Exclusive Interview: Andre Sogliuzzo Voice of King Bumi
Image Source: CultureSlate
Andre Sogliuzzo is an experienced voice actor whose career spans the range from Avatar's King Bumi to Spark in the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. He also lent his voice to Tony Montana in the Scarface video game and Puss in Boots.
You have a long and storied career but perhaps, your most famous role is King Bumi from Avatar: The Last Airbender. What was it like playing that character?
Bumi is a wonderful and fun character to play. It was a beautifully written story with a wonderful ensemble cast. Our director Andrea Romano was part of the casting process. The entire process was fun. We all knew it was fun but couldn’t predict what it would turn into. I loved playing Hakoda because of the beautiful scene he had with Mae Whitman, the voice of Katara.
I noticed several video game roles on your IMDB page. Does the voice acting process differ between video games and animation?
It depends on the project. Oftentimes video games in many ways are more realistic. A lot of video game acting can be more like film acting than cartoon acting. You think in different terms in video games as your character can be in an intimate close-up, in a medium shot, or in a battle scene far away. Now, more animation is becoming realistic as well.
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You started your career in the theater and acted in a few live-action movies before turning to voice acting. Can you talk about the differences between the two mediums?
Live theater is when you’re on a stage and playing to a room full of people. Every night is different on stage. Voice acting uses a microphone, so it’s more immediate and intimate. The scene is imagined in animation, but in theater, the scenery is around you.
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CultureSlate has a Star Wars section on our site. Can you tell me a little about your work with The Clone Wars?
Before The Clone Wars, I voiced roles in the video games Knights of the Old Republic and Battlefront. A few of us in the second Knights of the Old Republic were the first actors to play the Mandalorians, I was the voice of the clone troopers and battle droids in the original games. I was all the different clone troopers, arc troopers, Fordo, Typho, Cody, Rex, and the different battle droids. I enjoyed the roles because they were compact. The characters reflected George Lucas’ original vision for the Star Wars franchise. On Rebels, I played Slavin. All the roles were fun because I was part of the original Star Wars generation. I’m old enough to remember when the movie came out.
One of your more obscure roles is Fred from Psychonauts. Do you encounter fans who know you from one of those less famous roles?
Fred’s not that obscure anymore, since Psychonauts gained a cult following. I had a fan contact the other day for a robot I voiced in Fallout. I didn’t get credited for the role, but it was my voice. The fan asked if the voice was mine, and I had to go back to check and it was me.
I noticed a credit you had on Kingdom Hearts, which is a game close to my heart.
Yeah, I’m Doc. I am the official voice of Doc for any Disney product. In any project with the seven dwarves from the original movie, I play Doc.
Image Source: GamesRadar
What has been your favorite role?
Bumi is definitely up there at the top. I created that voice of thin air. I didn’t get to see the art. I had a brief description. Bumi is totally my creation in terms of the character’s sound. Playing Tony Montana in Scarface was a huge honor because the only other voice for the character is Al Pacino himself. Pacino also had final say on Montana’s voice, so he chose me to fill the role. Since Scarface was an open-world game, I had to record 5,000 lines for the character. Having the opportunity to play a character that long and that range is something you generally don't get in animation. Thirdly, I’m one of the voice actors that officially covers Puss in Boots. I was thrilled to do full motion capture for Dreamworks for the role. I get to do the voice, sword fight, and dance. My fourth favorite is the American Dad character Dill, who I based on Truman Capote’s voice.
What was your most challenging role?
The gorilla in Spongebob Squarepants was the most challenging role physically. I didn’t know I was going to be in an ape suit that day. My agent thought I was doing gorilla voices. I show up at the address, and there’s a sound stage with a giant green screen. A guy comes up to me and asks, “Do you do a lot of gorilla work?” I said, “Uh, oh yeah, absolutely. He pointed, “The suit’s in there.” The suit was the smelliest, oldest thing. I thought I recognized it from the Three Stooges episode. I’m running from one end of the sound stage to the other, doing somersaults. I’m killing Spongebob in a bag, tearing him in half. I hyperventilated in that mask and nearly passed out a few times. More recently, I did Jerry for the last Tom and Jerry movie. That was a long session with giggles, laughs, squeals, and screams. So, I’m going through the movie making all these sounds, inventing them, and that was a lot of hyperventilating. I almost passed out once or twice in that role as well. That was a physical demand. Vocally, Tony Montana was difficult because there were many sessions over a three-year period, and sometimes there was a lot of screaming and shouting. Vocally, Tony was a pretty challenging role.
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