There's no such thing as good voices. Because there's no such thing as bad voices. There are only good actors and bad actors.
Most people who go into show business want to go into show business. I wanted to be Porky Pig. That was my goal in life when I was five, to which my mother said, you can't be Porky Pig. You're Jewish! I don't think she realized what I wanted to do with the pig...I didn't want to eat him, I wanted to voice him.
I've been doing Porky Pig for 21 years for Warner Brothers.
No matter what it is in life that you want kid, just want it worse than anybody else [and] work harder than anybody else to get there.
I feel kind of fortunate that over the last 25 years I've been in almost every Disney/Pixar film.
I will tell you that the ego in me would love to play the lead. I would have loved to have been Buzz Lightyear, or Woody in "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2" but they hire celebrities for that, well-known people.
I'm fortunate in that I'm what you call a utility player, in that I can take a scene, if there's five or six minor characters in a scene, that need voice and personality [and] I can supply those characters.
Once you prove yourself, that you're a utility player, they're going to contact you and say, hey, yeah, we need you for a film next Thursday at Fox or Sony or whatever. You kind of get a reputation.
Would I like to play the lead? You bet. Absolutely. But I get to have fun and I don't have to shave when I go to work.
For people who want to get into the voiceover industry, even if you want to get into commercial, you need to become a really, really good actor.
Despite the fact that wanted to voice aclassic character, a majority of my day-to-day is not Porky Pig. It's commercials and original characters, promos and other aspects of the business. Porky's just kind of high-profile.
All characters have a voice but not all voices have character. And it's all about character and personality.
If you want to get into the business of doing voices for cartoons, you've got to be a good actor. It's all about acting. It's not about the voice. The voice is just one part of what you bring to the character.
Mel Blanc passed away in '89, and they held auditions, and I did my first job [as Porky Pig] in 1990.
I studied voiceover, and I studied acting and I got my first series and my first agent a week out of high school. And it took me about five years of hit-or-miss auditioning and booking on occasion before I could support myself totally as an actor.
I had a very specific goal and I think kids, more than adults, don't understand obstacles and competition. I wanted to be this one cartoon character [Porky Pig], couldn't figure out why I couldn't do it, other than living in the midwest.
It sounded nothing like the classic "That's all folks" that the character did. So everytime I'm asked to do it - and nine out of ten "Looney Tunes" shows ends with Porky coming out saying "That's all folks" - I'll say to them, which one do you want?
Fortunately, we have writers who very much respect the classic characters and the integrity of the classic characters, that are also terrific comedy writers and are able to put these classic characters in new and interesting, and quite funny situations for today.
I love pork. I love a good BLT. I know that sounds horrible but I do. I'm a total foodie. I love cooking and I love traveling and I love finding new places to eat and new cuisines to eat. Don't be shocked if you see me munching down on a baby back rib.
