There will always be those voice actors in the anime industry and beyond who stand the test of time as household names. It’s safe to say that one such person is the legendary voice actor Sean Schemmel. He is best known for his role as Goku in the Dragon Ball franchise, but he also has an extremely wide range of talents as a voice actor and has a host of exciting up-and-coming projects that some readers may be unaware of.
So, to learn a little more about Sean, his thoughts on playing Goku, the other characters heās enjoyed portraying, and the projects heās working on currently, we sat down with him for a Zoom interview. The following is the condensed interview to go over the highlights of his talk with us for the sake of being concise and clear:
Elise: Youāre best known as playing Goku in the Dragon Ball franchise, but youāre also very versatile as an actor. Can you tell us a little about your experience with that?
Sean: Iām known best as Goku, but I have over 200 credits and have done dozens of different voices for different shows over the last twenty years. And the funny thing is, and Iām kind of contradicting myself because one of the things I think is one of the hard-fast rules you want to do as a voice actor is when youāre doing a voice, or playing a part, you want to change your voice and your acting so much that they donāt know itās you. So, a lot of times, people trying to compliment me go, āOh hey, I saw you in that show!ā And Iām like, āThank you! Also . . . darn . . . I was hoping you wouldnāt recognize me.ā
And then at the same time, Iām equally vexed when theyāre like [shrugs] āYeah, youāre only known as Goku.ā And Iām like āIāve done 200 other voices!ā [laughs] So itās like both, you know? So, itās frustrating but Iām also like secretly proud because the number of times Iāve had to pull out my IMDB, people are like āoh, I had no idea,ā and I was like, āYeah, because I was changing my voice a lot!ā [smiles]
Elise: [laughs]
Sean: As a matter of fact, my own producer, Justin Cook, just reviewed Mars Red, and heās like āI barely recognized you.ā And people are like, āOh, itās good to hear Sean do a low voice.ā And Iām like āI do low voices all the time!ā In fact, I rarely do high voices outside of Goku. Iām usually doing a monster voice [speaks in low voice], or a crazy high voice [changes to high voice], or something like that, or Iām changing my voice and talking like this [changes voice again], or Iāve got an accent on or something [speaks in British accent]. Or whatever. Iām doing some kind of thing to the voice.
And then for the new LEGO show Iām working on, which I canāt really talk much about but I can mention it, Iām basically just doing my natural speaking voice. Itās just me, if I were retired, but also still a magic god from China because Iām playing the Monkey King. Itās like me, retired, mixed with a little Norm Macdonald, is the way Iām kind of doing it.
Itās called Monkie Kid. Itās out in China right now. [Editor note: Update: Monkie Kid is now available to stream in the US on Amazon Prime] Fun fact: weāre not the dub cast of that show. China, which was the original client, wanted an English cast, so they recorded it in English first and then they dub it in Malaysian and Mandarin, and other languages. And we are the pre-lay cast. And when I see people online say, āOh man, this dub cast is great,ā Iām like, āWe aināt the dub cast!ā [smiles] āWe record this stuff before they animate,ā which makes us very proud to do. Because a lot of times we get to interject our acting choices and then they can hear that and change their animation, or weāll have an idea or suggestion and theyāll draw it in sometimes, if they like it and it gets approved. So I really like doing that pre-lay work. I donāt mean to imply dub acting or actors are less than or vice-versa. Iām proud of all my dub work and I actually think dub is more difficult and challenging due to having to get the same emotions out of a pre-determined, restrictive space.
Elise: Thatās so great that youāre able to do that! Thatās awesome.
So, Iām going to ask you a little about Goku. Can you tell us about what Goku has meant to you?
Sean: Hereās the weird thing about this: on the one hand, Iām a very, very empirical scientific-minded thinker. On the other hand, though, I do not discount mystical, magical, or in this case, another way to interpret it would be algorithmically, mathematically complex causes and effects that led me to being Goku. All of which could be dictated by some sort of cosmic energy, which is plausible. That being said, usually when people ask me about Goku, since I got the part, I considered it my reason for actually being on Earth. That once I was done, it would be okay to die. I take it extraordinarily seriously.
But the reason I think Goku means so much to me is thatāand I think itās true for a lot of people, especially when we are young and are looking for purpose and meaning and for a reason to perhaps deal with an otherwise fundamentally difficult life experienceāsince Iāve been playing Goku, everything I ever wanted in spades has come to me, most importantly a reason for being and feeling like I matter. And so Iām grateful for everything I have, from my very own partner, to decades-long friendships, and the honor of bringing life to such a legendary and meaningful character for so many millions of people across so many cultures and nations. It’s an overwhelming gift and honor. Itās a big part of why I channel so much into the character. Also, such a character REQUIRES it.Ā Ā
There were a number of things that I went through growing up that kind of portended that I may end up with something like this. I was born in the year of the monkey, my grandmother used to call me āMonkey Boy.” There was this whole monkey energy that Iāve been with my whole life. And there were a couple of other mystical things . . . oh, the other thing was when I got on the role, I was really lost. When I was twenty-seven/twenty-eight, I got divorced and I got remarried too fast, and then I was really depressed.
And I donāt believe in prayer because I donāt think prayers get answered because none of mine have ever been answered, but I do believe in just putting stuff out there, just kind of wishing. Because I think one of two things happens: a. youāre going to get a cosmic result, and the energy is going to go out into the universe, and there are cosmic deities that give a shit about you, or b. your unconscious mind is a powerful super-computer, and by putting the quest out there, youāre really putting it in. And then your mindās working in its sleep to figure it out, and then an opportunity mayāon a subatomic level, or in a mirror-neuron level, or some kind of cosmic levelācome your way, or youāll see the opportunity when it arrives. I refer to this as the ācosmic nudgeā.
Either way, I was in a real down place, and I said to the universe, āHey man, I just need something to get me out of this, and whatever you give me, if itās the right thing, Iāll treat it like gold. Iāll give it my all.ā And then I got on Dragon Ball. [smiles]Ā
Elise: Thatās awesome.
Sean: And it was my first audition ever. Oh! And the other weird thing: when I was a little kid, I loooved cartoon voicesāthis all ties into the Monkey King and Goku, and being born the year of the monkey, and all this other shit. When I was a little kid, I loved cartoon voices, and I loved, like, Rich Little and other impersonators because I could feel they were spiritually different. When Rich Little did an impression, he wasnāt Rich Little anymore. Bill Cosby would do it, and he wasnāt Bill Cosby anymore. Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams, or anybody Iād watch growing up, they werenāt who they were anymore, and I could feel that spiritually.Ā Ā
So, for me, it was like, āWow! I could be somebody else–anybody else.ā So I would turn the volume down on my TV as a little boy and act out scenes on TV shows I didnāt like, that were typically in black and white because I only liked color TV. Because youāre a little kid and itās the ā70s, and youāre like āBlack and white! Pfft! Colorās great!ā And color had been out a couple years by then, but not too long! And I would turn down the volume and act in real time. And I would just do that all the time.
Or my brother and I would get out rock nā roll magazines, and my favorite thing to do was make my brother laugh. So Iād look at a heavy metal guy and go, āThis guy sings like this!ā And go [makes high noise], āThis guyās saying this!ā Iād point at faces and make them say what I thought theyād sound like. So in that way, I was playing with voices all the time. I used to prank my friends. I was just always into that sort of thing. So while, ultimately, I had ended up being focused on French horn, and becoming a professional hornist as an adult, and that was my first true love, when I got on Dragon BallĀ and got in the booth the first time, it was even more rewarding and deep because it felt like I was coming home.Ā
Elise: So, you were talking about how everything aligned for you to get the role of Goku. How did you happen upon it? Did you see a casting call and just went for it? How did that fall into place?
Sean: Like I was saying, I was a professional French horn player, playing in orchestras, and I had a studio of about thirty students I was teaching. And my (former) wife at the time was an actress, and back in the day there was no real internet to find acting jobs. I mean, it was 1999/98. There was internet, but it wasnāt widespread. And she would look in the Dallas Observer every morning. She would just look for auditions. And Iām getting ready for work or whatever and sheās like, āHey, thereās an ad: āVoice Actors Wanted for Cartoon. Call this number.āā
So, hereās what happened: first she said, āYou should do that,ā and Iām like, āNah. No thanks. Iām a horn player.ā I mean, I wanted to be a pro horn player since the time I started. I wanted to play in orchestras and do the symphony thing, and thatās what I was going to do. And I didnāt care. Then I mentioned it to a couple friends, and theyāre like, āAre you kidding me?ā And Iād done some work in puppet theatres doing voices, but I wasnāt doing puppet work in the theatre for the voice. I got the job as the marionettist, pulling the puppets, and slowly they let me do voices. Not in real time; we recorded all of those. But my friends were really pressuring me to do it, and I ultimately agreed.Ā
So, she found that ad and sheās like, āNo, you really should do this,ā and Iām like, āFiiiiine.ā Iām the kind of person who goes āfine,ā [but] Iām not going to half-ass it, ya know? So, I took any voices Iād done at the puppet theatre, which were just a few, added a couple of my own, typed up a resume, gave them my classical music resume, showed up dressed like a professional on time. And there were definitely some things Iād learned from my training as a musician on how to audition for an orchestra that applied to how to audition for a show. One of the fundamental rules of classical music, when youāre playing, is ādo not leave your performance in the practice room,ā which just means donāt play so hard, so many times, so much that you left the good take in the practice room. You want to push it, and right when you feel like youāre right, stop playing and save it. And thatās what happened.
When I got the audition, they were moving production from Canada to Texas, and they wanted us to mimic the Canadian cast for vocal consistency. So they stuck us in a room with a videotape player and just clips of twelve different characters by ourselves and a script. We would just watch it, copy the voice, watch it, copy the voice. And I did that for about thirty or forty minutes, and I got through it pretty quickly. I was thirty at the time, and if I hadnāt had the experience of being a musician, I would have probably blown up my voice in the booth and then ruined my audition.
But as soon as my voice started to hurt a little bit, I thought, āOkay, well Iām just going to sit here.ā So I just sat there, and what I did was I sat there and watched the stuff over and over after Iād practiced, to save my voice and then just kind of stay mentally idlingāmentally hot, ready. So, I knew when I walked in that I was going to be able to perform at my highest potential and hadnāt wasted the performance. I was very surprised that I got Goku because I did a bunch of those spot-on. I know I killed it at Captain Ginyu, but they wanted me for Goku.Ā Ā
I ended up playing King Kai [as well], and then they threw me a bone with Nail, which was nice. I enjoyed that character. I happen to like Namekians a lot. So yeah, when I got the part, I walked into work not realizing Goku was the lead character. And I wasnāt terribly excited, but I was excited, and as Iām walking through the halls, I see all these pictures of Goku everywhere, and Iām going, āWait a second, that guy looks like the guy I might be playing.ā But at the time, I still had Goku confused with Yamcha.
Elise: Yeah, they are pretty similar in appearance.
Sean: Back then, in certain shots, youād have to see Yamchaās scar, but if you saw the other side, with the hair, it would confuse you a little bit if youāre not a Dragon Ball fan. And this was the first Iād seen the show. So, we were working on the show for a while before Chris [Sabat] said, āYou do realize youāre the main character on this show, right?ā and I was like āNo! I didnāt know that! Thatās awesome!ā And the rest is history.
Another reason Goku means a lot to me is that I got divorced early on, so when shitās hitting the fan for meālike divorce can make you feelāI lose myself inside Goku. Especially Goku. In order to play Goku, there is kind of a beginnerās mind you have to get into.Ā You just canāt be sad about your divorce when youāre playing Goku. You canāt be sad that somebodyās dying. You canāt be sad, you knowāI had to voice-match an actress who had died, one time, and it was really hard to fight tears in the booth when youāve got that going on.
You canāt have your own tears in there, so if you totally commit to the character, youāre just [in Goku voice:] āIām excited about fighting!ā āThatās awesome!ā Youāre just āReady to go!ā You know? And it would let me escape through Goku, and itās allowed me to heal myself and explore myself and go through a psychological transformation in ways I wouldnāt have otherwise. Itās broadened my horizons in a way that I never could have expected.
Funnily enough, you know, the real fantasy for, I think, any voice actorāwhich Iām kind of getting that fantasy now on the LEGO showāis Iāve always wanted a Simpsons-like role. In other words, a role I won thatās a pre-lay show, thatās created in America, that is created from the ground-up, that Iāve been the voice from the get-go on. Like Bugs Bunny, or Mel Blanc, or Dan Castellaneta, or any cast member of the Simpsons who had this show that your voice is synonymous with and the first voice to go on this show. I always naĆÆvely treated Goku like that was the case for me, and it wasnāt that I was trying to be disrespectful to Masako Nozawa or any English-speaking actor who played Goku. I just feel like if I do it any less than that, Iād be doing it a disservice.
Why should I treatāand I wasnāt thinking this at the time, but Iāve figured out intellectually that this is what I meantāwhy should I give Goku less credence because Iām ājustā the dub actor? Iām not less than because Iām the dub actor. Iām not less than the guy who plays Homer Simpson because Iām a dub actor. Iām going to treat Goku like any pre-lay guy would treat that show and give my whole life and soul to it, as any actor should. And Iām proud of it. I think itās paid off artistically.Ā I think Funimation and our dub of Dragon Ball raised the standard for quality of dubs over the last twenty years, particularly Dragon Ball Super. Iāve made the comment to my producer several times that our dub stands up next to any well-polished, pre-lay cartoon made in America. In terms of audio production, the quality of the audio, the special effects, the mix, and animations, which admittedly is a bit difficult to compare as they are two different genres [Editorās Note: anime vs American animation].
Iām really proud of it, and Iāve taken it probably too seriously, but I donāt regret taking it too seriously. You know what I mean? Because it was the too seriousness of itāhad I been any other actor who took it less seriously, I wouldnāt be Goku.
Elise: Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on Goku and what he means to you. What are your favorite roles outside of Goku?
Sean: Currently, actually, my favorite role Iām doing is the Monkey King in Monkie Kid. I am loving that. Iām going to look back at some of my other credits because I always forget. Some of them are obscure, some of them are popular, etc. So . . . Monkie Kid, Goku of course, Morrison and Jervis in PokĆ©mon, I loved playing in Welcome to the WayneāI was guest starred as C.C. Scratch, which is a heavy metal singer. Loved playing that. Thereās a lot I loved playing, but Iām trying to think of the really good ones. I loved playing Black Doom in Shadow the Hedgehog. Oh, I loved playing Onsokumaru in Ninja Nonsense. And most recently Maeda in Mars Red.
Over the summer, I did this Papa Johnās commercial, and I played a jack-o-lantern voice and I got to make up the voice. Really enjoyed playing that. I liked playing Ryu in Shaman King. Iāve liked playing all these thumbs in Thumb Wrestling Federation. I guess I like everything Iām doing! Well, there were some voices I hated doing [laughs]. Thereās that. I donāt know if Iāve quit a show for hating a voice . . .Ā no, I havenāt done that yet. Iāve turned down auditions I didnāt want to do.
Elise: Did you hate them because you didnāt like the character or because it wasnāt a good fit for what you wanted to do with your voice?
Sean: It was two things. One: because they made me scream every line and it was painful, and two: the voice Iād come up with was so annoying to my own ear that I didnāt want to listen to myself. I havenāt really quit a role or turned down a role because I thought the script sucked because Iāll find a way to make it fun, and a lot of times they appreciate that so itās fine.
I got asked to do hentai once and I canāt handle it. Iām not against hentai, you know, I just get so into character. They asked me to get into the booth to do some background voices for itāsome moaning for sexy scenes. The beeps started clicking in my ears to start recording and I ran out of the booth. I felt my consciousness sinking into character, and Iām like āI cannot get into this scene with the tentacles and the orifices and the penises. I canāt do it. Iām not that good of an actor, I guess.ā Granted, it was like the first two to three years Iād been voice acting, so I was really young and I was kind of trippinā on the concept of hentai. But I definitely can see theāwell, I donāt know if I see the appeal, but I definitely understandāwell, I guess I canāt say I understand why people like it, but some can argue that hentai is the Maple Thorpe of the anime world [laughs]. They could argue that [laughs]. I donāt know.
Elise: So, now that weāve talked about some of your past and current projects, can you tell us a little about your other upcoming projects and about Last Wolf Legion?
Sean: Yeah, so a year or so ago, before the pandemic, I met Garrett Gunn. Actually, the way Iāand this is a lesson for all voice actors [laughs]. So hereās the thing: I give voice actors sometimes a hard time for working their game in a way I donāt think they should, which is ultimately not my business.Ā And Iāve got my own opinions, but I find it extremely vexing and annoying when voice actors ask people for parts, or beg people for parts, or pressure people to put them on their show. Iāve never done that and Iām uncomfortable with it, with one recent exception.
Recently at a convention I was hanging out with a friend of mine named Jeremy Clark, and heās an artist I meet at conventions a lot, and he knew Garrett Gunn and he said, āHey, my friend Garrett is working on this show, and heās got Billy Bob Thornton on the cast. Do you want me to see if he wants you to try for it?ā and I was like, āOh, I donāt really do that. Iāll tell you what: would you ask him if itās okay if I audition for it? Not just āput me on your showā?ā You know? And I very humbly asked Garrett, āMay I please audition for Franklin and Ghost?ā through a series of texts through Jeremy because Iām trying to respect Garrettās boundaries.
Garrettās like, āWeād love to have Sean!ā Now, at the time, I thought the way Garrett responded meant he recognized my name and knew Dragon Ball. So, I asked a bunch of questions, they gave me a bunch of answers. I sent in an audition, Garrett loved it, and then when I finally got to talk to Garrett, he goes, āYeah, I donāt know who you are. Iāve never watched Dragon Ball. I watch PokĆ©mon.āĀ
And Iām like, āWell Iām in PokĆ©mon!ā and he goes, āReally?ā and Iām like, āYeah, I played Lucario and Morrison, and about forty other PokĆ©mon on the show, and a bunch of other characters. I was Jimmy in PokĆ©mon Chronicles. I did a bunch of PokĆ©mon.ā
So, then what happened I was at a point in my life where I thought it might be prudent to start investing in things for retirement.Ā I wanted to do some investing.Ā So I was looking for companies to invest in as a producer, and then I was looking for other companies I might invest in just to make money, such as maybe scientific technologies. And Garrett said, āHey, Iām looking for people to build my company with and Iām offering buy-ins to a percentage of my company.ā And I say, āWell what do you want?ā And we were talking about it and I say, āLook, what Iām interested in is being a creative, you know, producer-type with whoever Iām working with and owning part of the company and synergistically making awesome shit,ā and Garrettās like, āThatās what I want to do!ā
So, through a series of conversations of Garrett and I getting to know each other, working on Franklin and Ghost, we realized weāre a good fit, so I invested in his company. And then, our company was growing in small amounts but nonetheless gaining the attention of another guy Garrett works with, who I also bought into their company as wellāOx Eye Media, which Iām now a board member of. So, that allowed me to get really excited about Franklin and Ghost, which I was already excited about, and that kind of got put on hold, even though weāre going to do it, because we had some other shows we were working on that were getting even more attention.
Iām excited to be working with Garrett because I firmly believe that Garrett is very likelyāand I only say āvery likelyā because I canāt predict the futureābut I would gamble a large sum of money, so much so that I did that, to believe that Garrett is going to be the next Matt Groening, the next Justin Roiland, the next whoever made a show and also is in it [laughs]. Garrett has fourteen different properties that all intertwine together, and when I was reading his stuff, Iām like, āThis is amazing.āĀ
So, he showed me Familiars, and Familiars is, imagine an adult version of PokĆ©mon set in a Nordic-style universe, and the character youāre bonded to, which is called a familiar, can be killed if you lose. Violently and bloodily with a Nordic-style vibe and feel. Thatās a show weāve already recorded a motion comic for that weāre still mixing. Weāre working on Warcorns: Combat Unicorns for Hire, which is about this military group of Warcorns who go into battle, who are chasing these other characters from Franklin and Ghost who are basically slaves trying to escape from the general bad guy. All of this is connected.
So, we just finished our Warcorns radio drama, which is designed for two things, [one being that] itās designed to give people a very inexpensive motion comic experience. Because with a motion comic, youāve got the audio, but youāve still got all the motion for the motion comic, which is still more time-consuming than the audio, and almost as time-consuming as animation, but also significantly less so. So I was telling GarrettāI think Garrett actually thought of it, but I was thinking, āWhat if we just did the radio drama, and then you can just read the comic book, and then you hear it playing in your ears and that way your eyeās the camera? That way, we can get our cast assigned to it, which is going to be really great for the property, we can bring the characters to life. And then we could also use that as a selling tool to sell an animated series to whomever weāre talking to,ā and weāre currently in negotiation with several different companies for all of our properties.
We thought this was a really good idea, so I recorded but never finished mixing Familiars, Warcorns was just released [Editor’s note: Warcorns has since been published and can be purchased here], and I think it turned out spectacularly. Iām really pleased with the cast and how it turned out. And the bottom-line goal for us with Garrett and Last Wolf Legionāwhich by the way now got absorbed by Ox Eye Media, which kind of gives you a sense of what they feel about Garrett, because Garrett is really the IP guy behind it. Iām just a producer, creative consultant, and head of all the audio, but Garrett is the brainchild who creates all these worlds, and so itās really his baby. The goal here is to make awesome, amazing animated and live-action shows.
One of our properties we want to make a live-action version of possibly is Cold Dead Hands, which I think is an Evil Dead-style, macabre, magicāitās hard to describe, but the hands are chopped off the guyās body and then theyāre attached, and they have their own entityātheyāre a spirit from ancient times. I canāt describe Garrettās worlds as well as Garrett, so youāll have to interview him on it, but heās a creative genius, and I think weāre going to go places [laughs]. Thatās what I think! I donāt know if itās true or not, but I put my money where my mouth is [laughs]…
We want to give a big āThanks!ā to Sean for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about his experience as a voice actor and his current work and projects. He was very delightful to interview, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavors.Ā
[Intervieweeās note: Sean would like to thank Elise for her incredible patience in dealing with Sean, as he is hard to get a hold of and put off finishing this interview for almost like, a year.Ā Iām really sorry š ]
What is your favorite Sean Schemmel role? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter!