COLLEEN O’SHAUGHNESSY INTERVIEW: Supanova Comic Con & Gaming
With SUPANOVA Adelaide and Brisbane just around the corner, we catch-up with awesome Colleen O’Shaughnessy to talk voice acting and conventions!
Welcome to Impulse Gamer Colleen… what are you most looking forward to at Supanova?
At every convention, I’m always the most excited to see all of the fans, but this time I’ll be in Australia, which has always been on my bucket list of places to visit. So, I’ll get an extra added bonus…2 weekends of meeting awesome people, AND hugging a Koala Bear!
What is your funniest convention story?
Oh, gosh…um…the funniest things to me usually involve kids. I’ll do the Tails voice and they slowly back away or hide behind their mom. I actually had a really little one point at me and yell, “NO!”. And the panels always have us laughing pretty hard. We did a Sonic Frontiers panel and someone asked why we changed the voices and made them so “off putting”, which we, of course, kept referencing for the rest of the panel and future panels after that. Someone answered their phone in line to ask a question and was talking so loud, we all just waited for her to finish, told her to tell them we said hi. Sorry, that wasn’t one specific convention story. I have so much fun at all of them and I love to laugh and I end up laughing a lot.
Most popular fan request?
Do the Tails voice.
Our of all the characters you played, who would be your top two characters?
That is such a hard question. I love what I do and I love all of the characters I have been so fortunate to give a voice to, but I would have to say (and this is an obscure one) Polly McShane from The Kids from 402. I absolutely loved her and she gave me my start, my first foot in the door to a voice over career.
The 2nd would have to be Tails. He put me on the big screen.
How do you change your voice to to suit a character?
oooh, another tough question. It’s hard to describe what I do with my voice, how I manipulate it to become a character. It’s a very strange skill to have. What I can tell you, as far as how I approach creating a character or a script I’m given, is that I am a visual person, so having a picture is very helpful. I read the character description they’ve given me, age, personality traits, etc. Then I read the script and off I go. As I work on a project, the director and the writing help continue to shape the character.
If you could be any character that you voiced, who would it be and why?
Wasp. She’s a superhero. She’s snarky and spunky. She can fly and zap bad guys.
What’s it like when you hear your voice from a TV series, game or commercial?
Surreal. It’s pretty darn cool. I sometimes still can’t believe they let me do it.
Lastly, what does 2024 hold for you Colleen?
More conventions in lots of fun cities. Hopefully, work on the 3rd Sonic movie, as well as its release and let’s sprinkle in some new projects. Time with family and friends.
Supanova Comic Con & Gaming began in Sydney in 2002 as a completely home-grown Australian production showcasing sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, anime, manga, games, cosplay and much more. The brainchild of Founder Daniel Zachariou, Supanova is run by a diverse and passionate team of independent professionals led by Event Director Scott Liston, with backgrounds in private industry and the creative sector. Supanova takes place in six cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the Gold Coast), and is Australia’s leading and largest event of its kind.
Supanova is a celebration of pop culture created by the Supanova family, for your family, to “bring out the inner geek” in fans of all ages.
SUPANOVA 2023-24 DATES:
Adelaide: 4-5 November 2023 | Adelaide Showground
Brisbane: 11-12 November 2023 | Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Melbourne: 6-7 April 2024 | Melbourne Showgrounds
Gold Coast: 13-14 April 2024 | Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre
Sydney: 22-23 June 2024 | Sydney Showground Olympic Park
Perth: 29-30 June 2024 | Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre
About the Author
Andrew Bistak When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.
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