

I can then switch up accents but it's not far from my home base.

If I have a mic right in front of me, I can make myself sound a little younger or older, and a little bit lighter or deeper. If it's something that is very cinematic and they are asking for a natural read, I will rarely go far from what you are hearing now. Liam O'Brien: I am gonna go back to Shakespeare here, "Suit the action to the word, the word to the action," ( Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2), You know if you read sides, your gut will tell you what kind of project it is. Then I'll run off to a completely different location in LA, that could be 5 minutes away or 45 minutes away depending, then work for 4 hours straight. Either screaming my balls off or sitting in a group read quietly and every once in awhile standing up for my 3 or 4 lines then sitting back down.ĭo you feel like you need to alter your voice for many roles? Then I might go to a quick job, like an hour somewhere. Liam O'Brien: My average day starts with me dropping a kid off somewhere, usually school, then maybe dropping in at my agent's place for maybe 20 minutes of auditioning. What is the average work day like for you? You mentioned that no two jobs are the same. That is great most of the time but it is occasionally nerve racking but mostly awesome. I am never really doing the same thing from week to week. Between acting, directing, and the different types of jobs. My favorite thing about my career is just the sheer variety of the things I get to do. Both are often very different experiences. There are a lot of similarities but things can vary a lot: Sometimes you are on your own for either, sometimes you are grouped, sometimes both can be gritty and real, or it can be rapid or silly. Only because there are so many different kinds of experiences within both voiceover types that no two jobs are ever quite the same. Liam O'Brien: I don't think I favor one over the other. I have however been happily busy with all the nerd-work I do, so I have no complaints.ĭo you favor video game or animation work more and why? I haven't looked back since, though I still pine to get back to the theater since the last work I did there was 8 years ago. Eventually I thought, "I guess I should go to L.A to try on camera work and maybe something will happen with voiceover.", and one of those things came true. He hooked me up with an anime dub back in the day, so I booked a role which led to another, then another. Somewhere along the line I ended up doing shakespeare in Ohio with another guy who had been doing it for a couple of years at that point, his name is Crispin Freeman. I was slowly becoming a gamer from about the end of highschool. While I say I didn't chase voice over growing up, I certainly did watch a healthy amount of japanese animation. After I graduated, I plunked around in theater professionally in New York City and in regional theaters around the country. I did it in high school and afterwords went to NYU for their acting program. I wanted to be a really serious stage actor when I was growing up. Liam O'Brien: Getting into voicework wasn't something I set out to do in the beginning. How did you first get into doing voice work? I also chase around 2 kids, play D&D live every week, and barely have time to use the toilet. I have done voice direction in things like The Last of Us, Resident Evil 5 & 6, Shadow of Mordor and a few things I can't talk about yet. I work in a lot of games, animation, and occasionally in commercials. I think I am known best for a handful of characters Illidan from World of Warcraft, lately Yasuo from League of Legends, Gaara from the Naruto series, recently Gollum from LoTR Shadow of Mordor, War from Darksiders, Grimoire Weiss from Nier and a few others. I am an actor, director, and occasional writer based in Los Angeles. Liam O'Brien: Well hi, I am Liam O'Brien.

I caught up with him about his work as a voice actor, and his work with Riot.įirst of all can you tell us who you are and some of your major roles? If you are an avid gamer you have probably heard this guy's voice somewhere, and most likely multiple times. Hey everyone! Maleok here after a brief hiatus with an interview with the extraordinarily talented voice of Yasuo, Liam O'Brien! Liam is credited with over 300 voice acting credits on IMDB and is widely known for his work on such characters as: Gaara (Naruto), Yasuo (League of Legends), Illidan Stormrage (World of Warcraft), Jushiro Ukitake (Bleach), and 50 different voices in Fallout New Vegas.
