VAM 157 | Interview with Bob Bergen, Part 1
Welcome to episode 157 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
We have a very special guest on the podcast today! I’m honored to be able to share with you the first part of my interview with a paragon of the voice over industry, Bob Bergen! Bob is most famous for playing the voice of Porky Pig, but his resume is long and varied! In the world of Looney Tunes, he’s also voiced Tweety, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, and Sylvester Junior. He’s played Bucky, the squirrel, in the Disney movie The Emperor’s New Groove, where he had long discussions in squirrel speak with Patrick Warburton’s character, Kronk. Bob also plays the voice of Luke Skywalker in both Star Wars games and in the animated series Robot Chicken. In anime, you may know his work as Lupin the Third in the Castle of Cagliostro, and No-Face in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Bob’s been nominated for an Emmy 3 times and is a member of both the Television Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He’s also a firm supporter of his fellow voice actors by being active in the actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA. In addition to all of his acting accomplishments, Bob has also been teaching voice acting classes since 1987 and is a wealth of information and experience!
In the first part of our discussion, Bob and I talk about how he broke into voice acting. He became obsessed with voice acting when he was very young, and at the age of 5 he told his mother that he wanted to be Porky Pig. Back then, Bob wasn’t aware of voice acting as a profession and he had no idea how the entertainment industry worked. He just knew that it was his dream to play Porky Pig. That single-minded focus helped keep him on track to achieve his childhood goal!
Bob was born and raised in the mid-west, but fortunately for him, his father got a job that required his family to move to Los Angeles when Bob was 14. Bob took full advantage of this opportunity and began reaching out to voice actors and animation studios in Los Angeles to find out more about voice acting. This was long before the internet allowed easy access to creators and studios. Bob was resourceful and tenacious enough to use whatever information he could get his hands on to learn what it took to work as a voice actor in Hollywood. This applied not only to networking with professionals in the industry, but also to developing his own acting skills as well. Having a plucky attitude can do a lot to get your foot in the door, so to speak, but industry professionals only fully open that door for you when they can tell you have talent.
For example, in this part of our interview, Bob shares with us the story of how he met his hero, the voice actor Mel Blanc who originated the character of Porky Pig. Bob was precocious enough to track Mel down and figure out how to get into a recording session to watch him in action in the booth. While Bob’s sleuthing had led to his first meeting with Mel, Bob also realized that he had a lot to learn about the craft and business of acting before he could become professionally competitive, so he got to work! Bob’s relentless commitment to his goals and his sober, practical approach to achieving them is an inspiration and I’m so glad I get to share his story with you!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #157 Here (MP3)
VAM 144 | Interview with Cissy Jones, Part 2
Welcome to episode 144 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 part of my interview with the award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! She’s worked on such games as The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy also works extensively in commercials and trailers.
In the previous episode, we talked about how Cissy broke into voice acting. After hearing a radio interview with Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart from the Simpsons, Cissy started researching voice over training opportunities in her own area and jumped into the world of voice over with both feet! Her commitment, organization, and tenacity have served her well! After facing some tough challenges, she eventually established herself as a marketable and successful voice actress in Los Angeles.
In this, the second part of our interview, we discuss what inspired Cissy to become a voice actress in the first place! You’ll discover that while cartoons were the first thing that drew her to voice acting, what really sealed the deal for her was finding out just how many different kinds of jobs there were in all types of voice over! After that, we talk about what it was like for her to work on the game Firewatch and what she learned from her co-star, Madmen actor Rich Sommer. She even reveals a special goal she has, which is to break a big glass ceiling for women in the world of voice over! I think you’ll really enjoy Cissy’s insights!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #144 Here (MP3)
VAM 139 | Interview with Keythe Farley, Part 3
Welcome to episode 139 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 third part of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15.
In the previous episode, we discussed how Keythe’s passion for storytelling motivated him to become involved in the performing arts. We also talked about his approach to the character of Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games.
In this episode I ask Keythe what advice he has for aspiring voice actors. He’s got some wonderful insight on the topic because of his extensive experience directing some of the best voice actors in the industry! We also talk about the unique challenges that new voice actors face when it comes to emoting, which is the ability to allow your emotions to express themselves freely through your body and voice. Too often, beginning voice actors attempt to demonstrate their emotions while acting, rather than sharing their feelings in a more authentic way. This can lead to performances that sound forced or self-conscious instead of being believable to an audience. To help address this, Keythe and I dig deep into some of the most challenging aspects of learning to act, and I’m excited to share the final part of our talk together!
To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #139 Here (MP3)
VAM 138 | Interview with Keythe Farley, Part 2
Welcome to episode 138 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 part of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15.
In the previous episode, Keythe and I focused on the early part of his career and how he broke in to both voice acting and voice directing. In this episode, we delve into what motivated Keythe to become a performer in the first place. We discuss Keythe’s obsession with storytelling and how serving the story is his first priority, regardless of his position on a project, whether he is acting as a character, directing other actors, or even writing the dialogue. We also talk about how he approached creating the character of Thane Krios for the Mass Effect series of video games. Then we dive even deeper and discuss how Keythe would approach the character of Thane differently if he was directing someone else in the role rather than attempting to embody the character himself! It’s a fascinating insight into the creative differences between acting and directing! I think you’ll find it very enlightening!
To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #138 Here (MP3)
VAM 137 | Interview with Keythe Farley, Part 1
Welcome to episode 137 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
In this episode, I’m happy to share with you part one of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! Keythe’s work is so varied that it’s difficult to reduce him to categories! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. He’s voice directed animation and video games. He’s also one of the creators of the hit musical Bat Boy. He’s even produced an animated series version of the Spy vs. Spy comics from Mad Magazine! You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. When the Rugrats video game was in development, Keythe was asked to voice direct it and so began his work in Interactive media. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15. And those are just the highlights of his work in games and animation! His theatrical and radio accomplishments are too numerous to mention here! Suffice it to say, I was very eager to sit down with Keythe and get his insight into the voice over world.
In the first part of our discussion, we talk about the early part of Keythe’s career and how his passion for Top 40 radio hits eventually led him towards storytelling and theater. His love of story in all its forms is what gave him the flexibility to be open to whatever entertainment opportunity came his way, whether it was an acting job or some other position in production. In fact, it was his willingness to take a relatively low level production assistant job at an animation studio that allowed him to learn the process of creating cartoons. The education he got from that experience not only lead to more and better opportunities at the studio, but it has helped him immensely in all aspects of his career. I really admire Keythe’s openness and his humility when it comes to working in an industry that can often be emotionally challenging, and I’m eager to share his wisdom with you!
To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #137 Here (MP3)
VAM 131 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 1
Welcome to episode 131 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 first part of my interview with voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may remember in my previous interview with Zach Hanks how he mentioned how much he appreciated Eliza’s comprehensive dialect classes. Based on Zach’s comments, I thought it would be apropos to have Eliza on the podcast to speak with us! Eliza has an amazingly long and diverse acting career. She started very young as an actress in both school and community theaters. She parlayed her theatrical experience into on-camera acting jobs in college and eventually into voice acting. She’s probably most famous for portraying almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. More recently she’s the voice of Agent Rama in the Agents of Mayhem video game, she’s played numerous characters in the animated series Sanjay and Craig, and she’s also in the animated series Breadwinners playing the Tooth Fairy. In addition, Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. While she was still in college, she bought an ambulance and travelled around the country recording people speaking in their native accents. She’s turned many of these interviews into one-woman theater performances where she reenacts her interview subjects on stage. She also studied with Robert Easton, a master of dialects who was once dubbed the Henry Higgins of Hollywood for his ability to train actors. Eliza has taken everything she’s learned from Robert and created her own unique approach to dialects and accents. I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In this first episode, we explore how Eliza broke into the entertainment industry. We discuss her desire to be an actress from a very young age and how her experiences in the theater helped shape her approach to acting. It’s amazing how resourceful and ambitious she was in her efforts to tell stories and perform. I think my listeners can learn a lot about tenacity from hearing Eliza’s story!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #131 Here (MP3)