Josh Keaton – Superhero Interview

Recently, Boomtron got the opportunity to interview Josh Keaton, who is best known for his work as a voice actor on many video games and cartoons. He talked about his new projects, and what he loves about his job. 

Josh Keaton has been the entertainment industry for over 10 years. From his days as a singer, to acting, and voice acting, he has made a name for himself in the world of entertainment. He recently finished working on the new game, Spiderman: Edge of Time and is also voicing Jack Darby in Transformers: Prime.  With the voices of many of the worlds favorite superheroes under his belt, Josh Keaton is becoming a household name.

Boontron: You’ve been in the industry for a long time–as early as 1991. Why did you choose to be an actor/singer?

Josh Keaton: When I was a kid I would never shut up! Performing seemed a logical choice.

Do you miss singing in No Authority or do you enjoy what you’re doing now more?

No Authority was a great experience for me; I got to travel the world and meet a lot of great people. Singing is definitely something I want to continue doing in my life, but I like to go with the flow and enjoy where it takes me and that’s currently acting/voiceovers.

You started out acting and singing, but now you do a lot of voice acting. Was that something you wanted, or did the voice acting jobs find you?

Voice over was something I always did a little bit of, but it kicked into high gear around the same time as the writer’s strike. When some of the on-camera opportunities dried up, I was more available to pursue voice over. I suppose you could say we found each other.

You do everything! As an actor, voice actor, singer and music producer, you have a lot of jobs.  Which is the one you get the most satisfaction from?

I would say they’re all part of the same job – telling stories. All different mediums but the same basic thing. They all allow me to put on a creative hat.

Most of your video game voice acting is for comic book based games. Did you grow up liking comics?

Yes! Spider-man and Wolverine were my favorite, but I was always drawn to superheroes, fantasy, space, and robots.

What is your favorite superhero/comic book character?

Spider-man!

Do you play a lot of video games? If so what has been your favorite so far?

I play a TON of video games. Funny thing is, I know about most of them before they come out, but because I’m usually involved in some project, I don’t get the time to play them until after they’ve left the mainstream spotlight. I’m so behind on video games right now – I’m just now getting around to Fallout: New Vegas. I don’t have one particular favorite video game. I’ve played just about everything from WoW to Forza.

The new Spiderman game, Spiderman: Edge of Time, is said to have a “cause and effect” game play system. Is this going to be similar to the game play of the Mass Effect games?

It’s a bit different. In EoT, there are to timelines occurring at the exact same time and what you do in one directly affects what happens in the other one.

How was this game different from the ones you voiced in the past?

Activision/Beenox scheduled the record sessions so that Chris Barnes and I could go through a lot of our scenes together. That’s something you usually see in TV/Film animation.

How did it feel to have the show, Transformers: Prime, nominated for 6 Emmy awards?

Incredible! For a show in its first season to get so much love from the TV Academy is pretty amazing.

You spend a lot of time behind the camera, but can we expect to see you in front of the camera anytime soon?

Yes! I must not limit my “superheroness” to voice alone.