VAM 192 | Interview with Greg Chun, Part 1
Welcome to episode 192 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 so happy to share with you the first part of my interview with the talented and supremely affable, Greg Chun! You may be familiar with Greg’s voice acting work in games, where he plays the lead character Takayuki Yagami in the Judgement series, Emperor Shaohao and numerous other characters in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Ujimasa and Takeshi in Ghost of Tsushima, and a personal favorite of mine, Dr. Harold Winston in Overwatch. In anime he’s played Muzan Kibutsuji in Demon Slayer and Ryoji Kaiji in Evangelion. In American animation, he’s played Barbie’s father, George Roberts in numerous projects, and in live action dubbing he’s received great acclaim for his portrayal of the lead character Seong Gi-hun in the hit Netflix show, Squid Game.
Greg and I begin by discussing how he first got started as a voice actor. It turns out it was a very circuitous path! Greg’s original dream was to move to Hollywood to become a film composer. He had taken piano lessons as a child, and had eventually learned to play by ear. His college friends also wanted to become involved in film making as directors and actors and were eager to work with him on their projects. However, when Greg moved to LA to pursue his dreams, things didn’t go quite as he had planned. He had gotten a computer science degree in order to reassure his parents that he would have a stable job, and he initially found work at a newly formed studio at the time called Dreamworks. He was hired to help maintain their computer systems while they were producing one of their early animated films, the Prince of Egypt. In addition to his computer work in LA, Greg was also able to land some jobs composing music, but for commercials, not films.
He admits that during the next few years, he probably got a little complacent and lost some of his focus towards becoming a film composer. He also became disenchanted with the LA lifestyle and realized that he needed a change. So he decided to go back to graduate school for computer science in order to get his Master’s degree and eventually pursue a Ph.D. During his time in grad school, Greg’s friends kept asking if he was still interested in composing music for their projects. Eventually, the lure of the entertainment industry became too strong, and rather than continue his computer science research, Greg decided to try one more time to find his way in Hollywood.
He returned to LA and found work on an original musical adaptation of the story of the 10 Commandments. He started as a rehearsal pianist, but eventually got promoted to musical director for the show. During that time, he met an actress in the production who just happened to be married to the famous movie trailer voice over legend, Don LaFontaine. Greg was able to befriend Don and the rest of Don’s social circle, and they often played cards together. After watching Don work in the studio, Greg realized that he was becoming fascinated with the idea of becoming a voice actor himself. His time spent composing music for commercials had exposed him to the voice over world, and watching Don go through his workday made Greg realize that voice acting could actually be a viable career path for him as well.
Greg decided to apply himself diligently to the pursuit of voice acting. He worked with a voice over coach on a weekly basis for 8 months. He studied the voice over industry and learned as much as he could about voice actors and the studios that hired them. He went to classes and conventions for voice over. And even with all this commitment to learning his craft, it still took Greg 3 years before he turned a profit as a voice actor, and another 4 years before it became a fully viable source of income for him.
I love Greg’s story because it shows just how unique everyone’s journey towards becoming a professionally successful voice actor can be. Even though he decided to pursue voice acting slightly later in his adult life, he did it with a sense of fun and playfulness. His ability to be both relaxed and focused served him very well as he navigated the voice over world. There are so many empowering things my listeners can learn from Greg’s positive mindset and I’m very glad that I get to share his journey with you!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #192 Here (MP3)
This is more a personal question but, How will I know if Voice Acting is for me? I’m getting mentally exhausted with college right now and my current major, but I love Anime and video games, so Voice Acting seems like a fun career to me. But the problem is that I have ADHD, and I can tend to get focused on random things, so how will I know if this career is for me? Thank You