When I was in Atlanta last month for Dragon Con, there was so much to do and see. But one of my favorite moments was getting a chance to sit down with Nolan North. Famous for his voice acting in some of my generation's favorite video games like Uncharted and Destiny. Our conversation was perhaps one of the most interesting I have had, getting to know Nolan North on a personal level was an interesting experience I will not soon forget.

So here’s a kind of weird one for you. When you were filming Port Charles, what was your favorite episode?

So you do know that we did like over 250 episodes a year, close to five years?

Yeah, but I’m sure there’s one that sticks out?

(laughing) Well, first of all, it’s been nice here at Dragon Con has been a lot of fun because of the people. Port Charles was very successful for some reason on the east coast. I’d been up in New England, New York, Philadelphia, anywhere, Atlanta here, down in Tampa, wherever I go, people are like, “oh I remember you on Port Charles!” Sometimes they bring up a picture from when I was 26 years old and I’m like “Oof! What’s happened to me?”

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What was my favorite episode? There was an episode with Eddie Albert Jr. that I did and I remember him playing Charlton Heston’s son in the original movie Midway, and I was a big fan of the movie, and I couldn't believe that I was working with him. He played the girl’s father, he was Doctor Devlin, who was a big famous surgeon. But I got to work with him one on one, and we were both kind of shady characters, and just working opposite of him was a lot of fun. But honestly, there are so many memories from that show that it’s hard to pick just one.

Oh yeah, totally understandable. My grandma used to watch Port Charles all the time; when I was a kid, so I figured I had to give something back to her.

It’s funny, you know, my grandmother was a big fan of soap operas. And I remember coming home one time, and I never had any aspirations of becoming an actor and waiting for Tom and Jerry or some cartoon I wanted to watch. She was watching her stories, and I said, “these are stupid.” And she said, “don’t knock them, you’re gonna be on these someday. And she was like a witch, her name was Hazel and we called her “Witch Hazel.”

And I was like “no I’m not, I’m gonna be a baseball player.” She said, “nope you're gonna be on one of these. And when you get on one, you’re gonna take care of that Roman character for me. He's the bad guy.” And I kinda laughed. Years later, Roman was played by a guy named Wayne Northrup. When I got to Port Charles, the dressing rooms went down and by alphabetical order So Nolan North, and right next to me was Wayne Northrup. He was on the show. I think he played Rex…something. Don’t remember.

What made you go from a visual medium like television and film to voice acting mostly in video games and novelizations?

I have children, and I need to pay for them

That is fair, I have a 1 ½-year-old at home.

I was doing theater in New York, then I moved to LA and did Port Charles. I got my first real job. I did little things here and there, but that was my first series regular job. For five years. Not even five seasons. Five years, because those shows shoot year-round, and every day. Five days a week, it was crazy. When that ended, you do a CSI: Miami, NCIS, JAG, Big Love, and Six Feet Under for HBO, little bit parts, you know. And every actor thinks, “I’ll just jump on the next big series, and I’ll be on my way; I’m gonna get my Law & Order, I’m gonna go get this.” And those things don’t happen.

In the meantime, I do have my family, and John Lindstrom, who is Kevin in Port Charles, a friend of mine, said, “you know, you always used to make us laugh with those voices, you should talk to my voiceover agent.” And I did and signed on with her, and she was my agent; up until she retired a few months back. And I’m still with that company we were at. I always did both, and during it, I did seven seasons of Pretty Little Liars. I just got so busy, and it just started to snowball, it’s so much fun and it’s rewarding. Because with on-camera stuff, I am what I look like, but I can be anything in voice-over. I can be Nathan Drake, I can be Viking Beaver in Breadwinners for Nickelodeon. I’m Blaze in the Monster Machines. I can be Superman or Superboy, Green Lantern, or whatever I’ve done. *changes voice* “Deadpool. Let’s go, baby.”

*laughter from audience*

I mean, all these different characters, it’s just so much fun. So I leaned into it, especially with kids. I had friends that would go and do series. And I would be a bit envious until I realized that they were in Atlanta or Toronto or New York or Vancouver at the time, for 6-7 months, missing birthdays and different things; I was home at night for dinner. I didn’t miss soccer games, football, or plays that my kids were in. It was important to me. I remember I was offered a show, that shot out of state. It was just a guest star, it was not going to be a career builder. And I remember thinking, “I’m going to go down there for a week, and lose money, or I work these three days here, and I would make three times what I would make doing that show for a week. And I went, “well that just doesn’t make sense.” And I would miss different things, like soccer, ballgames, etc. I made that decision.

And now, my kids are in college and they're older, so I've started doing more of that again, just opening myself up to a great independent film we just shot last year. I don’t know where it’s going to go, but it's a great script, there was no money, and we shot up in Michigan. And I was happy to do it. I like doing all that stuff.

That's why I leaned in, and now I look back and I try to find the next thing. And I’m at a great point in my career; I don't need anything; just like, “what fulfills me?” My thing is, and this goes for any business, I want to work with people that are friends of mine, people that I like, and take roles that are challenging and interesting, and find something that's fun. Or... Something terrible that pays me a fortune. Let’s do that too! Let’s not be shitty! “Here’s a terrible show but let’s give you lots of money!” And I’ll do it for one season. And we’ll all go to the Caribbean. Who wants to go to Cayman?

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