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:: Wayne Grayson Interview by Elizabeth Silvas ::
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Question 1: How did you get to do the part of Mikey? And did you originally want someone else?
Wayne: 4Kids had auditions for a new TMNT show and since I'd been working there rather steadily on Yu-Gi-Oh and stuff like that, I got called in. They showed us clips from the first live-action movie and had us pattern our takes on the characters after the movie voices. I always wanted to get cast as Mikey. He was my favorite when I was younger and I like him even more now since I get to play him.
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Question 2: What is the coolest and what is the hardest thing about doing Mikey's voice?
Wayne: Well, the coolest thing is getting to mess around and come up with new, hopefully funny stuff. They give us a lot of freedom to experiment with our characters. The "girly scream" is the hardest thing, which is ironic because that bit came about by me playing around with the voice.
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Question 3: Is the voice of Mikey your originally voice or a voice over you can do?
Wayne: I do have a slight, scratchy quality to my voice, but in real life, my voice is deeper and I have the ability to calm down every now and then...unlike Mikey.
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Question 4: Do you get along well with the other 3 turtle VA's? and hang out together?
Wayne: They're all EVIL!!! They must be stopped!!! No, no, just kidding. I get along great with the other guys. Campbell's one of my best pals. We hang out all the time.
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Question 5: What other works do you do on TMNT or other cartoon shows?
Wayne: Let's see...I played an Utrom called Krang, several Foot ninja and Purple Dragons, Metalhead and various aliens on TMNT. For Yu-Gi-Oh, I played Joey, Shadi and Dartz. On Yugi GX, I'm Syrus and Banner. I played, like 40 guys on Ultimate Muscle. I played Benitora on Samurai Deeper Kyo and the title role in Sadamitsu the Destroyer. Currently airing on Cartoon Network is Princess Natasha, in which I play Lubek. I'm Buzzer on G.I. Joe Sigma Six and I pop up every once and again on Pokemon. Whew!
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Question 6: What do you do in your free time when not voice Mikey?
Wayne: I read a lot. Comic books, classic literature, plays. Gots me a bunch of interests. I watch quite a bit of DVDs as well. I love doing live theatre. Bumming around just listening to music. Making time with my girl. Yeah, and I enjoy hanging out with my friends, some of whom have nothing to do with cartoons, if you can believe that.
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Question 7: Who is your favorite turtle character out of all 4?
Wayne: See my answer to #1.
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Question 8: Did you ever watch any of the other TMNT series, example: the original TMNT, or any of the movies? If you did which ones where your favorites?
Wayne: I watched the first story arc of the first cartoon and I saw all three live action features. The first movie was great, the others, not so much. I read the original comic books for years. They were really cool.
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Question 9: Have you ever had a scary moment in your life because you voice a popular cartoon character? You know besides me interviewing you -
Wayne: There have been a few interesting encounters with overly-enthusiastic fans, but I wouldn't necessarily call them "scary" encounters. I'm constantly taken aback by how much more the fans know about the show than the actors do. Las Vegas was kind of scary. Okay, well there are moments when I'll do a panel at a convention where someone invariably gets their dander up about some executive decision concerning a show I work on. This bothers me more than scares me because honestly, actors have nothing to do with executive decisions. There are committees of people in three-piece suits who decide to alter programming, but I guess, since at the convention panels the only people to scream at are the actors, these people feel like it's cool to yell at us. I really don't like that.
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Question 10: When taping for the "On the Next Ninja Turtles" preview how many of those do you do a week?
Wayne: Jeez, umm...I'm gonna guess that I personally do just one per week to promote the upcoming episode for the following week. Sometimes we do more if the promo department gets their junk together.
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Question 11: The Ninja Turtle "Shorts" how many in total have you done and will there be more in the future?
Wayne: I don't know for sure how many we've done, but there are more on the way, including one written by our very own Sam Regal!
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Question 12: Can you share with us info about the new "Fast Forward" series? And what's your opinion of the new show?
Wayne: Well, I can't, under contract, comment on shows that haven't aired yet. Besides, wouldn't me saying something constitute a spoiler? But I will say that the format of the show will change a bit. The characters remain the same, but we're facing new challenges in a new world. I like it so far. It's fun going through the same adjustment period that Mikey and the guys are going through. I'm getting surprised more often these days.
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Question 13:
Can you give any advice for anyone who wants to do voice acting?
Wayne: Take lots of acting and speech classes. Find out what you're good at-get feedback from others. The more versatile you are, the better, so get a good backlog of voices you can do. Listen to people talk. Don't be afraid to look/sound like an idiot.
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Elizabeth: Well thanks for the interview Wayne! Your an awsome dude!
Wayne: You rock, Girl!
Grayson out!
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