Meet the voice ninja
LOS ANGELES A conversation with veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen includes happy interruptions by Pinky, Ninja Turtles and even a touch of David Tennant. Paulsen’s creativity and fluid ability to shift pitch, cadence and accents have earned him steady work since he decided to put animated roles ahead of onscreen performance.
In the last several decades, he’s enlivened more than 2,500 episodes of animated TV series, including Animaniacs (voicing Pinky, Yakko Warner and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff ), spinoff Pinky & the Brain and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Raphael in the 1980s, Donatello in the recent series). He faced and overcame his biggest hurdle in 2016: A diagnosis of throat cancer that required radiation and chemotherapy. Doctors spared his vocal cords and he’s back in full voice on the upcoming Sky Rat.
Q Was it difficult to focus on voice over onscreen roles when you were getting both?
A I was doing a lot of on-camera work and Alan Oppenheimer said, ‘Young man, you’re going to have to make a decision about what you want to do. If I were you, I would really look at this voice acting thing’ ... I’m so grateful I chose to jump with both feet into the voice talent pool. Here I am at 60, I just finished five solid years of the latest iteration of Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon ... and not one person gave a damn about how old I am.
Q Do you ever resent yielding turf to actors who get TV and film voice acting jobs, such as Alec Baldwin in The Boss Baby?
A If you’re a producer and you feel that having Brad Pitt be the talking chicken in your next movie (is right), hey man, it’s your dime. I totally get it.
Q How did you face the cancer crisis that so directly threatened your work?
A I never once had a moment where I said, ‘Oh, no, I’m a voice actor. Why me?’ It’s not because I’m super brave. It’s because I’ve had the incredible good fortune, as a result of my career, to speak to hundreds of children and their parents as the character that a little boy or girl is a fan of while they’re going through treatment for illness . ... I’m so grateful to have the opportunity.