Voice Actor - Phil LaMarr

Undoubtedly one of my favourite voice actors solely because he voiced Samurai Jack, I later found out that he also voiced Vamp in Metal Gear Solid and many other shows and games I used to play in my youth. The fact that one man voiced so many inspirational characters, is an inspiration in itself - especially when he did it so well that I didn't even realise until recent times.

Phil has voiced both old and young characters of various ethnic origins; it was hard for me to put a face on him until I actually saw what he looks like. That is one particularly unique thing about voice actors. If they do their job well enough, the face you match to the voice is that of the character, rather than the person voicing the character. This requires a good level of skill and talent at acting, that famous actors can't achieve in the way that audiences go to see a film because of the actors rather than the characters they play. The same thing might be done with some voice actors, but I don't go out of my way to see films with voice actors I know about.

The rising popularity of video games, animation, and films, along with combinations of the two such as machinima and heavily narrative driven games, means that the call for talented voice actors is on the rise, and I would count Phil LaMarr as one of my primary inspirations.