David Sobolov has voiced characters for more than three decades, including for DC, Marvel and Transformers. Photo: BRYAN BEDDER
Some of the most recognised voices in gaming and television will be at Armageddon this weekend.
Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, John Boyega and Billie Piper are among the famous faces heading to Auckland over Labour Weekend for one of the most epic Armageddon pop culture festivals the city has seen.
While they're easily recognisable to fans, some of the biggest stars of the day will be people you might walk right past without ever realising - until they talk.
Keep your ears open, because some of the biggest voice talent in the world is coming to New Zealand.
David Sobolov, Veronica Taylor and Nolan North are three voice actors with hundreds of credits between them. Today, on The Detail, we talk to them about the nature of this invisible industry.
Sobolov has voiced characters for 32 years, from anime such as One Piece to big-franchise work for DC and Marvel, and recurring characters in Transformers.
"You must pretend that you're on camera," he said. "When you're doing voice-acting, it's all in your mind, so you're seeing the people around you, the settings, especially the eyes of the person you're talking to.
"It's the same as on camera, except a lot of those elements are provided for you in the physical world. In our world, it's all imagination."
One of the big differences is the lack of rehearsal time. Sobolov said often, especially for video games, you're just handed the script - "and somehow, you have to be brilliant with no rehearsal".
"The plus is you don't have to get into any sort of wardrobe; it doesn't matter what I look like. I could be 90 years old, and still shuffle to my booth in my apartment and still do voice acting."
Following the periods of isolation and shutdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, many actors found themselves trapped at home, unable to work. Those whose jobs mainly relied on their voices had to shift gears, working with private equipment and recording lines from home.
"Here's the hidden secret of voice-acting," said Sobolov. "It's not about the voices, it's about acting the role.
"If you can remember the emotional state of the character, some physicality, things you might have been doing vocally... you're living truthfully under given imaginary circumstances.
"If you do that, it all works out."
Taylor was Ash Ketchum, the cartoon star of Pokémon, for eight seasons from 1998, playing a 10-year-old boy.
"Boys' voices do change, and sometimes it's more difficult for men to do younger voices," she said.
"I think, often for consistency, women are cast, [but] when I was cast as Ash Ketchum, there were not that many women doing boys' voices."
Women voice the characters Spritle from Speed Racer, Jimmy Neutron, Dexter in Dexter's Lab, Timmy Turner in Fairly Odd Parents, Rocky in Rocky and Bullwinkle, and - most famously - Bart in The Simpsons.
"Those women are amazing actresses, and the fact that all of us got to play these energetic boys... it is pretty great," Taylor said.
"Many times, girls' roles aren't that fun. They just don't get the breadth of experiences that the boy characters get to go through.
"I don't question why they want me to play a boy. I just say 'yes' and go for it."
While there are now more powerful female characters, Taylor said: "They still don't get to have as much fun as the boys do."
She echoes Sobolov's comments about acting, but points out that you have to keep still, so the sound of clothes moving doesn't come out on the microphone.
North has hosts of voice-acting credits to his name, including Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video game series, Deadpool in many Marvel cartoons, Penguin from Batman: Arkham City and Dr Richtofen from Call of Duty, the latest iteration of which drops next month.
The theatre actor and stand-up comic got into voice work when his family started to expand, and he decided he should have a more open mind about it. Now he's on a bunch of studio lists.
"It's a great thing to be," he said, but you do have to think on your feet.
"[Often] I won't know what the character is I'm doing, until we actually get on the microphone," he said.
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