Q&A

GN: You have portrayed a wide range of characters, from live-action villains to memorable
animated voices. How do you adapt your approach when moving between on-screen
performance and voice acting?

MA: Film and television lands picks up everything. Less is more. If you think it, that's usually enough. But voice is much more play art. Where it's all the fun and the different sounds and the different parts of character that you can bring with your voice. For instance, Sabre Tooth that I did for Marvel would have a very mean raspy voice. That's sort of thing.

GN: Audiences recognize you from films such as Watchmen and Elf, as well as from your
extensive voice work in series like Beast Wars. Which role has proven the most
challenging for you as an actor, and what made it so demanding?

MA: I can't say that I've had that much of a challenge. Most of the best things I've done were the most fun. Elf. That was just supposed to be one line, and we shot for 22 hours. Will Ferrell and John Favreau. And all it was playing. And yet I can easily say that that's some of my best work. Even though most of it was just created on the spot by those two geniuses and me for a tag along. In cartoons, the most challenging role I ever got was Lord Turk. He starts out as a very wise to small wizard. And he speaks. Is he a friend? Is he from the pony one? But as the two part episode travels through, he starts to extract the magic out of all the ponies and Celeste and Equestria, and he becomes bigger and bigger and bigger until he's a giant minotaur. This is Lord Turk in his whole glory. “Princess Twilight, you have something that belongs to me”. That was to be able to get both ends of a character like that was a unique transition for me and probably the most challenging as far as voice words.

GN: Voice acting requires conveying a character’s full presence using only the voice. What techniques do you employ to bring nuance, depth, and authenticity to these performances?

MA: It's the sounds, the habits, the laughs, the screams, the pain, all the idiosyncrasies that you can add or supplement your character with as far as animation goes is always welcome. It’s easy to bring it down, but you really have to get into the art of play. And you know, add a little giggle here, add a sneeze there if you want to, especially if it adds something to the character or to the scene. The most rewarding work that this is.

GN: Your career has spanned multiple genres, comedy, drama, action, and children’s animation. Is there a particular genre you find most rewarding to work in?

MA: The most rewarding work, I think, came early in my career and that was on the professional stage. When I first started acting, there was very little film and TV and animation was done in different countries. But stage, professional stage was the place that you could hone your craft and really exercise yourself in front of a live audience, which is once you played in front of four or five or six hundred people or more, you never get used to that. The charge, the excitement, the adrenaline is almost palpable. And that was the most rewarding, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams. I got to play Lenny and a Mison Men by John Steinbeck. I mean, lots of great roles. And that was, I found the most rewarding.

GN: Looking back across your career, is there a project or role you would consider a true turning point for you professionally?

MA: Comedy in film is also rewarding, but it is difficult. And usually, it comes by serendipitous means. And again, you know, what happened in Elf with Will Ferrell and I was just a thing that suddenly worked. And because it was on a film, you're able to catch lightning in a bottle. I mean, when I performed on stage, I loved it. You do 10 performances a week and you run for a month or two or three months, maybe longer. But once that show finished, it was gone. It was vapor. It was like it never happened really except for pictures and things. But when you do good work on film or TV, it's there. Of course, you know, if you look mediocre, it's also there. So you're going to live with that too. But usually, the editors cut you out if you're too boring. But if you have a chance to get something good on the camera, that can last a long, long time, which that's what happened with Elf.

GN: Many fans note that your voice is instantly recognizable. At what point in your journey did you realize the power of your voice as a defining tool in your craft?

MA: The first time that I really realized that honing my voice for film and TV would get me more roles was an episodic way back in the 80s called Stingray with Nick Mancuso as the star. Roberts Blossom, an Icon in film and TV, I mean, the proverbial old man that everybody knows and loves. He was the mafia boss and I was his muscle. And I started to go for strong character at that point with my voice using that as a hook. And I remember that, that audition alone. I got home and I had already gotten word that I got cast. So, I thought it was on to something there.

GN: What advice would you offer to emerging actors who hope to build careers that encompass both live-action and voice performance?

MA: The advice that I would give anybody turning out is that your body and your voice are your tools. And if you want to be successful and you want to have a wide range of things that you can do, it's best to look after your tools as best you can. And everybody knows what that means. I mean, we all have bad habits, but it's important to keep yourself healthy and sharp and play around all the time. You know, when you're at home alone and stuff like that. Just have fun in trying to practice this or that. I know what I'm doing. I just, I practice those lines over and over again and I have a great time doing it.

GN: You have contributed to both cult classics and major blockbusters. Looking ahead, is there a dream role or type of character you have yet to explore that you would most like to pursue?

MA: I would say that there was one role I got in the Fargo miniseries the very first season. And I got to play a mobster called the Tripoli. And the script was great. And the stuff in it with the show ended up winning three Emmy Awards. Best mini-series, Best Director, and Best Casting, which was a Jacqueline who had cast me in several things. And she cast me in that. They told everybody from the outset when everything got cast, including Billy Bob Thornton, who was the star, the evil star of that series, that everybody died. Nobody would survive the end of the show. They had a way of killing everybody so there's no leverage or a way to manipulate more money,I guess, for possible ongoing roles in future Fargo's. But I really was sad that that guy had to die. And I had heard from Jacqueline that they were unhappy with having to kill that character up because he still had a lot of legs. And that's the part I would love to have done. And I stillwish I can, or hopefully I can before I get too old, that kind of mob boss. It's, you know, it will only be a look at me. It's obvious why I would do that. But that's what I would really hope for in my future.

GN: What does GOODNIGHT mean to you?

MA: And finally, what does goodnight mean to me? You know, I have a 35-year-old son and I've got a 16-year-old grandson. And I remember many, many times when they were really young, they would read them a book at night. And in terms of you, even after that many years, you end up reading the same books sometimes to both your son and grandson. And one book was called Good Night. I remember Good Night Moon and Good Night Sun and Good Night Cow. And anyway, it was just a wonderful way to put everything while you're putting your kids to bed. So that's what Good Night means to me. 

Courtesy of photographer Charles Zuckermann