-partisan voter action group, NerdsVote.
In the previous episode, JP shared with us how he broke into voice acting. After seeing Disney’s animated film Aladdin as a child, he was convinced that only celebrities were cast to play animated characters. He pursued a more traditional acting career on stage and screen, but was pleasantly surprised to discover in college that his classmates appreciated his voice acting in their student film projects. One of his professors at the University of Southern California suggested he start taking voice over classes with professionals in the Los Angeles area, and JP quickly realized that he had found his niche!
In this episode, JP tells us what inspired him to become an actor in the first place. It turns out that JP had some very personal reasons why he found acting appealing. As a queer kid growing up in a small town culture that didn’t always approve of him, he had to spend a lot of time pretending that he was actually a straight person in order to fit in. Acting as characters in stories gave him the opportunity to play pretend without being self-conscious or worrying about satisfying other people’s cultural expectations. It was especially exciting for him if the character he was portraying was a powerful villain like his childhood favorite, Skeletor from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! Inspired by his story, I then share with JP my personal reasons for pursuing acting, including the fact that I didn’t always fit in with the macho male stereotype that I felt pressured to adopt as a young boy. I’m sure JP and I aren’t the only ones who felt drawn to acting because it helped us explore and develop our emotional lives in a healthy way.
We then talk about QueerVox, the academy and community for queer actors that JP helped found with his colleague, and earlier guest on the podcast, Sarah Elmaleh. JP explains the inspiration for starting QueerVox, and how it has less to do with whether or not someone has the acting skills to be able to play someone other than their sexuality or gender identity, and more about making sure that queer actors benefit financially from the rise of queer characters and queer stories in entertainment. We also discuss how the industry keeps moving from a broadcasting paradigm where producers are trying to appeal to the broadest audience possible, to a narrowcasting paradigm where a show’s authenticity is important for securing a smaller, but more loyal fanbase. JP then talks about the different services that QueerVox offers both to aspiring talent, and to producers and casting directors who are looking to hire them! You can find out more about all of it at QueerVox.org.
After that, JP and I end our discussion with his advice to the aspiring voice actor and how he encourages all of his students to simply relax around their fellow industry professionals. It helps if you have interests and hobbies outside of voice over that you can share with your colleagues. That’s something that Dee Bradley Baker also mentioned in my interview with him back in episodes 146 and 147. Not only can sharing outside interests help you build a natural rapport with other voice over people, but it can also help replenish your own artistic well of creativity. Exploring this topic is a wonderful way to end our discussion and I’m happy I get to share JP’s insights with you!
VAM 181 | Interview with Amanda C. Miller, Part 2
Welcome to episode 181 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with Amanda C. Miller! Amanda has worked extensively in animation, video games, and anime including Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, and the Dangan Ronpa video games. In American animation, she’s worked on Netlix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Kid Cosmic, and DC Super Hero Girls. Amanda also works on-camera as an actor and behind the scenes as a writer and producer of her own web series! Having recently moved to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue acting opportunities there, she brings a unique perspective on how to manage an acting career where she works both in Atlanta and on remote voice acting projects in LA.
In the previous episode, Amanda explained how she broke into voice acting. While she initially intended to pursue a career as a theater actor in New York city after graduating from college, she changed her career trajectory after taking a voice acting class with veteran voice actor and director, Tony Oliver. His feedback encouraged her to pursue voice acting in Los Angeles instead. Amanda moved to LA, interned at Bang Zoom studios, and quickly learned what it took to work professionally as a voice actor. There was no magic “break through” moment where she was suddenly discovered. In fact, she didn’t win the 2009 AX Idol voice acting competition held at Anime Expo, but was only a runner up. That didn’t stop her. She continued to develop her abilities as a voice actress. Her success is due to the fact that she can deliver consistent, believable, and professionally competitive performances over and over again.
In this episode, we dive into what inspired Amanda to become an actor in the first place. Amanda was a very shy and sensitive child who moved around a lot due to her father being in the military. While she couldn’t control her circumstances or her surroundings, she did develop a rich imagination. She would create characters and stories where she could explore different emotions, relationships, and situations. Her fantasy life definitely helped inspire her acting pursuits! We also talk about what it’s been like for her to play a beloved character from her childhood, Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal anime series. We then get into a discussion about how you can find satisfaction in the face of the uncertainty and volatility of an acting career. At the end of our talk, Amanda shares with us her advice to the aspiring voice actor including how important it is to find value as a human being regardless of how successful you are in your career! So without further ado, here’s Amanda!
VAM 180 | Interview with Amanda C. Miller, Part 1
Welcome to episode 180 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
I’m very happy to present the first part of my interview with the multi-talented Amanda C. Miller! Amanda has played many famous characters in animation, video games, and anime including Boruto in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, and the characters Junko and Toko in the Dangan Ronpa video games. In American animation, she’s played Flutterina in Netlix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Jo in Kid Cosmic, the new animated series from Powerpuff Girls creator, Craig McCracken! Amanda also works on-camera in films and web series, including the comedic web series, Ghosts ’n Stuff, Inc. where she co-produced and wrote many of the episodes! I’m excited to get her perspective on the voice acting industry as well as what it’s been like for her starting her career in Los Angeles and having now moved to continue her career in Atlanta, Georgia.
Amanda had an international upbringing. A self-proclaimed Air Force brat, Amanda was born in Germany and spent much of her childhood traveling back and forth between Germany, Florida, and Maryland, eventually settling down in Maryland after she was in the 7th grade. She started participating in her school’s theater program during middle school and high school and had every intention of graduating college and moving to New York to do Broadway theater. However, while in college at the University of Maryland, she had the opportunity to take a voice over class with Tony Oliver from Bang Zoom recording studios. After the class, Tony told her that she had real potential as a voice actress. She decided that instead of pursuing acting in New York after graduating college, she would move to Los Angeles to pursue voice acting opportunities there. She applied for an internship at Bang Zoom, was accepted, and began to learn about the voice over industry during her time there. This eventually gave her the opportunity to start auditioning for voice over work. As she repeatedly demonstrated her ability to perform characters at a professionally competitive level, she gained access to more voice over opportunities which allowed her to pursue union voice over work and to eventually land an agent.
I enjoy talking with Amanda about her journey because like me, she was a very shy child. She was not gregarious and outgoing as most people expect actors to be. Instead, what drove her to perform was the desire to bring characters and stories to life, not to get attention from others. She understood that in order to achieve continuing success as a professional actor, she had to apply herself diligently to doing the “boring work” as she puts it of being able to give consistently believable performances as well as being reliable and easy to work with. She also did her best to network with fellow actors and reach out to studios to market her skills to them. She even emailed yours truly back in 2009 when she took an acting class with a classmate of mine from Graduate Acting School. My classmate had suggested that Amanda reach out to me directly to ask about the voice over industry in LA! Amanda’s ability to be courageous in connecting with industry professionals coupled with her sustained commitment to honing her acting skills has truly served her well and I’m eager to share her story with you!
VAM 179 | Interview with Feodor Chin, Part 2
Welcome to episode 179 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
This is the second and final part of my interview with Feodor Chin. You can hear Feo’s voice over work in games like Overwatch, Ghosts of Tsushima, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. He’s worked on the Regular Show for Cartoon Network, and on-camera he’s worked on TV shows such as Nash Bridges, The Mindy Project, and Jane the Virigin. He’s also narrated or contributed narration to over 100 different audiobooks!
In the previous episode, Feo outlined the steps he took to become a professional actor. There was no single moment when he “broke into show business”. Instead, Feo diligently studied to improve his acting skills and then consistently took the actions necessary to find acting opportunities. This included regularly marketing his skills to producers and casting directors who were hiring actors. This is the unglamorous homework that it takes to book regular work as an actor. No one in the industry suddenly discovers you and then paves a path to success for you. If you want to get paid to voice act, you need to master your art, research your industry, and then market your professionally competitive skills to producers who are looking to hire top notch acting talent for their projects. Feo never shied away from putting in all the behind-the-scenes work that was necessary to help him become a working actor both in voice over and on-camera.
In the final part of our discussion, I ask Feo what inspired him to become a performer in the first place. In the previous episode, Feo had mentioned that in high school, he had seen Dustin Hoffman’s performance as Willy Loman in the movie, Death of a Salesman. Hoffman’s acting had made a huge impression on Feo, so in this episode, I ask Feo to outline in more detail what exactly was so compelling about that performance. Feo explains that after watching Hoffman perform, he became fascinated with diving deep into the emotional life of a character. He talks about the satisfaction he gets from fully embodying a character, especially when a character’s psychology is incredibly rich or nuanced.
After that, we discuss Feo’s background in improv and sketch comedy. He explains to me the differences between full improvisational performances and the sketch comedy writing that he works on most often. We then talk about how we both apply our improv background to the challenges we face as voice actors, especially when we’re given very little information about a character or the story they come from, and yet are still expected to deliver authentic and believable performances. We also discuss the challenges Asian-American actors face in the entertainment industry and how Asian representation in media has changed over the past 20 years or so. We wrap up our discussion with Feo’s advice to the aspiring voice actor, and how important it is to be open to different career opportunities because you never know where you’re going to find success.