The American anime and videogame voice actor, and special guest at Newcastle Con, talks to Ruth Edmundson about his career and the humbling support of his fans.
To reach Kyle Hebert, I first had to squeeze through a pack of doting fans huddled around him. It was no easy task, but once I had wriggled my way through, I found Kyle sitting down and enjoying a Wagon Wheel. “I’ll just finish up with this and then we’ll get started,” he shouts across with a mouthful of biscuit. And that was that.
The crowd dispersed and I grabbed a chair to sit alongside this charismatic American voice actor. He starts talking about how as a kid there were two things he always wanted to do: radio and voice acting – mainly because they don’t involve people looking at you. “I liked the fact that people could still hear me but they couldn’t see me,” he explains. This is perplexing coming from a man who has flown all the way from America to Newcastle to speak on stage and meet his fans.
However, it seems achieving his dreams has helped to develop his confidence, “or it just shows how good an actor I am,” he jests. Either way this ex Disney DJ turned voice actor no longer shows any signs of the shyness he discusses suffering from as a child. For those not acquainted with gaming or animation, Kyle is one of many actors who work within these industries supplying voices for animated characters.
On looks alone Kyle appears to be your typical gamer in jeans, trainers and a geeky T-shirt. It’s only when he starts talking do you discover he is indeed an actor, blessed with the ability to do various voices.
Throughout his 10-year-voice-acting career he has landed a range of popular characters to voice. For example, his very first role was voicing the headstrong protagonist, Gohan, from the hugely popular anime series Dragonball Z; so big the franchise boasts 14 films and 20 videogames. This cult classic is a personal favourite of Kyle’s, “when they said ‘Kyle you’ve got the part’ you couldn’t peel me off the ceiling I was that excited.”
Since then he has gone onto voice hundreds of characters including most recently Ryu (from Street Fighter 2 – the Titanic of videogames) in the Disney blockbuster Wreck It Ralph. “It was the proudest and shorted moment in my career but it meant so much to me personally. That movie is like Toy Story for gamers. And when I got the part I was like ‘achievement unlocked!’ ”.
Fresh off stage after conducting a Q & A session with fans he starts to discuss what life as a voice-actor is like. Despite what you may think his life is not as colourful as the animation he works on. “Voice actors are self-employed freelancers so we only work when they call us,” he states “and we audition more than we work – so you just treat your audition like the job”.
On top of worrying where the next pay check is going to come from; he sometimes faces ridicule by those outside the industry: “We hear a lot of people say ‘hey have you ever done real acting?’ But voice acting is juts a different type of acting.” Reflecting the stark difference between acting on and off camera.
Although thankfully the voiceover community is more supportive: “whether we’re close friends or just colleagues there is that sense of family that’s very helpful ”. This sense of support is reflected by the fans who send Kyle letters every week: “I have boxes and boxes of all these wonderful gifts from the heart – I’ve lost count but it just means the world to me”.
What is more intriguing than the volume of letters is who sends them, “I get some people saying ‘I was depressed’ and your character helped me escape for just a little bit.” “I’ve also heard from terminally ill patients and soldiers in Afghanistan – who say ‘man I played your game and it’s helped me while on tour out here’.” It’s truly astounding the effect voice acting can have on people.
As Kyle’s job basically consists of standing behind a mic recording voices for an hour or two and then going home. Yet within that short space of time he brings that character to life who fans then can connect with. “It really is the coolest job ever,” he muses. “Voice actors do this job because we are passionate about it. And what makes it even cooler is that it has an impact on peoples lives.” Kyle shows me the fan art he’s received from fans at the convention: “I’m just lucky to do what I do. It’s all icing on the cake doing it for the love.”
Japtannia 