Along with other members of the press, I had the opportunity to meet with Crispin Freeman.
Crispin has a wide voice acting resume with animation. It ranges from Hellsing to Naruto to Choibits to Durarara to The Melancholy of Huruhi Suzumiya. But more importantly, he has voice acted for such amazing video games as Destiny, Metal Gear Solid 4 and 5, Bayonetta 2 as Balder, Persona 5 as Arsene, and most popularly Winston from Overwatch.
Meeting a voice actor for the first time teaches you that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Looking at what he did from the short synopsis on the media packet I couldn’t quite put the face with all of the voices but that’s speaks to the skill of the actor.
Based in LA, Crispin has a well-established international podcast called “Voice Acting Mastery with Crispin Freeman” his website www.CrispinFreeman.com with well over 1,000,000 downloads. Often, he is asked about how to be a voice actor, since his first ACEN in ’99, and hasn’t been able to give proper advice past “Know Yourself” or some other generic mystical line. With the inception of the podcast, he has been able to teach many people on how to voice act and make a career out of it.
I thought that the world of voice acting was easier since there was would be less involved but Crispin had a different take on that. Since the 90’s, the equipment hasn’t changed much as far as the mic is involved. And then the internet came along. Now, voice actors are required to have an at home studio with high speed internet to be able to send their audition tapes a moment’s notice, even if for example, you are at a wedding as Crispin unfortunately encounter. There doesn’t seem to be the same sense of togetherness where one actor can critique another and grow together.
Crispin spoke about the difference in voice acting between voice acting for video games and animation. With all the possible leaks of information in the video game industry, most companies have a tight lid on the info and this also applies to the voice actors. It makes their job even more difficult when they are asked to voice a character that they don’t know the backstory of. Crispin mentioned how must use the archetype of previous characters he’s worked on to find the voice that fits the character best. With over 20 years of experience, he has a lot in his arsenal.
It was an amazing experience and I glad to have met such a talented man. I will be playing a lot more Winston for a while.