Talking Toons

Do you like to make up silly voices? That’s exactly what a voice actor does. Voice actors perform in animated movies and on TV shows, audiobooks, radio shows, podcasts, and more. 

As a voice actor, Eric Bauza has made a career out of silly voices. He voices two characters—Daffy Duck and Porky Pig—in The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. TFK Kid Reporter Milo Bhushan interviewed Bauza before the movie’s March 14 release. Read their conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, to learn about Bauza’s career.

Voice actor Eric Bauza has made a career out of silly voices.

STORM SANTOS

Have you always been interested in voice acting?

I was actually interested in cartooning first. I didn’t even think that doing voices for cartoons could be a real career, but I always loved watching cartoons. I would record my favorites on VHS cassettes. I’d watch them, and I would pause the show, and then I would copy what was on the screen with a pencil and notepad. In college, I studied radio, television, and film production. What I loved most, out of those three, was the radio aspect: using your voice in broadcasting or entertainment.

What makes voice acting different from other types of acting?

You’re still acting, even though it’s silly cartoon voices. You still have to make the audience care for these characters. The directors, the writers, the producers—they depend on the voice actors to convey real, grounded performances and emotions.

Do you ever struggle with a voice?

All the time. And that’s okay. It’s actually better to fail sometimes, so you can learn how to pick yourself up and start over from scratch. There’s always a different way to approach [it].

What’s some advice you’d like to pass on to future voice actors?

Read lots. The more you read, the less [reading] becomes a hurdle. Actors have to memorize their lines. Voice actors are kind of lucky, because we have the script there. But even that poses a challenge, because you have to make these characters sound natural.

What are some other careers to explore in the animation field?

Storyboard artists tell the story with little pictures, almost like a comic book. And then you have animators. They move the characters across the screen, whether they’re running from an alien or trying to chew bubble gum. There’s a lot of bubble gum in [The Day the Earth Blew Up]. There are people that make the backgrounds; there are sound mixers—people that take the audio and make it sound even better with sound effects and music. You could even be a musician for cartoons. Music is a big part of Looney Tunes.

What’s your process when you're coming up with an original voice? How is that process different from when you're taking over an already iconic character, like one of the Looney Tunes characters?

I’ve had a few of my own creations on shows like The Fairly OddParents and Ben 10. But there really is nothing more special than working with the Looney Tunes [characters], because they helped raise me as a kid. They helped shape my creativity and sense of humor. I never in a million years thought that I could say, “What’s up, Doc?” and get paid for it.

What’s your ultimate goal as a voice actor?

If you have a dream or a passion, something that you love—whether it’s a hobby or something that you want to turn into a career—never give up. You might always wonder, “What if I had just kept up with that goal? What if I could have achieved it?”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.