So, I found myself going down a bit of a Jack De Sena rabbit hole the other day. You know how it is, you start rewatching something, maybe Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Dragon Prince, and a particular actor just kinda sticks in your head.
My first thought was pretty simple, really. “Yeah, that guy’s got a good voice. Sokka’s hilarious, Callum’s relatable. He just nails those characters.” And I left it at that for a bit. Just enjoying the shows, you know? Typical Tuesday night stuff for me.
But then, I don’t know, something clicked. I decided, as a sort of personal project, a little practice session for myself, to actually focus on his performance. Not just passively hear it, but to actively listen. What was he doing with his voice? How was he getting that timing, that emotion across?
And let me tell you, it wasn’t as straightforward as I thought. It’s easy to just say, “Oh, he’s a good voice actor.” But when you try to pick it apart, it’s a whole different beast. I started noticing the little inflections, the way he’d pause, or the subtle shifts in tone that really sell a line, whether it’s a joke or something more serious. It’s not just reading words off a page, that’s for sure.
I remember trying to explain this to my cousin’s kid once. He’s all about Sokka. I was like, “See, it’s not just that the lines are funny. It’s how Jack De Sena says them. He makes Sokka sound, well, like Sokka.” The kid just gave me this blank stare and said, “He just sounds like a cartoon character, dude.” And yeah, from the outside, maybe that’s all it is to some folks.
That little exchange got me digging a bit more. My “practice” of listening turned into me actually looking up stuff about voice acting. Not just for him, but the whole process. And honestly, I felt a bit foolish for how much I’d overlooked. These folks aren’t just standing in a booth phoning it in. They’re acting, full-on. They’re contorting their faces, using their bodies, even if all we get is the voice. It’s a real craft.
It’s like that one time I decided I was gonna be a “handyman” and fix a leaky faucet in my bathroom. Watched a couple of videos, thought, “How hard can it be?” Next thing I knew, there was water spraying everywhere, and I was frantically trying to find the main shut-off valve, soaked to the bone. Ended up calling a plumber anyway, who fixed it in ten minutes, looking at me like I was a complete idiot. Which, in that moment, I probably was.
So, my little dive into Jack De Sena’s work, what started as just wanting to appreciate some good characters, ended up being a lesson. A lesson in not taking things at face value. There’s a heck of a lot of skill and effort that goes into making those voices, those characters, come alive. It’s not just “a good voice.” It’s a whole lot more. Made me appreciate the shows, and the folks behind them, even more. Pretty cool what you can learn when you just decide to pay a little closer attention, right?
