It’s easy to say of any voice actor that they’re just reading lines in a funny voice, but the truth behind it is much more than that. Robin Atkin Downes is one of the individuals you might think of when it comes to understanding just how much really goes into voice acting since if you listen to him speaking in his normal English accent you’ll come to realize after listening to him speak in a variety of voice roles just how great he really is. The ability to modulate his voice and take on different accents is uncanny, and while you could say this about a lot of people the percentage of individuals that are capable of really forcing their voice into another accent are still minimal when compared to the rest of society. Those people that can actually MAKE their voice do what they want are kind of rare when you think about it since being able to adopt another accent entirely, along with its inflections and regional quirks, is increasingly difficult. In a way it’d be like trying to describe someones’ back yard without ever having set foot in it.
He’s voiced a lot of video game characters.
There was a point and time when people didn’t really care if their video game characters could talk or if the words were just shown on the screen in scrolling boxes. But once the first voices started coming out for video games people were hooked. Of course then the video game designers had to come up with voices and those that could fill the roles with people that could actually perform. Otherwise it became a horrible mismatch that did the game no justice and would only end up disappointing the fans, which could lead to lower sales. In this regard Robin has done great since he’s managed to put a distinctive voice to every character he plays. One has to wonder just how he does this and how much time and preparation is needed in order to really get into each character, but for all that must have to happen he does a great job and rarely do two of his characters sound alike.
He’s been the voice behind some of the characters in animated comic book shows.
He’s voiced parts for the Avengers, the Justice League, and even shows like Sofia the First. There doesn’t seem to be a lot that Robin won’t do and that’s pretty great since it means he enjoys lending his talents to those shows that happen to want to bring him on. While some actors might actually decide to be picky about what they do, and there’s nothing saying Robin isn’t, it seems that he might be a lot more accepting and less discerning when it comes to working and where he applies his skills. There’s no doubt that he has his pick of jobs at this point since his resume has a long list of items on it that are rather impressive and make it easy to assume that he could deny or accept whatever work came his way. But like so many others that dabble or work fully in the arts in some way it’s easy to think that he understands and recognizes that his position is as fleeting as anything else. He has a lot of talent and a lot of skill but it’s likely that there will always be someone coming up from the ranks that will be just as hungry as he was when he first got started and will be trying to supplant him. Doing whatever he can to stay busy is a good idea, but obviously he shouldn’t have to lower his standards at this point.
Here’s the conundrum with voice actors, they are real actors and yet they never show their face on screen unless they’re also live action actors. They get recognized in the industry for their contributions and yet they get discounted a lot since a lot of people don’t look at the credits to see who did the voices unless they happen to be someone that’s well known as a live action actor. So it would seem that a lot of voice actors don’t get the credit they deserve, though that’s true either since a great many of them get paid a good amount and they do win awards for what they do. A lot of times however it seems as though they’re beneath the public’s notice. While that’s not quite fair it’s also not entirely accurate, though it does feel like it. Thankfully though voice actors like Robin keep doing their job and bringing us well-voiced characters that are highly enjoyable and very easy to get into.
Voice acting might not always be the most respected art form but it does make things a lot more interesting at times.
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