Getting to Know: Darren Dunstan and His Many Talents Part 2

Please read Part 1 of the interview before reading Part 2

Voice Actor continuation

Another fun anime that Dunstan has worked on is Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, where he portrayed Grovyle, Combusken and Munchlax. If you are familiar with Pokemon, in general, most of the creatures speak only their name, which is different from Pegasus, who can speak full sentences. “It’s kind of liberating to only have one word to use. You don’t have to look down at a script, you can just let the video roll and ride the wave of whatever the creature is doing. Then you can go back to tweak and refine it.”

With his voice acting career blossoming, Dunstan worked with a variety of networks: CW, Jetix, 4Kids, Fox and Teletoon. This is actually common for voice actors to have the ability to work with different companies. It is beneficial, because one can make connections at various animation companies, which can possibly led to auditions and jobs. However, the career is not as glamorous as it sounds.

“When you choose to be an actor I think you understand you’re signing up for an unstable career of ups and downs.” The career is not financially stable. There are some shows that pay well and/or may last many years. However, there are some that does not last for a very long time. An actor is constantly searching for the next opportunity. “The trick is to enjoy the current one in the meantime.”

Another issue that occurs in both acting and voice acting is being typecast, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. If a director believes that one is able to perform certain roles or types of characters, then there is a possibility that one will get the part. However, the problem with this is that if the director thinks that those are the only type of roles one is capable of executing. For Dunstan, often times a voice director will have him do an audition for a wide variety of roles. “It’s a good call as a director, ‘cause he/she never knows what I might have in my back pocket that will surprise him/her.”

So, then there is more to his voice-acting career than just getting the green into his pockets. “Absolutely," said Dunstan. “I really want to challenge myself by creating interesting and unexpected moments in cartoons. By interpreting a line in a slightly different way, I can hopefully make a more interesting and (cheesy acting word alert!) layered performance.”
© 2011 Linda Thai

Stay tune for Part 3 of the Darren Dunstan interview!