This week’s artist’s spotlight is on @eblrobinson !
- Tell me a little about yourself:
“I’m Ed Robinson, Im originally from Sydney Australia but at the moment I live in Mumbai, in India. Im a voice over actor primarily but I also pop up onscreen every so often so there are about two dozen or so films where you can catch me in mostly bit parts- usually some kind of villain or eccentric dude (conspiracy theorist maybe), I have long blonde hair and a big red beard so you could say Im….a type haha.”
2. What is your favorite character voiceover that you have done?
“My favourite voice to do is Mickey Mouse. There’s a hierarchy to that job though. The first on the list ie the OFFICIAL Mickey is a guy called Bret Iwan, after him is Chris Diamontopolous, and a ways down the ladder is me, so I really only get to voice him for minor things, book readalongs, local commercials and such. But I love it, I love Mickey, I even have a tattoo of him on my arm.
By first big Voice role was voicing an animatronic Popeye for an amusement park ride. I voiced him recently in a tiny appearance for the new Rescue Rangers movie but he didn’t make it into the cut, so it goes sometimes.
Recently I did a voice over for a Drag Queen board game commercial and I did my impression of Divine….I really loved doing that one.”
3. How did you choose this line of profession?
“If I’m 100% honest, a large part of the appeal is the ease of the work. I mean, I’ve worked jobs where I had to get in at 830, leave at 6pm and stand all day and its just unpleasant.
I had a real blessing in a natural ability too. Most people have about a two and a half to three octave vocal range, I have about five and a half, so my physiology also lent itself really nicely to the job. It means I can play characters under 10 and over 80. If you look up the Burger King “Confusing Times” commercials from 2021/22 that’s my voice. It sounds like an old man but I’m only 30. There’s a nice anonymity to Voice Over too. I do love onscreen acting, but a funny thing happened last year- I was in a super bowl commercial for Heinz Ketchup and after it aired people started approaching me on the street like “oh your that guy”. And it was wake up for me that I love the work, but I don’t want to be famous.”
4. Can you talk about the movie where you played a villain?
“So, I have this strange little niche of being a white actor who speaks Hindi. There are a few others, but not a lot. I was living in Toronto and an Indian film was shooting there, and they cast for people and being a small niche I was brought in to audition. Turns out they weren’t even recording location sound for the film (as is pretty common for Indian movies) so my voice was gonna be overdubbed, they just wanted someone who would understand the director onset. I was even able to bring in my best mate to play the other baddie- shoutout to Tarick Glancy a real killer actor.
The film was called Angrej Putt, if anyone has an appetite to see it.”
5. What have been the top 3 memorable commercials you have worked on ?
“I did a political ad campaign for the “Arizona state mine inspector” which at the time I thought was a pretty funny one.
I did an ad for EA Sports Hockey the video game, where they wanted a mid century mid Atlantic voice, so I did my impression of 50’s cult leader Dr. George King, which is just funny to me cause its such a….I don’t know quite the right word- esoteric? Impression.
Not a commercial, but I worked on a pilot for a kids show a few years ago, and one of the actors I was working alongside was Matt Frewer. When I was 5 I went to Disneyland and got a plush toy of the character Panic from Hercules, loved that thing. Flash forward 20 years and I’m in a booth recording alongside the guy who voiced him, that was pretty cool.”
6. Do you have any exciting news or events that you would like to share?
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Well actually, due to Covid and movie release dates getting pushed back, I actually have a bit of a backlog of films that are just now being released.
Darts, Stupid For You, Cyber Underground, and a but later this year a movie Im really proud of The Transformation of Ferlin Rusty.
Oh! And either this Christmas or next Christmas a film I wrote for the Hallmark Channel- Christmas at the Allistair.
I also wrote a musical about Divine (my aforementioned love of mentioned above) so if anyone’s looking to stage such a show do reach out! @eblrobinson
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