Anime Weekend Atlanta 5 - Voice Actors
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 None of them
seems to have the same background. Some went to college, others attended
acting school, and some just fell into the business. All of the actors
who appeared at AWA on Saturday wants to succeed, and they had some advice
and stories for the large audience who attended their panel. On hand were
(left to right) Brett Weaver (Carrot in Sorcerer Hunters), Jessica Calvello
(Cutey Honey), Amy Howard (Nova in Star Blazers)... |
 ...along with
Clay Croker (Zorak in Space Ghost Coast to Coast) and Tiffany Grant (Asuka
in Evangelion). Peter Fernandez, the voice of Speed Racer, also was part
of this group. |
 Croker does
the gravely voice of Zorak in the refit of Space Ghost, and it's a group
voice on the vocal cords. "It sounds like being strangled," he said, and
it feels worse. After one tough day of recording voice tracks, Croker said
he hardly could speak for another two days. |
 Calvello loved
her anime roles for ADV Films (especially Cutey Honey, Fam, Karu and Yuri),
but she's moved to New York to expand her theatrical career - something
tough to do in Houston, where she lived while handling anime dubs. It's
not any simpler in New York, where "The acting job is not a supporting
job." To make ends meet, Calvello teaches acting techniques to other aspiring
actors, something that came from her college training. |
 Howard, who
trained with an exclusive acting school, said she jumped at the chance
to do Nova because she wanted an acting part so much - and that led to
her lifelong appreciation of Star Blazers. She told aspiring actors to
expect that they will lose more roles than they will get. "Rejection is
commonplace," said Howard. "It's not because they don't like you: you can
be too tall or too short." |
 While Howard
said that a formal acting education is very important, Weaver said persistence
helps, too. "they aren't going to ask you where you went to school. They'll
ask you if you can do the part - the answer is always going to be yes."
The upshot is that you get jobs, and even fans. Weaver was amazed to find
that people followed his anime dub roles. "It's like I was a janitor for
four years and someone walked up and said `You're Brett, the janitor! Can
I have your autograph?'" |
