VAM 213 | Interview with Nancy Linari, Part 2
Welcome to episode 213 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 back to the second part of my interview with an actress who has worked in almost every different kind of acting environment you can think of: the talented and versatile Nancy Linari! She’s worked on animated shows like Hanna-Barbera’s version of the Addams Family, as well as Animaniacs, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Ben 10. In the world of video games, she’s worked on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Legends of Runeterra, and Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance. She’s also working with yours truly on the new Pokemon Horizons anime series! However, Nancy is probably most famous for playing Aunt May in both the Disney XD Spider-man animated series, as well as the Sony Playstation series of Spider-Man games from 2018 and 2023.
In the previous episode, Nancy shared with me how she got started as a voice actor and how it grew organically out of her pursuit of an acting career in Chicago. After graduating college with a degree in theater, she started working at a theme park in the Chicagoland area while also pursuing theater and commercial work. One of her theater shows toured the country with one of their stops being in Los Angeles. This allowed Nancy to explore the acting marketplace in LA and to make some industry connections. She eventually decided to move to Los Angeles in order to grow her acting career there.
As she booked theater work in LA, she began to meet influential people in the entertainment industry including Gordon Hunt, who was the head voice director at Hanna-Barbera. He started auditioning her for animated projects, and this led to her booking some smaller roles in animation, and eventually booking a lead role as Morticia in the Addams Family animated series. Nancy also became curious about performance capture work for video games. She started taking classes for it and eventually booked the part of Aunt May for the Playstation Spider-man video games, which just happened to be her very first performance capture audition! Nancy’s journey is one of curiosity, versatility, and resiliency. She knew that to survive as an actress, she would need to be able to act well in a variety of different performance environments. This has allowed her to continue working in various fields of the entertainment industry whenever there’s a slow down in other areas.
In this episode, as we continue our discussion, I ask Nancy what inspired her to become a performer in the first place. She shares with me a story about the first time she got laughs from an audience. She found the experience exhilarating, especially since she was only 7 years old at the time! That moment instilled a love of comedy in her that has served her well throughout her career. It also helped her understand what her strengths were as a performer. She realized that her archetype as an actor was more comedic, and less serious. That didn’t mean she couldn’t play serious roles, just that her competitive advantage was that she could “find the funny” in whatever project she was working on. That’s a very valuable skill to have as a performer!
After that, Nancy and I talk about European clowning, a style of acting that I also discussed in my interview with Darin De Paul. While Nancy has never done European clowning personally, she did study it academically in school. European clown training can really help an actor discover what their inherent nature is as a performer, as well as how to embrace one’s essential archetype. Nancy also talks about how important it is to become proficient with recording technology as an actor, since so often these days actors are expected to be their own engineers and camera operators.
And then, to conclude our conversation, Nancy shares her advice for the aspiring voice actor. Like so many before her, she says that believable acting skills should be a voice actor’s highest priority, so I ask her how she learned acting. While she is a self-admitted acting class junkie, she also acknowledges that she’s often learned the most about acting from actually doing it. She compares it to an athlete having to continually train physically in order to be in peak condition to perform. There’s no substitute for experience, and as an actor, the more opportunities you have to practice your skills, the better you will become at them. This is also why Nancy enjoys doing theater so much. It allows her to practice and test her skills night after night. Each time she gets up to act, she may try something a little different to see what works and what doesn’t. This iterative process of curiosity, exploration, and discovery, is what has helped her sustain such a long and varied career. I hope my listeners can benefit from her mindset and I’m so glad I get to share her wisdom with all of you!
VAM 212 | Interview with Nancy Linari, Part 1
Welcome to episode 212 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 first part of my interview with an actress who has performed in almost every type of acting there is, from theater, to commercials, to on-camera, to voice acting, to performance capture. She also has a habit of booking important roles in different areas of acting the first time she ever auditions for jobs in those areas! I’m talking about a consummate professional, Nancy Linari!
While Nancy has an extensive resume in theater, commercials, and on camera work, you may be most familiar with her work as Aunt May in the Sony Playstation series of Spider-Man games from 2018 and 2023. She’s also played Aunt May in the Disney XD Spider-Man animated series! But her voice over roles go back much farther than that! One of her biggest roles early in her voice acting career was Morticia in the Addams Family animated series by Hanna-Barbera, which was produced in the early 1990s. Nancy has worked on numerous animated shows since then such as Animaniacs, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Ben 10. In addition to the Spider-Man games, she’s played Medusa in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the Lady of Blood in Legends of Runeterra, and the dragon Icewind in Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, where I had the pleasure of playing Drizzt Du’orden. However, the first time I became aware of Nancy was when she and I both starred in the anime series Pokemon Horizons where she plays Diana, the grandmother of the main character Liko, and I play Friede, the leader of the Rising Volt Tacklers.
Nancy and I actually met while volunteering at our actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA. We both serve on committees at the union helping to negotiate fair wages and working conditions for our fellow actors. When I discovered that we were both working on Pokemon Horizons, I was eager to hear Nancy’s work on the series, and I was even more curious when she told me it was her first time ever dubbing anime! When I was finally able to listen to her performance, I was very impressed with how well she did! I had to know how someone who was so established in her career wasn’t just resting on her laurels, only doing what she was familiar with, but was curious enough to step outside her comfort zone to work on projects that posed new and interesting acting challenges. When I found out that the first performance capture job she ever auditioned for and booked was Aunt May in the Sony Spider-Man games, I knew I had to have her on the podcast!
In this episode, I begin our conversation by asking Nancy how she got started as a voice actor. It turns out that she and I are both originally from Chicago, so we had fun reminiscing about our Chi-town experiences during this interview! Nancy explains that her family always valued wit and the ability to be funny. In addition, her aunt was a professional opera singer, so the ability to perform was very important when Nancy was growing up. She was encouraged by one of her high school teachers to pursue acting, and then she went to college and majored in drama and speech. After college, she returned to Chicago where she began auditioning and booking roles at theme parks, in theater, and in commercials.
One of the shows she was in was successful enough that it toured the country, with one of the stops being in Los Angeles. This allowed her to make some connections with people in the entertainment industry in LA. While she did end up going back to Chicago after the run of her show was over, the idea of moving to LA really stuck with her. Eventually she and her partner decided to make the move and see if they could succeed there. It was slow going at first, but Nancy was able to book a role in a musical that was being directed by Gordon Hunt. Gordon was not only a director for theater, but he also worked as a voice director at Hanna-Barbera. My podcast listeners may remember that my previous guest, Amanda Wyatt, trained under Gordon when she was first getting her start as a voice director for video games.
Gordon liked Nancy’s work and started having her audition for the animated shows that he was working on. Nancy booked some small parts, but her breakout role was Morticia in the Addams family. More animation work followed, as well as video game work, a field that was brand new to Nancy when she first started auditioning for games in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. As new acting opportunities arose, like performance capture, Nancy became fascinated with them as well. She’s a self-proclaimed “class junkie” and would often attend workshops where she could learn about these new fields of entertainment. Her ability to absorb new information and adapt quickly to different performance environments is a testament to her dependable acting skills. There is so much wisdom in the story of how Nancy has developed and applied her craft and I’m so glad I get to share it with you!
VAM 203 | Interview with Crispin Freeman, Part 4
Welcome to episode 203 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 fourth and final part of an interview of me, hosted by my good friend and fellow voice actor, Julie Nathanson! As I mentioned in episode 200, Julie had offered years ago to turn the tables on me and interview me on my own podcast! I thought it was a great idea and I’m so grateful that she agreed to take over as interviewer for this 4 episode series!
In the previous episode, Julie and I talked about how I began my voice acting career working on anime dubs in New York city in the late 1990s. We talked briefly about my demos before we dove into a longer discussion about AI and whether I think artificial intelligence and machine learning can create meaningful storytelling. She then shared more questions from our voice acting colleagues, including one from Steve Blum about whether or not my deep analytical knowledge about storytelling ever gets in the way of my spontaneity as an actor. This gave me the opportunity to articulate my personal acting process with more specificity and nuance than I’ve ever done before. It was a very satisfying conversation and if you haven’t already, I would suggest that you listen to the 3 previous episodes of this interview before continuing with this final segment.
We begin this episode with some more questions from my voice acting colleagues. The first is from JP Karliak who says that even though voice actors may be facing some new and daunting challenges recently, he’d like to know if there’s anything about the voice acting industry that makes me optimistic and excited for the future. The next comment is from Stephanie Sheh who talks about how my willingness to admit my shortcomings as a director allowed her to be more honest and trusting with me as an actor. The final contributor is Jennifer Hale, who wants to know if there’s any question that I’ve never been asked, but that I’ve always wanted someone to ask me.
Jennifer’s query prompts me to share with Julie three stories or wisdom fables about the artistic process. While I’ve occasionally told one of these stories in previous interviews, I’ve never told all three of them at the same time. The stories were originally told to me by Rinde Eckert, a virtuosic theater artist and composer, and they are educational metaphors that are densely packed with wisdom. Furthermore, they encapsulate some of the core pieces of advice that I would want to impart to any aspiring voice actor. These stories also segue quite elegantly into my definition of the word “mastery” and how it applies to the artistic process. It’s a wonderful way to bring my time together with Julie to a satisfying conclusion and I’m so glad for the opportunity to share these insights with my listeners!
VAM 201 | Interview with Crispin Freeman, Part 2
Welcome to episode 201 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 part 2 of an interview of me, hosted by my good friend and fellow voice actor, Julie Nathanson! As I mentioned in the last episode, Julie had offered years ago to turn the tables on me and interview me on my own podcast! I thought it was a great idea and I’m so grateful that she agreed to take over as interviewer for this 4 episode series!
In the previous episode, Julie and I began by discussing my early childhood and how my inherent perfectionism, combined with my parents’ expectation that I excel in school, contributed to my tendency to approach any challenge with an overwhelming desire to get everything right and to make no mistakes. We also spoke about the time when a mentor of mine told me to repress my feelings and to never cry because he was convinced that that’s what it meant to be a man. I adopted his advice and never cried once between the ages of 11 and 16. In the midst of my stoic perfectionism, I was fortunate enough to also have a high school advisor who instead showed me when it was appropriate to break the rules and hack the system from time to time, especially if you were doing it for noble purposes. His insights gave me a psychological “get out jail free” card that really helped me to break out of the stifling “right and wrong” paradigm that I had been in throughout most of my childhood. Then, after a transformative experience at the Cherubs theater training program where I finally allowed myself to cry again, I realized two important things. First: that acting is not about being right or wrong, but instead acting is about whether your performance is more or less believable. And second: that acting is more akin to a mystical experience where you allow the aspects of your psyche that line up with the character you’re portraying to rise up out of you to meet that character. You’re not wearing the character like a mask; instead you are being vulnerable enough to share the most intimate parts of your inner universe so that you can fill the character with your physical and emotional authenticity.
In this episode, Julie asks me to tell the story of how I got started as a voice actor. While I did recount many of the details of my journey way back in episodes 4 and 5 of the podcast, this time around, Julie and I talk more in depth about some of my personal experiences during that time and how they affected my development as an actor. We discuss how my time spent with my family in Soviet Occupied Czechoslovakia helped me navigate my later relationship with the head of my graduate acting program, Andrei Serban, who is Romanian. Then, I explain how Joseph Campbell’s scholarly work on mythology and hero journeys, helped me develop a deeper understanding of my appreciation for Japanese animated storytelling. I also talk about what a massive effect J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy stories had on my psyche and how the animated version of his famous book, The Hobbit, not only helped teach me valuable life lessons about courage and emotional maturity, but also inspired me to regard storytelling as a sacred duty, especially storytelling for children, which has the potential to shape their psyches and their worldview for the rest of their lives.
It’s really satisfying for me to be able to address these subjects with such depth and nuance, and I’m so grateful to Julie for being so prepared and attentive as an interviewer!
VAM 200 | Interview with Crispin Freeman, Part 1
Welcome to episode 200 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
For this episode, we’re going to be doing something a little bit different! Back in episode 154 of the podcast, I interviewed my good friend and fellow voice actor, Julie Nathanson. During that interview, she offered to turn the tables and interview me in return someday! So I thought it would be an interesting experiment to ask Julie to take over as the host of this particular segment, and she graciously agreed! So as a special treat for this 200th episode, Julie will be interviewing me on my own podcast! A word of warning though, this interview was very in-depth, so I’m splitting up our incredible 4-hour conversation into 4 separate episodes! To be honest, we probably could’ve spoken for even longer, but we really did our best to restrain ourselves! And so, in an unprecedented first for Voice Acting Mastery, I’m very pleased to hand over my podcast to the very capable Julie Nathanson.
Julie’s Introduction:
Hi, I’m Julie Nathanson. Welcome to the first part of my interview with the Wondrously Multi Dimensional and multi talented Crispin Freeman. You may recognize him from his performances in Naruto, Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell, Young Justice, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Demon Slayer, the Cowboy Bebop Movie, Howl’s Moving Castle, and recently The Bad Batch. Unsurprisingly, Crispin has also lent his voice to many of your favorite game franchises, from Kingdom Hearts to Call of Duty to Diablo to Final Fantasy, to judgment to Destiny. And of course, he is the incredible voice behind Winston in Overwatch.
Not only is Crispin a prolific and truly talented voice actor, but he is also an expert in mythology. He teaches classes on mythology and meaning where he brilliantly breaks down storytelling patterns in animation, film, and game. And just in case that is an impressive enough, Crispin is also a well respected voice over coach and teacher, whose passion and curiosity led him to create the beloved podcast Voice Acting Mastery, which has not only inspired countless voice acting students the world over but has inspired his many esteemed guests as well, coaxing stories and profundities from the voice acting community who share a common gratitude for the chance to dive deeper into their own processes.
The 1st 199 episodes are treasure troves of information and inspiration, and I am especially honored to speak with Crispin for this his 200th episode of Voice Acting Mastery.
VAM 197 | Interview with Josh Petersdorf, Part 2
Welcome to episode 197 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 voice actor and theme park voice performer, Josh Petersdorf! You may know Josh from his work in games like League of Legends, Fire Emblem: Engage, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and Overwatch. He’s worked on the English language dubs of anime shows like Aggretsuko and on live action shows like Project “Gemini”. He’s also the voices of both Megatron and Optimus Prime at the Universal Studios Theme Park during the live action show that takes place before the Transformers 3D ride.
That last time we spoke, Josh shared with me how he became a voice actor. He was inspired to pursue performing at a young age after watching his sisters perform in dance recitals. However, during high school, he focused more on athletics, and it wasn’t until after he was living on his own that he realized that he wanted to pursue voice acting as a career. He moved to LA, started taking classes, and was fortunate enough to be able to book work at the Universal Studios Theme Park and to also get agent representation. He started booking voice over work, but when he landed the role of Roadhog in Overwatch, it definitely took his career to a new level.
In this episode, I ask what inspired Josh to become a performer in the first place. He shares with me how much the artists from his childhood influenced him to try to create things himself, and how his love of pro wrestling and his nostalgia for 80’s cartoons still inform his artistry today! The characters from the entertainment he consumed often served as role models for him and helped shape not only his creative sensibilities but his personal development as well. He and I also talk about how the most successful voice actors are always looking to expand their capabilities and grow into different areas or niches of the industry. And finally, Josh gives me his advice for the aspiring voice actor, which at its core seems to contain a paradox: He suggests that actors both be ready to work hard and also be easy on themselves. He thinks they should both be demanding when it comes to their own skills, but forgiving as well. It’s a fascinating contradiction that I actually think you’ll find very insightful as we explore it in this episode.