Here's
a group of experienced voice actors on the final day of Youmacon. From
left to right they're Patrick Seitz, Chris Cason, Lou Albano, Tony
Oliver, Caitlin Glass and Brett Weaver. You're wondering what Lou
Albano is doing in this group? Wasn't he a pro wrestler instead of an
actor? Well, a lot of rasslin' is acting, and that kind of experience
has come in handy for Albano's acting career after the end of his days
in the ring. And Albano has had a lot of those days -- at 73, he's one
of the oldest guests ever at an anime convention. This throwback to the
heyday of Fred Blassie, Bruno Sammartino and Dick the Bruiser made such
an impression with his wrestling characters that he also got real
acting jobs in movies, and finally as the animated cartoon version of a
video game character.
Around
the same time that many of the 21st-century convention fans were born,
Albano started his post-wrestling acting career with the role of Frank
the Fixer in Wise Guys with Danny DeVito. He's appeared in a couple of
dozen films since then, and one of the reasons is that he appreciates
the value of a dollar. Albano wrestled in an era where you could make
$15,000 in a good year, while nowadays, a wrestler of his standing
could earn six or seven figures. "For me, acting is a great great
force, a pleasure," Albano told the fans at Youmacon. "It's something
to do that I appreciate - you go out and prove to the people your
ability to act. I'm very happy." Part of that career - and the main
reason that Albano was invited to appear at an event where he's the age
of most peoples' grandparents - was spent as a voice in the Super Mario
Brothers Super Show animated cartoon, a role that went on for a couple
of years. That voice career was longer than the time that some of this
year's convention guests of honor have spent as voice actors.
One
of those relative newcomers, Caitlin Glass (right), who wasn't quite 25
years old at the time of Youmacon, told an illness story. She got sick
during a late recording session for Gunslinger Girl, a session that had
to be finished to meet the series's release schedule. Glass was so ill
that she had to record her lines sitting down, but she finished the job
so well that no one could tell how bad she really felt. You might think
that Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist might be Glass' most memorable
role, but she really got a kick out of Takane, the sword-wielding biker
chick in Burst Angel where people from Osaka were presumed to speak in
broad rural Texas accents. Glass was still a toddler when Tony Oliver
(left) first voiced Rick Hunter in the dub of the three series that
were combined to make Robotech. "Rick Hunter is the closest to my heat
because it started my career, but there are two others that I like," he
said. One of them was Lupin III because of the way he speaks, and the
other was Harry McDowell from Gungrave, the underrated video game
adaptation, "because he's so mean and nasty, and it's so far away
from what I've done." He had his own stories about voice acting
oddities, such as the time that he was stuck in a coffin-sized
recording booth that had foam flaking off the ceiling, or the time that
he had a character in a fight scene that kept shouting "gaibulge." "It
took me 20 times to get it right," he recalled.
Weaver
has something in common with Oliver, in that both had roles in the
Macross series. When ADV Films renewed that series and made a fresh
Macross dub, Weaver got the Roy Fokker role that had been originated by
Dan Woren. Weaver watched the original Robotech dub when he was a
teenager, and it was special for him, years later, to have a major role
in the new dub. For Weaver, that role had been a return to the dubbing
booth after some time away from ADV Films. "When I started acting
again, I realized how much i loved doing it," he said. Roles such as
Carrot Glace in Sorcerer Hunters and the tiny-brained Domaramu in
Dragon Half - "He's so stupid he can't remember his name unless he
keeps saying it" - left Weaver wanting more work, despite the year he
spent away from the booth, time during which he got married.
Seitz
(left) and Weaver also have something in common: both have been
elementary school teachers, giving them a bond that only those with
that experience can understand. Seitz gets to play roles that are all
too human, such as the young man who falls in love with his sister in
Koi Kaze ("Ninety percent of the things I said in that show are just
wrong"), or are undead, like Jan Valentine in the past and future
Hellsing dubs. Cason's favorite role isn't human, either; the voice of
the whatever-that-thing-is Babbit in Kodocha. "Babbit was fun - it was
nuts," Cason said. "He can multitask himself into eight versions of
himself, he can be his own mother." Cason's other big character is
Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist, and he gets a big role in the FMA
movie. "Fullmetal was so good and the character was so dark and evil,"
he said.
Here's
a group of experienced voice actors on the final day of Youmacon. From
left to right they're Patrick Seitz, Chris Cason, Lou Albano, Tony
Oliver, Caitlin Glass and Brett Weaver. You're wondering what Lou
Albano is doing in this group? Wasn't he a pro wrestler instead of an
actor? Well, a lot of rasslin' is acting, and that kind of experience
has come in handy for Albano's acting career after the end of his days
in the ring. And Albano has had a lot of those days -- at 73, he's one
of the oldest guests ever at an anime convention. This throwback to the
heyday of Fred Blassie, Bruno Sammartino and Dick the Bruiser made such
an impression with his wrestling characters that he also got real
acting jobs in movies, and finally as the animated cartoon version of a
video game character.
Around
the same time that many of the 21st-century convention fans were born,
Albano started his post-wrestling acting career with the role of Frank
the Fixer in Wise Guys with Danny DeVito. He's appeared in a couple of
dozen films since then, and one of the reasons is that he appreciates
the value of a dollar. Albano wrestled in an era where you could make
$15,000 in a good year, while nowadays, a wrestler of his standing
could earn six or seven figures. "For me, acting is a great great
force, a pleasure," Albano told the fans at Youmacon. "It's something
to do that I appreciate - you go out and prove to the people your
ability to act. I'm very happy." Part of that career - and the main
reason that Albano was invited to appear at an event where he's the age
of most peoples' grandparents - was spent as a voice in the Super Mario
Brothers Super Show animated cartoon, a role that went on for a couple
of years. That voice career was longer than the time that some of this
year's convention guests of honor have spent as voice actors.
One
of those relative newcomers, Caitlin Glass (right), who wasn't quite 25
years old at the time of Youmacon, told an illness story. She got sick
during a late recording session for Gunslinger Girl, a session that had
to be finished to meet the series's release schedule. Glass was so ill
that she had to record her lines sitting down, but she finished the job
so well that no one could tell how bad she really felt. You might think
that Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist might be Glass' most memorable
role, but she really got a kick out of Takane, the sword-wielding biker
chick in Burst Angel where people from Osaka were presumed to speak in
broad rural Texas accents. Glass was still a toddler when Tony Oliver
(left) first voiced Rick Hunter in the dub of the three series that
were combined to make Robotech. "Rick Hunter is the closest to my heat
because it started my career, but there are two others that I like," he
said. One of them was Lupin III because of the way he speaks, and the
other was Harry McDowell from Gungrave, the underrated video game
adaptation, "because he's so mean and nasty, and it's so far away
from what I've done." He had his own stories about voice acting
oddities, such as the time that he was stuck in a coffin-sized
recording booth that had foam flaking off the ceiling, or the time that
he had a character in a fight scene that kept shouting "gaibulge." "It
took me 20 times to get it right," he recalled.
Weaver
has something in common with Oliver, in that both had roles in the
Macross series. When ADV Films renewed that series and made a fresh
Macross dub, Weaver got the Roy Fokker role that had been originated by
Dan Woren. Weaver watched the original Robotech dub when he was a
teenager, and it was special for him, years later, to have a major role
in the new dub. For Weaver, that role had been a return to the dubbing
booth after some time away from ADV Films. "When I started acting
again, I realized how much i loved doing it," he said. Roles such as
Carrot Glace in Sorcerer Hunters and the tiny-brained Domaramu in
Dragon Half - "He's so stupid he can't remember his name unless he
keeps saying it" - left Weaver wanting more work, despite the year he
spent away from the booth, time during which he got married.
Seitz
(left) and Weaver also have something in common: both have been
elementary school teachers, giving them a bond that only those with
that experience can understand. Seitz gets to play roles that are all
too human, such as the young man who falls in love with his sister in
Koi Kaze ("Ninety percent of the things I said in that show are just
wrong"), or are undead, like Jan Valentine in the past and future
Hellsing dubs. Cason's favorite role isn't human, either; the voice of
the whatever-that-thing-is Babbit in Kodocha. "Babbit was fun - it was
nuts," Cason said. "He can multitask himself into eight versions of
himself, he can be his own mother." Cason's other big character is
Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist, and he gets a big role in the FMA
movie. "Fullmetal was so good and the character was so dark and evil,"
he said.
