Actor’s voice has heroic quality
He can’t fly or bend steel with his bare hands, but actor Yuri Lowenthal has an affinity for superheroes.
The actor, who voiced the Prince of Persia in video games and will guest-star on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” tonight, says one of his most satisfying roles was portraying Superman in the animated series “Legion of Superheroes.”
“As an actor, I audition for jobs every day,” Lowenthal said. “When it gets to be one of ‘those’ jobs, because I’m a huge comic book nerd, and have been since I was a kid … that always really gets me going because that’s my stuff.”
“Legion of Superheroes” features a young Superman who goes to the 31st century to aid a group of young superheroes in their battles with the villains the Fatal Five.
After his first audition, Lowenthal was called back to read for two members of the Legion of Superheroes: Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5. He also was called back to read for the Man of Steel himself.
Upon arriving at the callback, he read the “sides,” or script, for Superman and Brainiac 5 before the producers asked him to stop.
“I was too nervous to say, ‘Hey, what about Lightning Lad?’”
Lowenthal thought he’d blown it but decided to try to forget about it and move on. A few weeks later, he got a call from his agent.
“You’re Superman,” she told Lowenthal.
“I started screaming … and jumping around the apartment,” Lowenthal said.
Much later, the director revealed to Lowenthal that he wasn’t asked to continue because he had the Superman role locked up.
“The reason we sent you home after reading just two of the three characters we called you back for,” Lowenthal recalled the director telling him, “is that we realized that, ‘Here’s our Superman,’ and we didn’t need to have you read anything else.”
Lowenthal also voices the superheroes Iceman in “Wolverine and the X-Men” and Ben 10 in “Ben 10: Alien Force.”
“Hero characters suit me, I think,” Lowenthal said. “I always wanted to be a superhero when I was a kid, and I really haven’t stopped.”
Three DVDs featuring the “Legion of Superheroes” are available, and episodes are available for download online at iTunes and Amazon.com.
– Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
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[...] – 3.24.2009 — Actor’s voice has heroic quality [...]