For the past fourteen years, Ian Hanlin has been steadily building an impressive body of work as a Voice Actor. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Ian has since established himself as one of Canada’s most in-demand voice actors, and currently appears as Shadow and Big the Cat in Netflix’s Sonic Prime, as well as Red & Neiderflyer in Angry Birds: Summer Madness. We caught up with Ian to discuss his career and current projects.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. For readers unfamiliar with your background, what drew you both to a career in film and TV?
I was always a really imaginative kid. I was the boy with the pile of action figures creating massive storylines and doing all the voices and sound effects for the plot I was creating. The toys didn’t matter to me unless they had a story attached to them. A big part of what draws me to anything is the story connected to it. My parents read me The Hobbit chapter by chapter before bed when I was maybe seven and that really gave me a lot of very fertile imagery to feed my imagination. Out of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire and Riddles in the Dark are two chapters that I’d ask them to read to me over and over because they were scary but so vivid that I could absolutely see them in my head. Being able to paint a picture with words was so impressive to me. When I was in elementary school I was one of the only kids allowed to watch The Simpsons and South Park and I would go to school on Monday morning and perform the entire episode for the other kids, doing all the voices along the way. That bought me a bunch of playground credibility. One of those things that I didn’t really think about much at the time but it really foreshadowed what I’d end up doing with voice work. Everything makes so much sense in reverse!
You studied Drama at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec, and performed with the Shakespeare By The Sea theatre company in Halifax before relocating to Vancouver. How did these early experiences shape your appreciation of acting?
Theatre is absolutely my creative foundation. Bishop’s was an incredible experience because of how many opportunities there were to be onstage. Student-run festivals started the first week of every semester, two major productions a year, and other presentations and scenes all performed formally in front of an audience. In four years you ended up in close to twenty productions. Acting is something that has to be learned by doing and there were so many occasions to do it at Bishop’s.
Shakespeare By The Sea was my first experience with professional theatre. It was also my first time as a paid actor and I couldn’t believe I had somehow convinced somebody to let me do this! I was so fortunate to be in the company of so many incredible actors who already had years of experience and ideas that I learned so much from. And getting to be surrounded by the incredible language of Shakespeare, spending a summer in the park with this amazing group, creating three shows and then running them in rep throughout the summer and just getting to do at least one show a day for months was just so thrilling.
I also learned that when you make acting your job you have to start getting a little more responsible with yourself. You have a 3-hour show every night and matinees on weekends. You need to be able to deliver over and over again for months. There were no understudies. That transition showed me that as a profession, acting is a marathon, not a race. Also you have to be able to make the show new and different for yourself and the audience every night. You have to keep to the script but what else have you got for this moment? This laugh? That’s so valuable to voice work where you’re doing so much exploring and having to come up with new ideas on the fly.
Who were your early influences and how did they impact your career?
The first performers I remember being enamored with were Abbott and Costello. I must have rented Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein a hundred times. They were just so funny and that classic dynamic of silly and serious between the two of them was perfect. Also, Jim Varney was a huge influence on me as a kid. The way Earnest would bounce frantically between characters and then snapping back to this smiling, oblivious guy was just so fun. I think that was the first time I saw one actor play multiple characters and that was huge. You weren’t just one thing, you could be all sorts of things!
Professionally I’ve benefitted from the patience and experience of so many people. Teachers, actors, and directors. My high school drama teacher, Ms. Hunt, was so instrumental in taking me from the kid who was always performing to a “Performer”. She really helped me focus on the thing I was doing and that’s where I realized the place I was trying to get to was “Oh, actor”!
All my university professors were also incredible mentors. They took that raw thing I was doing and showed me that you had to put in the work if I was going to really do this. You can’t just be as good as you are right now, you should be striving to be better. Trying to grow. One of my professors said to me once, “You came here with a lot of skills but my fear for you is that you might be tempted to coast on them.” That shook me up, which I needed. So much of this job is being comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Most people aren’t comfortable being stared at and strangely enough, a vocal booth makes that feel even more scrutinizing. You’re in a soundproof box being looked at by a group of people who are judging what you’re doing. It takes a while to get used to that feeling. But you need that to get to that next place. If you’re never nervous I think you risk falling into that place my professor was talking about. Coasting. And the only direction you can coast is downhill.
You’re currently appearing as Shadow and Big the Cat in Netflix’s Sonic Prime. Please tell us more about the roles and what viewers can expect.|
It was a really enjoyable experience getting to play such different characters! Shadow is very cool and collected. He doesn’t really let you in on what he’s feeling at any given moment whereas Big, in all his incarnations, really wears his heart on his sleeve. Going from driven lone wolf with Shadow to this loveable guy who loves his friends as Big was always a lot of fun during recording sessions. Big is very open about wanting to protect his family, he doesn’t want anybody to get hurt. Shadow is much more pragmatic. He has an objective and there are obstacles to that objective. Sometimes those obstacles are blue and run pretty fast!
In season one, Shadow is just that, this spectre kind of observing what’s going on but we don’t really know what his deal is. With season two we get to understand more of his agenda and what he’s been dealing with while Sonic has been on his adventure. He’s none too pleased with Sonic and we really get to dig into that in the season premiere. Recording that episode with Deven was such a highlight of the show for me. We really had a lot of fun on that one!
You’re known for being one of Canada’s most in-demand voice actors. Do you apply a particular methodology when approaching a role; Can you walk us through the process of bringing a character to life?
In some ways it depends on the project. If there’s a picture of the character that’s huge. I’ll constantly be checking back on the voice while looking at the artwork thinking “Does this feel right? THIS voice coming out of THIS character. It’s very helpful when you’re creating a new character out of whole cloth, though we don’t often get artwork until later in the process. It mostly just comes down to feel. You read the sides or script and try and figure out the kind of character you’re dealing with and, importantly, where they fit into the larger story. What role do they fulfill in contrast to all the other characters? So if there’s another character in the script that I think is going to be a certain kind of personality, I’ll avoid those choices with my audition. That said, sometimes playing with expectations can be really surprising and work in really beautiful, if unexpected, ways.
In terms of existing or legacy characters, it can be a little trickier. Every fan of an existing character has their favourite version or interpretation. Everyone has their favourite Batman or James Bond. The tricky part is, recognizing who the character is fundamentally on the page. If there’s some overlap in interpretation that’s because these actors are all recognizing these essential character components and then presenting them through their own choices and idiosyncrasies. It’s about bringing something new to it. At the end of the day you have to look at it as “I think this is the best way to do it” and make that offer while also being open to direction and exploration.
What other projects are currently working on?
I’m kind of all over the place at the moment. As far as new work that’s airing, I’m Suetonius in Ninjago: Dragons Rising, Killvearn on Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, and The Peculiar Purple Pieman on Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in The Big City. I’ve also got a few projects already in the works that I can’t disclose just yet and as much as I’d love to tell you what I’m working on now, I’m afraid I am thoroughly NDA bound!
Where can our readers find out more about you?
I’m mostly on Twitter @IanStuartHanlin and Instagram @ianhanlin. So if you want to find out what I’m up to or see pictures of my grumpy dog, those are the spots!
Veronica Bonderud – The Portrait Sessions
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