We got the opportunity to take a seat and chat with Brad Swaile, best known for lending his voice to Light Yagami of Death Note. Thankfully for us, we stayed on his good side, avoiding the inclusion of our names to the terrifying black book he was carrying.

MangaBullet: For our readers who are unaware, can you tell me a bit about yourself and what you do?

Brad Swaile: My name is Brad Swaile, and I’m a voice actor from Vancouver, BC, Canada. I’ve been doing voice acting, among other jobs, for quite a few years now. My very first anime role was for a character called “Mousse” in Ranma ½ and I’ve kind of been going ever since.


MB: You started voice acting at a very young age. How did you feel to suddenly be working with professionals who had been doing this for a long time?

Brad: It was a little intimidating to begin with. With my very first cartoon, “My Little Pony Tales,” most of the actors and actresses were either slightly older or younger than me, and I was 14 at the time. I didn’t feel too intimidated there, but I had some guest spots in other American shows where you’d have the entire cast in the same room.

Starting work on a show called “Double Dragon,” and here I am with guys like Ian Corlett, Scott McNeil, and Michael Donovan; pioneers of the industry in Vancouver, where it’s still fairly young, but the type of industry that develops professionals very quickly. As intimidated and quiet I would be in the studio, it was a really great opportunity for me to act like a sponge and just try to soak up as much knowhow from these extremely talented people as I could, and I guess now I’m one of the veterans. You see the newer generation of young voice actors coming up the ranks and taking our jobs away! But no, it’s a real treat to be able to work in this industry and I’m thankful that I’m still doing this today.

MB: When you were younger, did you dream of being a voice actor?

Brad: I dreamt of being an astronaut. Voice acting is definitely something I wandered into by accident. Being a young kid watching cartoons, I never really made the connection, and never thought there was actually a job for it. I didn’t really think about it until once I started to get more into acting, but even then I was still more focussed on theatre and big movies! After I got into theatre semi-professionally, I was led to on-camera work, just before My Little Pony. I started off working on film and TV projects; TV shows, commercials, things like that. I don’t really do any of that these days, but the voice acting side of things is something that really struck a chord with me. As long as I’m able to keep working at it, I can’t see myself ever quitting.

Unfortunately for me, it’s not a full time job. I can’t fully support myself with the voice acting alone, but some people can. Those guys have a full body of work, and get involved with specific types of shows from where they can develop really amazing careers. I can’t say I’m there quite yet, but I’m working on it. Unfortunately for me, I have to keep my other job as well!

MB: Would you consider yourself an anime fan?

Brad: Absolutely. I won’t say that I’ve always been an anime fan, but there was a little movie that some of you out there might have seen called Akira, which made me become an anime fan. That was years before I was ever able to work on any anime shows myself. However, the more that I get to work on these shows, the bigger fan I think I’m becoming, but I don’t think I’m alone in that. If you look around the world, especially at North America, you can really see the influence that anime is having on all sorts of media styles. We’re seeing an influence on cartoons, major motion pictures, and artwork in general, so I think there are a lot of people who are becoming anime fans, whether they like it or not!

MB: Did the fandom really kick in before you were voice acting shows, or have you been a hardcore fan since you first watched Akira?

Brad: I’ve always been an art guy, drawing and sketching since I can remember. The thing that really struck me about anime was the style. Watching Akira showed me that cartoons can be graphic and disturbing, but beautiful at the same time. That’s what really triggered my fandom towards anime. It’s kind of leaking into my own art style!

Between Akira and my first voice acting role in an anime show, I wouldn’t say I was a devoted fan. Now that I get to work on these shows I find myself being more energised by the character developments, story lines, and plot lines and undertones of them in addition to the artwork, which is what had caught me initially. The longer I work in this industry, the more I become influenced by the anime style. I think it’s something I’m definitely willing to embrace and I’m always excited to see how it’s affecting my style.

MB: So how many anime shows have you voiced now?

Brad: (laughing) I have no idea! A lot. I have a list somewhere, but let’s just say several. We can use that as an answer, right?

MB: What would you say has been the most challenging moment of your career?

Brad: There are a lot of things that are challenging about it. Like I was alluding to before, acting in general is an industry of rejection, for the most part. If you don’t have thick skin, you’re not going to make it as an actor, because you’re going to go through tons of auditions before you get a single role. The same can be said for voice acting. I would like to be doing a lot more shows like X-Men and My Little Pony, which are excellent shows to work on and tend to pay significantly more than anime does! Anime is a real treat to work on and I do enjoy it, but unfortunately the pay scale isn’t enough to support myself, pay rent, put food on the table, things like that.

One challenge I’m still dealing with is balancing an acting career with a graphic design/illustration career, which is what I went to school for, and what I’d call my real job. Voice acting is my dream job, who am I kidding? If I could do that full time, I’d really love to, but financially it’s not quite feasible yet. I think this can be said for anybody who’s an aspiring actor, because acting is one of those professions where a lot of the time it’s just hit or miss. Sometimes throughout peoples’ careers, they can have monster hits earlier on, but periods where it just isn’t working out, so it’s really tough to find an employer that’s flexible enough to allow you to explore your acting dreams, but also give you enough work to support your lifestyle. You know, eating and living.

MB: The important things. Behind anime, of course.

Brad: Yeah. Some people can make an amazing career out of voice acting in general, but I think a common misconception is that we’re paid and treated like big name Hollywood celebrities. It’s not the case... At least not for all of us, anyway. So don’t quit your day job just yet!

MB: Since Death Note was released in Japan, it’s been extremely popular with a huge following. In the past, you seem to have almost exclusively voiced young, enthusiastic “hero”-type characters. How were you considered for the role of Light?

Brad: I’ve played a lot of characters that cry all the time, and finally I landed a character that doesn’t cry all the time. Turns out he does do some crying, which I thought I was going to get away from with this character. But that’s okay; he also shouts and does angry, evil things.

I’m lucky, as the studio and producers all know my body of work, so they’re more than willing to bring me in for an audition. This doesn’t mean they’re going to cast me in every show, but they’re willing to submit me for some of the bigger roles. Light was no exception. I can’t really say for certain what actually got me the role, but what I can say is that the audition script for this series, and for Light in particular, was one of the most diverse examples of dialogue I’d ever seen for an audition. At the beginning of the page you see Light as a mild-mannered student, very similar to the roles which I’m used to playing. But by the bottom of the page there are threats, maniacal laughter, and general insanity. Maybe when they heard the audition tape, they recognised that I was able to run the gamut of the emotional range of the character. To play a character with that kind of depth was something that was really energising for me as a voice actor. It was also a real challenge as it was something I hadn’t really explored before, and that I will be more than willing to explore again. But I don’t know how often characters like Light Yagami come along, so I’ll just cross my fingers and hope I’m lucky enough to land another one somewhere.

MB: The Japanese version has an excellent cast. Did you feel like you had a lot to live up to?

Brad: You’re right, the original cast did a great job of it. Japanese is probably the coolest language out there, so when we’re speaking English, it’s going to sound different. You can’t get away from that. Also, Mamoru Miyano’s performance was fantastic, so I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to mimic his version in any way. I still had to be able to breathe my own life into the character of Light, and hoped that the audience watching the English audio tracks would let me have a bit of free rein with the character, hopefully buying into my adaption of him.

The response I’ve received has been tremendous. Of course, there are always those out there that will compare them directly, but I think you have to look at it almost as two different interpretations of the same story. One of the great things about having these shows available on DVD is that you have options. If you’d rather read the show and hear the original Japanese voice cast, you have that option. If you want to spend time watching the visuals and can put up with the English version, then that’s available to you as well. You get the best of both worlds, so you can’t really complain all that much, which is good for me.

I will say that I must have watched the final episode in Japanese about five times, just because I was so nervous about giving a good performance. For that, it probably took me four times as long as it’d usually take for me to record an episode, as I wanted to do every line probably ten times. The director eventually had to say, “That was fine.” “Oh, but-but-but-!” “No, that was fine. Let’s move on.” They were actually very patient with me, because I knew the series was coming to an end but I didn’t want it to. I was stretching out the last episode for as long as I could, just to get every last bit of enjoyment out of the character. I think it shows in the final episode; you’ll see me really embracing the character and enjoying the whole experience surrounding Death Note.

MB: Especially considering English dubs are viewed as “inferior,” the Death Note dub has been very well received. How does this make you feel?

Brad: Wow, that’s good to hear! It makes me feel great. I often find that a lot of people who make the original assessment won’t even give the English audio tracks a chance, just assuming they aren’t going to be as good. I can’t say that I don’t understand where they’re coming from, because it is, like I said before, a different adaption of the same show. If a show that I’d seen from start to finish and absolutely adored was suddenly done in a style that doesn’t suit me, I would feel the same way. In some ways, I might even be offended. One thing I’d say to those is: just give it a chance. You have this other option, and if you don’t like it, just don’t watch it.

We don’t take these shows lightly. A lot of the voice actors in this industry really do have an appreciation for the shows, and recognise that we want to do the absolute best job we can with them. There are limitations, in that the English language can only do so much, and translations aren’t always as poetic or accurate as they would have been. We are working hard, and we do try to keep the integrity of the show in tact as much as is possible.

MB: What is your favourite memory of voicing Light Yagami?

Brad: There are so many great memories. I could say my favourite would be of walking into the studio and knowing I have a full session of Death Note coming up. I find that because we create these shows in a bubble, in that they only invite one voice actor and do a handful of episodes at a time, I really don’t get to sit back and appreciate the duration of a series until I come to a convention like this. It’s then that I start to reflect on some of my favourite moments.

In Death Note, there’s a scene where my character is eating potato chips. On paper, it seems like the most trivial scene in the entire series, but I knew there was something special about it when we recorded it. It’s just me, a director, and an engineer in a studio, so we’ll have our own chuckle and not think about it again. That is, until I come to a show and get asked to say the potato chip line over and over and over again. I realise that it was easily one of my favourite moments in the series. Perhaps not have been at the time, but it definitely is now, and that’s fine. It’s worth it!

MB: So you’re voicing Setsuna in Gundam 00 right now. How would you compare voicing him to Light?

Brad: I always have a blast working on Gundam, and 00 is no different. One thing you’re going to find with this series is that it’s very relatable to things that are happening in the world today, which makes it sometimes easier for us voice actors to identify with certain traits of the character that we’re playing.

I’m really excited to be working on another Gundam project, and Setsuna is a really interesting character to play. I feel very fortunate that Setsuna is such a natural transition from Light, and don’t think I could have picked a better character to come off such a high from Death Note with. There are just certain aspects of Light’s characteristics that I was able to draw on for Setsuna, though the characters themselves are very different. I think that having the experience from Death Note is really going to help me bring Setsuna to life throughout the series.

MB: Where do you see your career heading?

Brad: First off, I’m going to keep doing this for as long as I can because I love it. That’s all there is to it. There are a lot of different aspects that come along with this job and I love every piece of it. I’ll be doing this for as long as I can get work, so I’m hoping that directors, producers, and fans aren’t going to get sick of hearing my voice as I’m not planning to go away any time at all, as a matter of fact!

It’s strange; there’s a certain emptiness you feel every time you finish a series, because you really begin to identify with some of the characters and enjoy living in their world for a bit. You feel fortunate when you finish a series and have another you can begin working on right away, but there will always be times where there are lulls in the work. You can only hope the lulls are going to be as small as possible and that you can move onto the next character as soon as possible. I’m going to do this for as long as I can, so hopefully the stars will align and I’ll be able to continue to do so.

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Many thanks to Manga Entertainment and London MCM Expo for giving us this opportunity.