Very Voice Actors – Steven Downes

Most voice actors garner praise from fans for their strong presence in nostalgic works, their expansive diversity in characters, or for their ability to create bizarre and unworldly sounds.

Steven Downes. He garners respect.

Whether you’re listening to his voice narrate a program for The Discover Channel, tell you about the newest thing for Carnival Cruiselines, or host nationally syndicated and well received radio programs, Steve’s comforting yet authoritative (and often gravely and intense) voice brings with it a trust in the power of the words he’s saying.

Many would know him from his hosting days on national radio stations like “The Classics” and “The Wine Experience”, and Chicagoans might know him from WDRV “The Drive”, announcing the Rock ‘N Roll classics for years. Others may recall his work on The Shark Attack Files from The Discovery Channel. But easily the most recognizable in the voice work Steve has done is in the provision of the iconic titular character in the Halo franchise: Master Chief.

Yeah, you all know this guy’s image, right?

Steve’s respected voice is no better showcased than in the much esteemed super soldier who’s taken the world by storm for more than a decade now.

Master Chief is this generation’s Clint Eastwood. In fact, that was some of the only direction Downes received when coming in to read for Halo’s main character. Having previously done voice work for another game called Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator back in 1999, Steve met a man named Martin O’Donnell. Martin had worked as the voice acting director and music composer for Septerra and eventually moved on to Bungie to work on Halo: Combat Evolved. Martin remembered Steve and asked him to come in and read for this new character. Channeling Clint’s western movie persona, Steve gave birth to the voice of Master Chief. The voice of respect.

For years Steve worked as a radio host by day (and very early mornings), and as Master Chief by night. He’d practice his lines in his whisper booth down in his basement and record the actual game dialogue in a Chicago studio called “Resolution Digital”. Keeping his mouth as close to his mic. as possible, he delivers the lines with a quiet and complete confidence, almost a whisper, that signifies control and command.

But how does Steve actually perform in Halo? Well, that’s another story… He says he plays Halo “Very, very badly.” Him and his wife were once asked to make an appearance at a store opening in Miami where they were having a Halo tournament. When they arrived he was told the winner would be able to play thee voice of Master Chief in a round. Steve urged that it wasn’t going to turn out well, but the crew persisted. With a big crowd around him and giant flat screens set up for the event, Downes sat down and began to play. Within ten seconds, he says, a 12 year old girl annihilated him.

But this doesn’t stop kids and adults around the world from their deep rooted love and respect for this man and his voice. When Steve visited a friend’s house after the first game had been out for about a year, he commented to a group of kids playing Halo that he voiced a character for it. At that time it was so fresh that Steve couldn’t even recall the character’s name. When one kid asked “was it Master Chief?” He responded with, “Yeah, that’s it!” Within a few minutes there was a long line of children waiting to get their stuff signed.

Originally Steve entered radio to move on to record producing, but stayed because of his love for music and the “ham” in him desiring to be an on-air personality. Well his desire to be an appreciated talent has been more than fulfilled. Since his original days of voice work back in the late 70’s, Steve has created a legacy that will continue to bring him respect from people around the world for years to come.

To all the performers out there…which emotion do you garner from audiences? Are you capitalizing on it?

NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Did someone drop a penny? It’s Mr. Krabs’s Clancy Brown!

Very Voice Actors – Grey DeLisle

Grey seems to attract many meaner, more evil, sassier types of characters. But what’s interesting about Grey is that in real life she couldn’t be more opposite. Full of smiles and laughter, she does her best to make sure people have a fun time around her. She constantly acknowledges that she has a strong desire to win people over.

So where does this darker side that manifests itself so often in Grey’s work come from?

Well, while she’s certainly a charming and pleasant person to be around, she channels much of her humor and conversation through a filter of hilarious sarcasm, sharp truths, and strong self-deprecation. Through interviews, behind-the-scenes looks, and her heavy social media presence, one could easily see where she draws this biting personality and blows it up to fit the characters she plays.

Whether voicing the abusive baby-sitter Vicky in The Fairly Oddparents, the devilish Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, the feisty Kimiko of Xiaolin Showdown, goth girl Sam from Danny Phantom, or the chillingly evil Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender, Grey seems to find common ground with these darker characters by amplifying her own pleasantly twisted senses of humor and life views.

A good amount of her personality could be attributed to her grandmother (89), whom she was largely raised by. Grey apparently takes her grandmother with her on various recording sessions and has seen her repeatedly, (and unintentionally), insult various actors and celebrities. Once when she ran into John Ritter after he’d gained some weight and grown a beard, Grey’s grandmother told him he was barely recognizable and “looked like he was running from the law…but he at least still had a cute face”.

Each of Grey’s characters listed previously, however, are certainly vastly different from one another, even if they do fall under the “darker” description. But like most great voice artists, Grey offers a wide variety of talents as she brings to the table cartoon icons like the kind hearted Frankie from Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends, the polite Daphne from many iterations of Scooby Doo, energetic characters like Flicker the Flashlight in Handy Manny and Wubbzy from Wow! Wow! Wubbzy, the sweet protagonist girl Emily in Clifford the Big Red Dog, and the regal Padme Amidala from the ’03 Clone Wars series.

These chipper and polite characters actually showcase Grey’s other prominent side of her personality. They branch from her demeanor in which she executes her sense of humor. While telling a dirty joke or whipping out a dry biting statement, she’ll do it with a smile and a laugh to follow.

I bring these two different, (more like opposite), sides of Grey up for a reason. A great lesson can be taken out of this for all voice actors. That lesson is this:

Characters branch from a part of who you are.

It may be a small part or a hugely encompassing side to your identity, but your characters are grounded in some element of your being.

In this way acting is less like trying on different masks and more like taking those masks off to show the world parts of your true self in the manifestation of a character. That is why it is so important for an actor to be active. Watching movies, adapting hobbies, going through the ups and downs life offers…these are all ways to give us more to draw from. The more involved we are in life, the more we have to amplify or reveal in our characters just as Grey has done with her wide expanse of credits.

But widening our identity is only part of the process. We need to develop the ability to draw that applicable part of us out and throw it into a character. That’s where training comes in.

Grey worked her whole life to have this ability. She started acting as a baby in stage productions. Throughout school she became known for her impersonations and eventually garnered the nickname “Dorothy” for her spot on Wizard of Oz impressions. She attended a fine arts high school and went on to obtain a theatre degree in college. She had started stand up in her early teens and incorporated her voices into her routines.

These years of training prepared her to express/exaggerate the elements that made her who she is.

I believe we all have a million characters hidden inside of us. We just need the training (and talent, don’t get me wrong) to be able to bring those characters out.

So which side does Grey sway towards more heavily? It’s probably her friendly bubbly attitude because she states that Azula was the most difficult and challenging character she’s ever played. But you couldn’t tell by her flawless performance that it was in the least bit challenging. Why? The training. The practice. She had Azula in her. The lifelong hard work helped bring her out.

What crazy unique characters are inside you? And how hard are you willing to work to bring them out?

Very Voice Actors – James Arnold Taylor

Since the age of 4, James Arnold Taylor has been an immovable force, pushing incessantly towards his lifelong goal: Doing voices.

By the time he was 8 years old he was recording onto cassette tapes and creating his own little shows. James wasted no time in moving towards his dream and by 16 he was working as a stand up comic. A year later he approached the local radio station in Santa Barbara and asked how to get into radio. They gave him a job handing out bumper stickers.

Not content to be idle in his performance desires, James would sneak into the production room at nights and make his own shows just as he did when he was a kid. The program director actually knew he was doing this and, one night when the night time DJ pulled a no-show, asked him if he’d like to fill in. He excitedly agreed and went on air for a 6 hour slot. He loved it. Nearly three months later he replaced the DJ and had his first official job doing voices.

He later moved on to become the production director, writing and producing all of the commercials. At this time he was responsible for recording many different types of voices. When they needed a man on the street he needed to sound different from his regular self. On occasion he would pull out impersonations and several times had to match the singer/songwriter James Taylor himself. This is when James, the voice actor, decided to go by his full name “James Arnold Taylor” to avoid confusion.

Things were just getting started for this performer’s career and James only worked harder as time went on. He moved to Los Angeles where he did a lot more radio work alongside talents like Howard Stern. With his own home voice over studio he would record other actors’ reels. Instead of a money payment he would ask his clients to give their agents a copy of James’s own reel. After enough time, one agent decided to listen and, as he says, “from there it was history”.

Since then he’s soared in the voice over industry, playing characters like Ratchet in the Ratchet and Clank series (and in the upcoming movie), Flash in Young Justice, and Milo from the sequel of Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire as well as its video game.

But perhaps the larger bulk of his recognizable roles are the various hugely iconic characters he’s took on over the years, like Fred Flintstone, Huckleberry Hound, Leonardo the turtle, Wile E. Coyote, Johnny Test, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The impressions don’t stop there. He’s been the voice double for actors like Christopher Walken, Johnny Depp, Michael J. Fox, and Ewan McGregor, and has been able to work closely with most of them.

His voices just don’t stop. Take a look at the wildly entertaining video below of James performing impressions at a rapid pace…

But James’s persistence had to push him through a pretty frightening time many years ago. Him and his wife had just purchased a new house they were going to bring their soon-to-be adopted baby into and quickly discovered it was a money pit. One of the many problems came from holes in the pipes which were made when the previous owners decided to nail dry wall up without looking where the nails were going. Water began leaking down the interiors of the walls and, over time, created huge amounts of mold. One day James saw a bulge in the wall and ran his hand down it only to break through to the other side. Peaking his head in to investigate further he inhaled large amounts of toxic vapors that slowly began to poison his body.

On February 13th, 2005, James woke up with no voice. Thinking it might be laryngitis, he went to the doctor to have it examined. They later found out that all 7 of the toxic fumes trapped in his walls tested positive in his bloodstream. Aside from other complications like brain clouding, his voice was gone. This was right around the time he had just booked Fred Flintstone and was doing Johnny Test and Leonardo. It was not an option to have no voice.

His persistence broke through and he researched like crazy. He took a very extensive holistic approach to healing. He started a strict diet meant to cleanse his body and began working with vocal trainer Gary Catona to stretch and build his vocal muscles. James says that luckily around that time he was doing a lot of gravely promo spots and was able to mask his sickness in those reads. James continues his healing process and vocal exercises to this day, taking 15 minutes before work to warm up and taking time after work to cool down.

He stays busy today with abundant work, including the role of Yondu in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon series, selling his motivational book: JAT 365, and touring with his one man show called “Talking To Myself” which the clip above was taken from.

As for method, James says that all voices have a “tone”. He says that if you’re in the realm of one voice you can add texture, change the accent, or pitch it up or down to get to a new impression or voice. He first discovered this pathway to understanding impersonations when he switched from a Christian Slater to a Jack Nicholson and noticed their striking similarities.

That little kid of 4 years never stopped working and look where he is now.

NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: I’ll be sure to talk about the next voice actor with glowing words or who knows what’ll happen! It’s the Princess of the Fire Nation, Grey DeLisle!

Very Voice Actors – E.G. Daily

E.G. Daily has the actor’s big 3 covered. She’s a very successful singer, a very successful on-camera actress, and a very successful voice artist.

From the early age of 15, E.G. has seen great success, going from one big project to another. She made her first television appearance in 1976 on an episode of Laverne and Shirley and from there hasn’t stopped her productivity. “If I’m not doing a movie, I’m doing a cartoon. If I’m not doing a cartoon, I’m doing an album. If I’m not doing an album, I’m doing a movie”, she says.

But her jump into voice acting didn’t come as voluntarily as her on-camera or singing work did. Having done a few radio voice overs and jingles in her past, E.G. was reluctant when her agent called her up one day telling her to audition for a “little boy voice” in a new cartoon series called Rugrats. E.G. recalls “I think I was having carpet installed” and said she wan’t interested. The agent persisted, saying it would only take ten minutes or so.

After finally agreeing to it, she hopped in her car and headed down to the appropriate studio. She read a page and the executives came back asking her to read another. After another they asked her to read a third. Page after page they had her read and then she left. Her agent called her soon after saying she got the job out of two huge groups that came in for mass auditions. This new role as Tommy pickles propelled her into her third very fruitful line of business.

A few years later she grabbed the role of another soon-to-be beloved character of a soon-to-be hit series when she was casted as Buttercup in The Powerpuff Girls. Her voices now include an abundance of credits from Rudy in Chalkzone, Knothead in The New Woody Woodpecker Show, Louie Duck from QuackPack, Cap’n Sticky in Recess, a majority of the voices in the new Pound Puppies, and Steve from the new Curious George. And she actually filled in for Susie for several episodes of Rugrats.

She’s even played the titular characters of Babe and Baby Mumble from Babe and both Happy Feet movies.

Her role as Tommy not only led to an explosion in the voice acting world, 13 years of work on the show, and several theatrical releases, but also handed her the new role of teenager Tommy in All Grown Up!. E.G. says that Tommy is her favorite character she’s ever played.

She says she never had to take proper voice classes or train in the art. She attributes her long lasting acting and singing career to her natural ability to create defined and original voices. Coming up with her voices is a natural ability, she says. She looks at an image of the character and instantly she knows what that person or thing would sound like. She doesn’t go through a process or create a backstory. She goes with what she knows is right.

That’s quite a bit of talent built up from her other lines of work. So what did success for her look like in those fields?

Well she’s played characters in plenty of movies including Dotty, the neglected girlfriend, in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. She was in Valley Girl, No Small Affair, and Loverboy, acting alongside starts like Demi Moore, Patrick Dempsey, and Nicholas Cage.

She’s also been in TV shows like Laverne and Shirley, Chips, Fame, The Mentalist, and was a multi-returning contestant in 2013’s The Voice.

And as stated earlier, her musical career has always been a busy and bright path as well. Back in 1985 she signed a huge record deal with A&M records and went on to work with some of Madonna’s frequent collaborators. In 1986 she came out with the single “Say It, Say It” which hit No. 1 on the Dance/Club Music chart. She has composed and sang for around 30 soundtracks! She can be heard in Grand Theft Auto, Babe, Country Bears, Rugrats, and the theme for Two and a Half Men. She’s even written/sung for such famed movies as Scarface and The Breakfast Club! She attributes Tina Turner and Rod Stewart as some of her biggest musical inspirations.

E.G. is still strong in the VO and singing business today. Check out her website to get a more in depth look at her works and what she’s doing now: http://egdaily.com

And enjoy her Scarface song that was featured in Grand Theft Auto:

E.G. Daily. She’s got the whole business covered.

NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: This IS the voice actor you’re looking for…the force is strong with James Arnold Taylor.

Very Voice Actors – Nolan North

“The nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man.”

These are the words The Guardian used to describe today’s featured voice actor: Nolan North.

These words ring very true to this performer’s career. Nolan has made his mark across an unbelievable amount of big title video game series playing a colorful variety of characters and taking on the role of many franchises’ leading men. It seems a developer in need of an “everyday man” jumps right to North. His semi gravel based smooth talking demeanor fits the full hearted, wise-cracking brave hero that seem to crowd the video game market today.

In each of these titles, North plays the leading man:

 

That’s correct! Drake, Desmond, The Prince, Deadpool, and Will from Darkvoid are all voiced by him!

But if that’s not enough for a Nolan fix then you can find him in the Arkham Batman games as The Penguin, the shifty stranger David in The Last of Us, the robot Sigma in Ratchet and Clank, Dr. N. Gin in recent Crash Bandicoot games, Captain Martin Walker in Call of Duty Spec Ops: The Line, and Rocket Raccoon in the Disney Infinity game.

Need more? He’s provided a huge amount of side character voices like the Orcs and Elves in recent Lord of the Rings games, people in the Halo franchise including marines, robots in Portal 2 like Space Core, characters in Team Fortress 2, and roles in Metal Gear Solid 4 (notably the narrator).

Like most great voice actors, however, his talent doesn’t stay in one genre. He’s done plenty of work in tv series like the new TMNT show as Kraang and various side characters, John Jameson and The Green Goblin in The Ultimate Spiderman, Smokescreen in Transformers Prime, Clark Kent/Superboy in Young Justice, Cyclops in Wolverine and the X-men, and many credits for Sanjay and Craig.

Nolan started out in journalism with a baseball scholarship when he attended the University of North Carolina, oddly enough. After a year working as journalist in New Jersey, he packed up his things and moved to New York to work on an acting/stand-up career. Sometime after that he made his way to L.A. where he got his first credited role on the show General Hospital. While he worked on this show he managed to nab a few video game voice over roles. These jobs persuaded him to pursue voice acting for the majority of his career after the end of Hospital’s run.

North dedicates more time to his voice work than most voice actors do. Several of his roles on games were extremely hands-on and required North’s direct involvement through most of production. For instance, his commitment to each Uncharted game lasted anywhere from 16-18 months. Involved with casting, dialogue recording, and motion capture acting, his job wasn’t the basic 4 hour or so session cartoons and other video games generally consist of. It’s a very precise job that involves the voice, the movement, and even ad-libbing.

Put in an acoustically treated area, North (and other actors) suit up in the dot covered costumes and act out each and every cut scene and motion for the animators to reference and work around. Things like punching bags represent where a log will be animated in the video game’s level. Cameras and microphones surround him as he steps over the punching bag/log speaking the lines that are being recorded in real time and will be used in the actual video game’s final product. Filming for these games usually takes about a year with 1-2 scenes filmed per week. So aside from his voice chops, his physical timing and posture have to be on point.

Even improv makes its way into North’s steady work. He says that while the cut scenes in the Uncharted games rarely use ad-libbing, the moments in the actual game play are filled with their on-the-spot dialogue. Not a performer’s skill goes to waste in North’s gigs.

One thing seems to pop up in North’s commentaries and interviews: He’s very grateful to be involved in this booming video game industry that people are finally starting to appreciate for the technology and effort that goes into it.

NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Known for his role as Ben 10, a kid with 10 characters, this voice actor certainly has a lot more than that under his belt. It’s Yuri Lowenthal!

Very Voice Actors – Bill Scott

Many cartoon loving people, myself included, have a very soft spot for the Jay Ward cartoon series like Rocky and Bullwinkle and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Their cultured humor, irregular pacing, and simplistic yet endearing artwork drew us in as children and kept us transfixed as adults. There’s grown an almost familial love in our hearts as we feel twangs of innocence and good times when we see and hear the voices of our favorite characters like Rocket J. Squirrel, Dudley Do-Right, that narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales, and of course the great magic-trick performing, bad advice giving Bullwinkle.

Bill Scott is the man who gave voice to some of the biggest names in the Jay Ward archives. He has the names Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken, AND Bullwinkle surrounding his title.

Ironically, for a man who’s well known for his pipes, Bill was born with tuberculosis and struggled with it as a child. His parents moved from New Jersey to the arid climate of Denver, Colorado. This did indeed help the young boy’s infirmity!

While his prolific voice over career is something to marvel, his writing and artistic career is just as (if not more) extensive and impressive. He discovered his fascination with animation growing up with Felix The Cat. His first job as an artist came to him when he was just a kid. He was payed to paint pictures of characters from the then-recent Disney movie Fantastia live in front of customers and passersby for a downtown department store.

After graduating college he went on teach at a high school for a year, saying later the experience was “traumatic”. He soon decided to enlist in the army and was stationed in the U.S. Army’s “First Motion Picture Unit” where he served under Lt. Ronald Reagan! The First Motion Picture Unit was a powerhouse creator of army films (largely propaganda), and was the first military unit made up of people from the entertainment industry.

When he finished his time with the unit he moved on to several big name writing jobs. He did work for Warner Bros., wrote for the largely popular puppet show Time For Beany, and worked on many projects for “United Productions of America” including the adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s Gerald McBoing-Boing.

Following this path of success he began writing for Jay Ward studios where he was eventually asked to help in the creation of “An adventure story about a moose and a squirrel.” When Ward discovered Bill’s vocal abilities he personally asked him to be the voice of the blundering pun-telling moose in their new series.

While he added onto his work for Jay Ward with voices for Mr. Peabody and Dudley, he continued his writing career. General Mills, a huge sponsor of Rocky and Bullwinkle, had a plethora of ads for Bill to write. He even branched out to on-camera work as well, appearing in The Duck Factory starring Jim Carrey and showcasing other voice talents like Don Messick and Frank Welker.

Bill Scott greatly appreciated the legendary characters he was so privileged to give life to. “I grew up with you!” He says, quoting many he’s met. He acknowledges what a bizarre and rewarding job it is to say: I’m Bullwinkle Moose.

“Why wouldn’t you be proud to say that?”

NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: First name Michael, last name Rotch…wait that’s not right…First name Hank, last name Azaria. IS THERE A HANK AZARIA IN THE HOUSE???

Very Voice Actors – Tom Kane

Tom Kane is all over the board. He’s one of the big ones. And the strange thing is, his name is scarcely brought up.

Providing iconic characters for Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, Pixar, Lucas Films, and so much more, Tom certainly deserves all the respect and mention that today’s modern voice actors receive.

You may have heard his deep and rich tones announcing for the Academy Awards, narrating Pixar sizzles (like Ratatouille and Wall-E), or providing the voice for a variety of movie trailers.

Or…

You could recognize him as one of these:

   

  

 

Tom started voice over work when he was just 15 years old. Growing up in Kansas he thought “It’d be fun to hear my voice on television” and started working towards that goal saying “I didn’t know anybody got paid for it.” He was raised with the voices of many of television’s most iconic shows like Hogan’s Heroes and Star Trek and says he received the inspiration for his characters and accents through those shows.

Tom realized that most of the local commercials’ voice overs were terrible and that he could do a much better job. He began calling nearby radio stations and advertisers and essentially telling them their commercials were no good. A myriad of hang-ups later he finally set the hook when he contacted the PSA’s for the American Cancer Society. “It sounded like they stuck the microphone in front of the receptionist”, he recalls, “which it turns out is what they did”. An hour later a call came in from the largest ad agency in Kansas City at the time saying they would love to have a professional voice over guy. Being just 15, Tom was driven to the headquarters by his dad who was actually mistaken as the voice guy and quickly pointed out it was his young “pimply faced” son that had the deep pipes they wanted.

As Tom was escorted into the rented out, expensive recording booth he could see the recording engineer, the one who agreed to Tom doing the voice over, being chewed out behind the class for bringing in a kid. With some audacity Tom asked into the microphone if they’d like him to read the script with an accent. There was a pause and the producer asked “…What?” Tom repeated his question adding further that he thought the script might sound better being read with the Pepperidge Farm type voice. Skeptically the producer replied, “Oh you do a 75 year old man from New England, do you?” One solid read later they sat quietly behind the glass and slowly responded with “That’s 29 on the nose…Ya, that’s good.” Tom only recorded three takes by the end of the session and the directors/producers were satisfied. 3 days later the same ad agency calls up requesting Tom for another 5 commercials.

Tom continued on with college and ended up graduating. Throughout High School he had done 100 or so commercials and had actually written several of them as well.

His accent work has only increased over the years. About 20-25 percent of his gigs, he says, come from doing some sort of British accent. He’s the voice of Disney Asia and has done Promos for India’s Cartoon Network.

Tom highlights his proudest moments as being the voice of Yoda, (being a huge Star Wars nerd), and meeting/working with such legends as Tom Hanks.

A down-to-earth, humble, and all around talented guy, Tom Kane deserves all the attention more talked of voice talents draw.

A mission statement to all: Let’s talk more about Tom Kane!

NEXT WEEK’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Kids look out, it’s Miss Finster! The great April Winchell!

Very Voice Actors – Rob Paulsen

Rob Paulsen. What can I say? He’s toony and a whole lotta looney.

A role model is what he is.

Sure he’s big in the voice acting business. I mean BIG. He’s the voice of so many-a starry eyed kid’s childhood. You can hear him singing about llamas, going crazy over pizza, naming every country in the world, and Narfing up a storm on your screen. Some of his lesser credited roles are some of my favorites! Jack Phenton never ceases to send me into fits of laughter. Mark Chang is a thoroughly entertaining character. And Batroc the Leaper from The Ultimate Spiderman is an absolutely hysterical bit.

But these things aren’t what put him at the tippy top of my role model list. (Well, they do, but something else seriously solidifies his place there.)

He is a model citizen in socialization.

I mean it, you listen to him on his growingly popular Rob Paulsen’s Talkin’ Toons, hear him talk to his fans at conventions, or watch him in any interview and you’ll see that he’s what every entertainer should strive for. He’s stupidly polite and makes the person he’s talking to feel like a million bucks. He has a joke up his sleeve and a voice ready to pop out at any minute. He does his best not to bad mouth a soul and endlessly sings the praise of the people he’s so honored to work with.

I’m fascinated by the way he can essentially get along with anyone. You throw him in a crowded party without a soul he’s familiar with and you can bet he’d have a list of friends by the time the night’s over.

Don’t get me wrong, his acting chops are among the best. I mean, come on, I feel like I don’t even have to say anything to applaud his award winning performances. But it’s the way he gets along with everyone so well that draws me to him constantly.

He’s got it all. The right mind set for the business, the acting skills, AND the inability to be disliked.

We could all do well to take a page out of Paulsen’s book. Whether it’s self-deprecation, just as Rob mocks his own film career with credits such as “Body Double” and jokes of his age saying “I was the entertainment at the last supper”; whether it’s in humility, just as Rob praises the musicians and directors of Animaniacs and Tiny Toons saying they are the true rock stars; or whether it’s in charitable acts, just as Rob donates the proceeds of his ordered autographed photos to The Wounded Warrior Project and Operation Smile, Rob Paulsen is an icon to follow.

No, I’m not Rob’s secret promoter. And no, he didn’t slip me a twenty. 😉 I simply want to spread good advice: Be like Rob Paulsen.

NEXT WEEK’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: Is it Ricky Gervais? Is it President Bush? Is it Robert De Niro? NO! It’s…All of them! JIM MESKIMEN