Voice Actor, Melissa Hutchison, was recently awarded “Best Actress” at the 2012 Spike TV Video Game Awards for her portrayal of Clementine in The Walking Dead Video Game. She was also nominated for a BAFTA for “Best Performance” & attended the ceremony’s in London. Melissa loves creating voices for all of the different characters and personalities that live within her. She was able to turn this gift into a full time gig!! Melissa is working in LA and San Francisco including the surrounding Bay Area. Melissa’s resume extends from: Animation, Interactive Learning Toys, Corporate Narration, Video Games, and Television and Radio Commercials.
Melissa’s voice over credits include roles in Saishû heiki kanojo, the anime series to one of my favs…Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. I was luckily able to connect with Melissa through the wonderful world of social media. After leaving messages back and forth I was able to get her to answer a few questions for the fans and readers.
Mr. Incredible: Thank you for talking time to do this interview for the readers. Now a question I was sent to ask you makes for a great starter question. How exactly did you get into the voice over line of work?
Melissa Hutchison: Happy to be here! So, my VO story starts long, long ago in a galaxy far far away…basically I entered this world doing voices! I would always imitate the character voices in cartoons, people on TV, random voices I encountered walking down the street. My sister and I had different voices, and characters for all of our stuffed animals. Everything in my world live or inanimate had a voice. Eventually after years of performing in theater, I was able to hone in on my niche for voices! I landed an agent San Francisco, and have been doing this as my career for the last 13 years!
Mr. Incredible: Now upon research your first big gig was voicing the main character for Saishû heiki kanojo, Chise. How did you get that gig?
Melissa Hutchison: That was quite exciting for me! That was in the very beginning of my career, and it was the first animated series I ever got to work on! The auditions came through my agency, Stars the Agency in San Francisco. When I booked the role of Chise (aka the ultimate weapon) I was so thrilled! The anime had of course already been made in Japan, so we were dubbing it into English! It was actually a bit challenging! Having to fit the English over the Japanese, to match the animation. Lets just say I had to get good FAST!
Mr. Incredible: Now hard different is it to do voice work for an anime series then a video game?
Melissa Hutchison: Again, I think the most difficult thing about the anime is having to match up the dubbing. In video games quite often
you are the first person to create the character, so no ADR is involved. Until my work with Telltale Games, most video games didn’t have a lot of dialogue, as opposed to working on an anime or an animated series. Video games mostly consist of short call outs, grunts of pain, and death sounds. 🙂 Both are fun in there own way, but as an actor it is highly rewarding to have a lot of story content and dialogue to work with!
Mr. Incredible: Now I’ve noticed that that is the only series that you have on your resume outside of Space Racers. Why haven’t you done more series or anime work?
Melissa Hutchison: Well I can tell you right now, that is not by choice! HA! I am working on it! Things have definitely been picking up in that department! I mean hell, animation is why I got into voice over! It is my destiny!
Mr. Incredible: Now outside what do you think draws you to doing more video game gigs?
Melissa Hutchison: Perhaps the video games are drawn to me…? The Bay Area is a major hub for game production. There is a lot of work up here in that industry. My very first gig was doing a Superman Game, Superman: Man of Steel made by Atari, for Xbox. Since then, I have done work on so many games I have lost count! And even though I have lost count, I can honestly say, I had a great time working on each and every one
Mr. Incredible: how did you come upon the Walking Dead gig?
Melissa Hutchison: The auditions for the Walking Dead were sent out to my agency, just like all of the others. I had already done a few
games with Tell tale, so I was familiar with their style. When I saw that they were making a game based off of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, I was very eager to get on the project! I knew that they were going to do something amazing!
Mr. Incredible: Did getting the gig make you a more of a Walking Dead fan?
Melissa Hutchison: I was actually already a big fan of the show. I had yet to read the comics, but I was basically a Walking Dead addict! Which of course makes this game even more special to me! To get to play a part in the Walking Dead world is like a dream come true!!!
Mr. Incredible: Now in the first season you were a co star in the overall story. Now in the second season you’ve taken more of a mainstar role. Was this what they had in mind for you when you signed up for season one?
Melissa Hutchison: The way the seasons are written out, is actually quite organic. The writers have a basic platform in which they think the season will play out, but as each episode is released, often times the plot or characters will change directions. I think they planned for Clementine to survive, but they had no idea how deeply the players would fall in love with her! People are crazy about Clem! They want to protect her and help her survive. So by the end of season one, I think it was pretty clear that making her the playable character was the way to go!
Mr. Incredible: Are you shocked at the following that Clem has had with the fans?
Melissa Hutchison: This whole experience has been mind blowing! I am humbled, daily, on the outpouring of love for this character! I have become quite close myself to little Clem! We have spent a lot of time together. When I play the games sometimes I forget that its me doing the voice! I am a big fan of her myself. 🙂 The writers, are so amazingly talented and have given us such amazing material to work with. Really I owe it all to them!
Mr. Incredible: Now that you are working on the game…is there any way we may see you wiggle your way into the TV series?
Melissa Hutchison: I would LOVE to be on the show! Even if I am some random walker who gets there head cut off! I always say, IF for some reason they do a crossover, and have Clementine appear in the comic, then show, I would want to be involved in some way. She is like my child! I would need to make sure they get it right! Obviously I couldn’t play Clementine due to my age and race and what not, but I still want to be involved.
Mr. Incredible: Do you play any of the games that you do voice work for?
Melissa Hutchison: The only games I play that I work on are Telltale games. I am totally into the adventure games. All the others are way to complicated for me.
Mr. Incredible: How challenging is doing voice work for video games?
Melissa Hutchison: Aside from Telltales games, The most challenging part to game work is, quite often you don’t have a lot of context as to what is going on with your character. You are given the lines to read, but you don’t know what is happening in the story as you are reading them. And of course vocally it can be straining. For example yelling in battle, getting killed, shouting out commands….
Mr. Incredible: What advise would you give to anyone looking to get into the voice over game?
Melissa Hutchison: Of course one of the best ways to get started is to seek out classes. Most city’s at this point have Voice over schools or at least local teachers you can train with. If there are no voice over specific classes, take an acting class! It is the exact same thing, except one is performed within the confines of a microphone. Let yourself be uninhibited! Get comfortable being able to perform in front of other people.
A cheap “free” way to practice voicing, is to make your own scripts, create your own characters, write your own commercials, or just practice the ones you see on TV! Most importantly have fun with it!
Mr. Incredible: Is there any chance that we will see you move from voice work to acting in front of the camera?
Melissa Hutchison: I definitely think that is a possibility. I do miss performing with other people to that capacity. I just need to refocus my goals a bit, and make it happen! Again…perhaps my dream of landing a character on The Walking Dead will come true! Why not right?!?
Mr. Incredible: Well thank you for taking time out to do this interview. Is there anything else you would like to say to the fans and readers?
Melissa Hutchison: Thank you so much for having me! Thank you to all of thereaders out there! I am grateful every day of my life for all of the love and support coming from you!
