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With an unassuming name, it’s a fun fact to know that Veronica Taylor holds one of the most well-known titles in the animated world.
Sharing the floor with the likes of Nancy Cartwright, the voice actor for 10-year-old brat extraordinaire Bart Simpson, Taylor is the original voice actor for the much-beloved character of 10-year-old Ash Ketchum, the lead protagonist for the global giant that is Pokémon.
Having played the character for 8 seasons and the movies that released during this time, it’s safe to say that for the majority of fans, Veronica was the Ash they all grew up with.
With Veronica in New Zealand for the Wellington Armageddon Expo coming up this weekend, we had a quick moment to speak with her and fire off some fun questions for all you Pokémon fans out there!
Xenojay (XJ): Okay, thank you for joining me, Xenojay, for a Cake Oven interview! We’re gonna be quick, fast, rapid!
Veronica Taylor (VT): Okay!
XJ: Hopefully fun, let’s see how we go!
VT: We’ll see, we’ll see! It’s early in the morning!
XJ: So you’ve been in the voice acting game for around 30 or so years…
VT: Wow! A long time
What’s the role you loved most?
VT: I would have to say Ash on Pokémon, I played him for 8 years, and also Ash’s Mom (Delia Ketchum) and May and a bunch of characters. It’s definitely the show that’s closest to my heart. Plus it was so fun! And to be able to play a 10-year-old boy is pretty amazing
XJ: Now you know what Nancy Cartwright of Bart Simpson fame feels like!
VT: Yeah, that’s right! Although Ash doesn’t get into as much trouble nor does he get to say as many as fun things as Bart but still, a great adventure!
XJ: I feel he’s just as definitive as Bart is
VT: I think so too, you know, a lot of…just so many people come and talk to me who were watching the show maybe when they were 10 and they’re in their 20’s now, and there’s something about being able to go on that journey, that it’s different than other cartoons. We all love cartoons, and you could list 6 right now that are your favourites,
but Pokémon is one of those shows that I think a lot of kids were on the adventure, and you’d get home from school, or get up before school and you’d watch it then you went out and played it with your friends.
You could also play the cards or the video games but it really opened peoples imagination.
XJ: It started you off on that journey
VT: Yeah!
From the original (150) Starter Pokémon, so that’s Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander; What’s your favourite?
VT: Pikachu! *starts laughing*
XJ: You can’t choose Pikachu! It was only in the Yellow Edition of the games!*
VT: I know! I know! But Pikachu is my favourite because first of all, you can watch the whole episode and just listen to Pikachu. The woman who voices Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani), is the most amazing! But I couldn’t really choose between the other 3 because people would get angry. If I say, let’s say Charizard** in the end, people go “No! What about Bulbasaur!”, so I’m gonna stick with Pikachu just to be fair.
XJ: I’ve never thought of that. That’s a very safe selection!
VT: *laughing*
You’ve played strong well-known female characters such as April O’Neil from the 2006 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series run, Sailor Pluto, Scarlett in G.I Joe from the Sigma Force series, were there any characters in that kind of role you would have loved to play?
VT: You know, I audition for many things and I tend to let the jobs that I don’t get go. So…I really love to work and I love play to anything actually.
April is one of the most iconic characters that I’ve ever gotten the chance to play and I wish I had a little longer to work on that character.
Maybe that she had a little bit more adventure to go on.
She was a little bit more behind the keyboard than in the field with the boys. Scarlett, she definitely was out-there and that was a great strong character. These…I even play a character named Mofi on a show for little kids and she’s the most timid character I’ve ever played. But she learns something in every episode, and I guess for all of us, that’s probably closer to how we all are. We have some trepidation before we fully enter into something, and then figure it out and go for it, the opposite of Ash really! He just went for it!
XJ: Yeah, he went for it! Did you think that the ‘Petrification Of Ash’ in the first Pokémon movie…
VT: You’re really giving things away for those who haven’t seen it!
XJ: Well I hope they’ve seen it! It’s a great movie!
Did you think that scene would resonate and affect so many adults to this day?
VT: Yeah. We all still cry! I didn’t ever think it would have such an impact. It had an impact on my life, but I didn’t know until I go out and meet people at shows, how much it impacted their lives as well.
But it really does show you how much we need our friends and we need to work together. We’re not alone, you know?
XJ: The little scene. All of them together…
VT: Yeah, it’s just amazing.
XJ: With…bringing it down to more emotions now…
‘The Release Of Butterfree’, ‘The Taming Of Charizard’ and ‘The Evolution Of Pidgeotto’; Did you also experience the proverbial “feels” that we all felt when these happened?
VT: Oh definitely!
Because those were all things that when I’m recording, I start crying also, so I have to take a break. Even in acting those scenes, I felt all of that as well. They were just tremendous and the gift that we’ve all been given to experience that in a cartoon is just really amazing
XJ: It was fantastic! And such great storylines and I think a lot of people to this day still comment on how they find it funny that Ash keeps releasing his Pokémon
VT: Right?
XJ: But I feel that’s one of the best parts of the series, is that he does it by choice
VT: Well also, we learn about that because that’s what our life is like. We are releasing things all the time, whether it’s by choice or not. We lose people in our lives, we get a new pet and we lose a pet, the great thing is that Ash can at least let it go, which like you said of his own, rather than it leaving him…*laughs*
XJ: Which Charizard could have done!
VT: But you know, we all learn how to let go through this show without being really hit over the head with it. We’ve all learned more about that, which is another gift I think.
Any quick pointers or tips for people who want to get into Voice Acting?
VT: I think you have to love acting if you want to be a Voice Actor. I think you have to love any and all things that are acting because voice acting alone is very difficult to make a career of just that, or to pay your rent just doing that, so you want to be able to do everything.
I think if you want to be an Actor, you have to immerse yourself, take as many classes as you can, get jobs related to the field, make a Demo that shows a minute or 2 of what you do because you need to be able to send that out to people.
And I think no matter what, if that’s what you want to do you’ve got to go for it.
Because as Ash taught us…
XJ: I was gonna say Ash did this!
VT: You have to go for your dreams! Because if you don’t, what kind of life are you living? What are you waiting for? So I say “Good Luck” and get out there and do it
Final Question! FAVOURITE ASH LINE, GO!
Veronica Taylor As Ash Ketchum: Gosh, that’s a tough one, um…I guess I would have to say, uh, 2 things!
Hey buddy…you deserve a good long rest…
Those are the cutest and…
Pikachu! I choose you!
XJ: There we go! Thank for you everything! That was fantastic!
And like any of Ash’s Pokemon, we had to set Veronica free to go on her own adventure throughout the North Island Region***.
With a clear adoration for the role she made famous, Veronica is a delight to speak with, especially if you’re a fan of the series.
You can catch her at the Wellington Armageddon Expo, which takes place from July 17th through to the 19th with ticket information here!
You can follow Veronica Taylor on Twitter , and find her Facebook page !
Notes:
* As a Starter that can be selected
** Charmander’s final evolution
*** In the Pokémon series, ‘Regions’ are the next steps in the story
