Many actors agree – being a voice over actor for an animated cartoon series is great! You don’t have to worry about hitting your marks, spending hours in makeup, or being stuck in an uncomfortable costume. Some voice over actors even claim they can go to work in their pajamas with a face full of pimples and not worry about what their director will say.
But there’s another advantage to being a voice over actor. Since your appearance is created by animators, your performance is limited only by your imagination and the flexibility of your voice. As a result, many voice over actors have played diverse roles in animated shows that run the gamut from dark Japanese anime to amazing superhero cartoons to heartwarming holiday specials.
One actor who's been enjoying the liberating power of voice acting is Will Friedle, who has stretched his acting abilities to amazing limits by playing characters ranging from the incredibly cool to the wonderfully ridiculous.
The Batman Beyond Animated Series
Best known in live action as Eric Matthews from Disney Channel’s Boy Meets World series, Friedle got a chance to play a superhero when he was cast in the 1999 Batman animated series Batman Beyond.
In the show, Friedle voices Terry McGinnis, a former teenage delinquent who meets an elderly Bruce Wayne (voiced by legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy) and discovers his high-tech Batsuit. With Wayne providing guidance, McGinnis becomes the new Batman and defends Gotham City from futuristic villains.
To play McGinnis, Friedle adopted a sarcastic tone that took on a harsh edge when he became Batman and needed to menace the criminal element.
The Disney Channel and Ron Stoppable
Soon after Batman Beyond, Friedle made a 180-degree turn in his role as a grim avenger when he voiced Ron Stoppable, geeky sidekick to world-saving cheerleader Kim Possible, for Disney Channel's original animated cartoon series Kim Possible. Ron was basically the antithesis of Batman – he lost his pants in almost every episode and had a severe phobia of monkeys. Practically every episode also showed him being saved by Kim or his naked mole rat Rufus.
Even so, traces of Friedle’s superhero past lingered. In one episode, Ron stumbles onto the hideout of retired superhero The Fearless Ferret (voiced by legendary Batman actor Adam West of the classic 1960s Batman TV series), and becomes his successor. Unfortunately, the original Ferret ends up being a deluded TV star, making Ron’s new identity a sham.
The Blue Beetle and a New Batman Animated Series
Friedle would return to voice Terry McGinnis/Batman again in episodes of other animated cartoon series including The Zeta Project, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited. Even after his time as Batman ended, Friedle still maintained a link with future Batman TV shows and Batman movies. He voiced the villain Gearhead in an episode of the 2004 Batman animated series The Batman and played the lieutenant of a Russian crime boss in the Batman DVD anthology film Batman: Gotham Knight, which reunited him with Kevin Conroy.
Recently, Friedle teamed up with Batman yet again in a new 2008 Batman TV series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. This time, Friedle plays the Blue Beetle, a lesser-known DC Comics superhero, who comes across almost like an amalgam of Batman and Ron Stoppable. While the Beetle’s voice has Ron’s cheerful geekiness, the character also wears a high-tech battlesuit more advanced than Terry McGinnis' Batman costume.
So is Friedle disappointed he’s no longer playing Batman (voiced in this new animated series by Diedrich Bader)? Nope! According to a December 16, 2008 Comic Vine interview, “I am incredibly happy and proud and humbled by the fact that I had the chance to do one version of Batman. And now I get to sit back and I get to watch other people do it. And I love it!”
Read interviews with voice actor Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Superman, Naruto and Ben 10 at Inside the Voice Actor's Studio and Yuri Lowenthal Talks About Ben 10: Alien Force.
And learn about veteran voice actor Peter Cullen's career at Peter Cullen: Voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore.
Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
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