VAM 214 | Interview with David Errigo Jr., Part 1
Welcome to episode 214 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 eager to share with you the first part of my interview with a voice actor who has played many iconic characters in animation, video games, and anime: the super talented and emmy-nominated, David Errigo Jr.! His roles in animation are numerous including Hampton J. Pig, Plucky Duck, and Arnold the Pit Bull in Tiny Toons Looniversity, Mojo, Leach, Gladiator, and Banshee in X-Men ’97, Ferb in Phineas and Ferb, and he was nominated for an emmy for his portrayal of Dudley in Ridley Jones! In video games, he’s played Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Disney Speedstorm and Disney Dreamlight Valley, Victor Krum in Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, and both Gustav and Oberon in Shin Megami Tensei V and V: Vengeance. In anime he’s played several characters in Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, Detective Henry in Tezuka’s anime Pluto, and Boy Ranma in the new production of Ranma 1/2!
In this episode, we begin our conversation with David telling me how he got started as a voice actor. He recounts to me the story of when he was working as a theater actor in New York City, and he had an interview with a Theatrical agent. During the interview David expressed interest in voice over and the agent decided to introduce David to a voice over agent in the same office. David and the voice over agent hit it off, and David was ecstatic to begin auditioning for voice over work.
I then ask David to go back in time a bit in order to explain to me how he began pursing acting in the first place. When David was young, he was not initially interested in performing. He thought he might become a visual artist, but while attending a Bruce Springsteen concert with his Dad, he glanced over and noticed the immense joy and excitement that he saw on his father’s face. David wanted to inspire that same kind of joy in others and he believed the best way he could that was by becoming a performer.
So he immediately started taking acting classes at his school and also joined his school choir. He continued to study acting and to perform in shows throughout college. After graduating, he worked numerous acting jobs including: a 6 month tour with a Children’s Theater company, he did summer stock theater, he performed at the Arizona Broadway Theater, and he even did a tour performing on a Disney cruise ship! All of this theater work inspired David to eventually move to New York City to pursue his acting career in the Big Apple.
While he was in New York, he not only had the opportunity to meet with a voice over agent because of his theater experience, but he also was able to audition for animated projects that were being recorded in the city. Going on his first voice over animation audition was so exciting for David that he called up his father afterwards and told him that he believed that he had found what he was meant to do in life. All of his hard work and passion had lined up with his fascination and he knew deep down that he wanted to be a voice actor.
He realized that moving to LA was a necessity, especially since his obsession was animation. Through serendipitous means, he was finally able to move to the west coast and pursue a voice acting career in Hollywood, where he has succeeded admirably. David is a fantastic combination of both wild enthusiasm and rigorous discipline. He can be playful and practical at the same time, and his ability to combine these seemingly disparate aspects into a cohesive whole has contributed greatly to his success. His journey is a wonderful lesson for all of my listeners, and I hope you learn just as much from him as I did!
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