January 30, 2023 • 43 mins
From American Idol, to Broadway to a brand new animated show “Super Kitties” on Disney Channel… Justin Guarini shares his beginnings and the decisions he faced along his way. Decisions that were loaded with career changing pressure, not knowing if one would advance his career or grind it to a screeching halt. Find out what he passed on for American Idol and how his inspiring attitude has led him to be a mentor for up and coming voice actors.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Christy, Hi Will, how are you? I'm fine? Thanks?
How are you doing? I'm doing just fine. Can't complain?
I can Oh, gosh, I'm not going to. I just okay.
I was like, was there something in particular or just no.
I just love when people are like, I can't complain.
I mean, if you want me to be open and
my back kind of hurts, you know a few times
(00:20):
last night? Yeah, this chair I'm sitting and doesn't have
a pillow, We I to complaint? Okay, we got to
go down that road to ask my husband. I'm a
big complaining If you just do you complain to brendon
a lot? Are you kidding me? I'm just curious. I mean, also,
my husband is a former marine, Like he's like a
(00:41):
complaining marine is a happy marine. That's like what they say.
But and so yeah, I mean in general, that's like
our love language is complaining. But overall, date night is
just sitting across from each other at a candle at
dinner and just complaining about everything. I don't know about you,
(01:02):
but I'm particularly we say this every week. We might
as well just put this on a loop. But I
am particularly excited for today's episode. I am always astounded
at the diversity and the level of mastery, the variation
of mastery that we have, because all of our guests
are so different, um, you know, coming from different aspects
of the industry, which you know, of course, there's one
(01:24):
way to get a big break right, like you get
it right, and that including our contest, which if you haven't,
please go ahead and and submit your two minutes or
less submission to I hear voices at I Heart radio
dot com. Um. But honestly, like this guy was, also,
this wonderful guest of ours is no stranger to competition
or contests of this sort. I will say, yeah, it's
(01:47):
actually if there's the perfect person to talk about exactly
what our contest is and how you know, how your
life can change from something like this. It's our guest
who is with us today, Christie. Oh my gosh, it's
Justin Guerini. Hello, Hi, how are you? I'm doing fine?
How are you? I'm doing well? Thank you? I got
(02:10):
by far the nicest background of the three, right, goodness,
what I loved you. I was just about to comment
on your background. It's very very much voiceover Boothy. Oh,
thank you, thank you very much. Christie looks like she's
being held hostage to joke, held hostage in a tropical
location though it's very sun Thank you, thank you sunniness.
How are you doing well? Thank you well, thank you
(02:33):
for joining us? Hey, well, thank you very much for
having me a kid. I mean, this is great. We
know you're super busy going on, so it's really good
we're able to join us for a while. Well, no,
and I appreciate you having me on, and and just
the fact that I get to promote this show is
pretty awesome because it's fun and I've been like waiting
waiting for it to come out. So is this your first?
Is this your first big video gig? No? I mean
(02:57):
well I think yes, well my first like big it's
sort of like being on like multiple shows and actually
being a cast member. Yeah. I'm trying to think, can
I do anything else in the voiceover? I've done to
other cartoon voiceovers, but like never this one. We'll talk
about it in the actual interview. Unless this is the interview.
This is the actual interview. Yeah, yeah, exactly, Who's who's
(03:21):
the one being held hostage? I wanted? Yeah, no, I
this is the first sort of like big deal certainly
to me UM and cast member one, because I grew
up loving Disney cartoons so much, like it's like pretty
much everybody unless they've been hiding under a rock. And
yet I went in one day a long time, like
(03:45):
I'm talking like maybe fifteen years ago, and I was
meeting with some executives at Disney UM in their sort
of voice over department, because I wanted to do it,
and they were telling me about how at the time,
the gentleman who was I think only the third or
four maybe fourth voice of Mickey Mouse was starting to
(04:05):
get older wanting to retire, and um they were looking
for a new voice. And I just went, oh boy,
and I was and and I just like broke it
out and I was like, I've always, you know, thought
that Mickey was a fun voice. And the guys were like, uh,
do you want to come in an audition for it.
I was like, Yeah, I want to come in audition
from making I would love to. And so at the
(04:26):
time I was working for TV Guide Network and doing
a lot of live red carpets in studio hosting like
talk talk Talk Talk Talk talk, talk talk talk all
day long and was Awards season, and so I was
on the carpet and doing all sort of stuff that
I had to go in for this interview. I got
to go into this interview and like my voice was
feeling a little rough and like yeah, and so it's
one of those like very typical actor e l A
(04:49):
things to have happened, right, and and you know, fortunately
I was working, but I went in and um, you know,
I did something to the effect of say you want
to come to my club house, Well, right, let's go,
and like just doing it and having fun with it.
But it was kind of like ragging the guy. When
I came out of the booth, you was like, that
was really really awesome, And he didn't say to me
(05:12):
in so many words. I think later I found out
the note was like it was really close, great job,
We'd love to see you in the future. And uh.
They ended up casting from inside the actual company, which lovely,
which they love to do, right and uh. And so
then many many years later this came along and I
was like, yes, let me give it a shot. But
(05:32):
it was something where it was just that I got
to create all my own and and there were some
references in there. Um, and I just really took like
the idea of like the earth a cat or the
kit rather cat woman, but yeah, and just ran with it.
(05:54):
And so that's that's how cat Perker. You said you
grew up loving Disney cartoons, which ones? Like what were you?
What were your favorite cartoons growing up? My favorite of
all time? I mean like you've got Bambi, And I
(06:17):
remember a friend of mine who was a family friend.
She was like, she took me to that when I
was little, and she said, you just started bawling at
the very beginning because of the story. There were over
hard like from the start, right from the start, Uh,
(06:39):
Fox and the Hound, which funny story, not really funny,
but it's interesting to see how how the world has changed.
Like if you go back and you watch the original
Fox in the Hound, it's dark, it is. It is
more like the grim fairy tales, where like the world
is not a perfect place and you're gonna ago. Whereas
(07:00):
now you look at the newer version of it and
the opening sequence is this big slapstick like literally farmer
steps on the rake sort of thing, and they're like
running around having a great time. So it's just interesting
to see how uh tastes have changed. All we say
over the over the years. UM, but my favorite, to
answer your question directly, of all time is The Sword
(07:21):
and the Stone. Not the most commercially successful Disney cartoon,
but one that just got me so much because I
think Arthur got the chance to go with Merlin, and
you know, I love the magic of it all, and
I just love that he got to have the different
perspectives of the different animals and was what he ultimately
(07:41):
needed to have in order to become the leader that
he would become. O. That's so beautiful. What about shows?
Were there any shows that you watch growing up? Were you?
I mean like SHOs, Formers? No, any shows any any
animated sit where you like a Transformers fan or former
Definitely g I Joe and going back to look at
those p s A s are hilarious. Um, and then
(08:03):
like Gummy Bears, um, duct Tails, Yeah, dubs one for me. Yeah,
I loved all that. Um. Let's see what are the
other ones that stick out in my mind? I also
loved and still love Adults Swim Adults from like when
it first came out, with like Cow and Chicken and
Dexter's Lab and like all those things. Like so I've
(08:25):
been like a cartoon junkie for that. It's like your
comfort zone. It's your comfort it is it is and
I was like one and it gets It's Disney like,
am I gonna sell? It's exciting. Well, let's talk a
bit about that because you we've been talking about your
show without actually really mentioning your show. So what show
do you have coming out? And who do you play? Sure? So, um,
(08:46):
it is called Super Kiddies and it is a very
exciting uh show that is geared towards two to seven
year old. It'll be on Disney Junior and Disney Plus.
And it is all about these cats, these kiddies that
live in Kitty Dale, of course, and who want to
make it and a possum possum but from possum place
(09:10):
to live and so uh, these kitties are very special
kitties and whenever they hear the call from their friends
help something's wrong, Um, they transform into the Super Kitties.
And they each have individual powers and unique powers. And
so who I play is the reason why they get
the call a lot of times, and that is Cat Burglar.
(09:34):
He is a sneaky, slinky Nina bad guy. I get
to play the bad guy it's great, yeah, I mean,
but bad, really bad. He's not so bad. I think
he does uh, he does something like the wrong things
for the right reasons, right, and so you know, yeah,
he will go and as his name would suggest, he
(09:56):
will cat burgle things from people, uh and pets around
Kitty Dale. Um. But it's always because he needs something
or because he thinks that's going to help him get
something else. And what I love about him is that,
always and forever, every single time he is eventually caught
by the super kitties, he gives the stuff back. He apologizes.
(10:19):
He always admits that. Yeah, he always admits that he's
done something wrong, and he learns a very valuable lesson.
And I think that's so important now, especially for kids,
because I have a nine year old, a twelve year old,
and then my stepdaughter just turned eighteen yesterday. Yeah wild right.
And so I mean, kids now, when it comes to
making mistakes, I mean, that's like the worst thing you
(10:41):
could possibly do to them, right. They don't want to
raise their hand necessarily in class. My my boys really
complain about that, and yet I encourage them. I like,
you know, what mistakes are like the best way that
you can learn getting it is. You know, strong and
wrong is what my my acchoired director used to say. Right,
It's like we're gonna just sing out, so we'll no
be strong and wrong, right, strong and wrong, so we
(11:02):
know where the mistakes are right. And so that being said,
I think that one of the things that I love
about this show, and especially about cat Burglar's role in
this show, is that his job. He comes in and
he makes plenty of mistakes, yet he always takes responsibility
for it, He always apologizes for it, he always learns
his lesson, he always gives the stuff back that he takes.
(11:22):
So I think that's it's important for kids to know
that you can make a mistake and still grow and
still be Okay, Okay, so we'll hold on, hold on.
Do you think I have a six year old and
I have a three turning four year old? Okay, and
my six year old is when I say obsessed with cats, like,
(11:43):
I don't know if you understand, she has been obsessed
with cats and kittens. With have a Bengal cat in
her house and she just loves it to death and
it and and she I mean, I cannot tell you
how obsessed this girl as a cat. She is going
to I am going to you watching you all the time.
Every day, I'm going to tell her I know cat.
(12:05):
She's gonna freak out. Yeah. I don't know what it
is about cats, but like when we were growing up,
I think we all love teddy bears and like puppies
and cabbage kids. But I think, like if there was
I don't know what it is, and I don't know
if this is a generational thing. But cats are big
right now. Okay, cats are so big. Cats are in
(12:30):
and I'm happy to that I get to play one
of them. And another thing, just does your daughter like music?
She loves music and cats singing music? Are are you
singing as well? I might be singing a little bit
of Well, look, I'll tell you this much if you
if you love cats, great, if you love music extra great.
Because each one of the twenty two minute episodes has
(12:53):
an original song in it. So I mean it is
it is music, it is cats, It is uhen ship
and favorite. But it will be your daughter because she's
like twenty something, right, But listen to I really do
appreciate it. And it's the face the face of your
demographic Okay, Like really, I love it because, um, like
(13:16):
you're saying, they're taking cat Burglars taking accountability. And you know,
usually when we see villains they're very villainy. Um. But
I have noticed in the program programming that Disney Junior
has been doing lately is that they're making it, you know,
nothing's too scary and nothing's too bad where the villains
can't come back from it. And I think that's wonderful.
How do you how do you approach a villain character
(13:39):
that's not too hate herbal right? And I think, well,
it comes down to the great writing that's on the show,
first of all, and and then it comes down also
to the way that the actual super Kitties handle things,
you know, meaning cat Burglar can get away, cat Burglar
can tease, right, cat Burglar plays cat and mouse with
(14:01):
them all the time. And yet at the end of
the day, when cat Burglar does eventually get caught, because
he gets caught every single time, um, the super Kitties
always treat him with respect. They're like, hey, look, this
wasn't right, but we hear you because because cat Burglar
always explains why he does something with anything, he's really
important right to know that it's not just because he's
(14:24):
mean or because he's just somebody who likes to steal things,
right now, he always has a reason, and he's always
trying to just like kids, just get their needs met,
just like anybody trying to get their needs met. But
he goes about it in a way that can sometimes
make other people feel sad, can sometimes make other people, um,
hurt other people's feelings, and so you know, in order
(14:48):
to then take all of that and make sure that
I honor the fact that these great writing and the
super Kitties themselves really treat him with respect, it's in
the voicing side of it. Really, it's just making sure
that he never gets to mean right. Like he can
like tease and it's like really fun to be teasy,
(15:09):
but to never like make it a little too uh
nan nanny boo boo, if you know what I'm saying. Saying,
but like and at the same time also just keep
him light, keep him fun. And and so again I
rest heavily on the great writing in the show, but
really it's just about making sure that it always has
(15:32):
this undercurrent of fun, always has an undercurrent. I mean,
obviously it's a high pitched voice, um, and so Um,
that helps, right, But to just always keep in mind
and remember that he is and he doesn't want anybody
to know it, but that he's really a good kittie
at heart. Are we allowed to hear the voice? Are
(15:53):
we allowed to hear it yet? Or oh sure, it's
no problem. I mean it's up here. And sometimes he
gets a little like, hey, come on, guys, can't catch
me that, you know. So it's like never to it's
never like Growley or anything like that. But um, but
it's it's just so fun to hear him like work
out a problem and you know, even I think the
(16:17):
worst thing and it's not really bad at all. It's
like sometimes he turns around, he goes super kid, right,
you know. You see he doesn't necessarily like the fact
that the super kitties come and try and uh yeah,
he's always having fun. That's so interesting. So the range
(16:39):
of your voice is fascinating to me. So obviously we
there's a lot of folks right well that we that
we know. Maggia is one of them where they are
able to do they have these beautiful, rich, deeper voices,
you know, because I don't know in terms of are
you what are you are? You are you a baritone?
Like no, no, no, I would be a high tenor
(16:59):
when it I'm just singing. Yeah, but it's really interesting
because I you know, and then you know, as you
both no doubt, no, you know you talked throughout the
day and you you have everything kind of drops a
little bit lower. But um, and when you have the
old you know, the old SMB seven and then do
you have a when you have annoyment over there? What
are you rocking annoyment? There will something serious? I don't
(17:20):
know's I've got my my my, I have the m
x L, I have the old nine thousand whatever. It's rocking.
It sounds great. And so yeah, the the whole point,
like you know what I mean. So like it's the
microphones definitely come into play. But for me, I've always
had a bit of a higher register, and um, as
I get older, it definitely drops and I'm like more
(17:42):
in the speaking baritone zone. But like almost every single
day I will warm up my voice and I'll warm it,
whip up and and to make sure that I keep
that range. And literally it's just keeping the your chords
flexible and the muscles around them flexible. That helps, you know,
and someday I'll get to play, you know, maybe a
character that has a little bit more of this, you know,
(18:03):
and I love like doing. At the end of the day,
you know, there's like like like the was that the
guy from h Inspector gadgets another one? Right? Yeah? Right,
yeah exactly so yeah, so I just I'd like to
it's the spirit of play at the end of the day.
One of the reasons why I love Super Katies so
much is because there is this undercurrent. Even when the
(18:26):
Super Katies are chasing Cat Burglar, it's play and um
for two to seven year olds. I don't know about
your two to seven year olds. With my two seven
year olds when they were two to seven, um, that's
all they want to do. And even when Cat Burgers
being chased by the Super Katies, even when he gets
caught all the things, it's always play. And so for
me developing vocal characters, UM comes down to just being
(18:50):
willing to play, being willing to fail, being willing to
get it so unbelievably wrong. UM, because at the very
least you'd learn what doesn't work, and at the very
uh most, you find these new things that you wouldn't
have otherwise found if you tried to play it safe, dude.
We talk about that all the time on here, and
and we inspire people, like we have a really big
(19:11):
contest where we try to inspire people. I'm sure contest
going right now. That's very exciting because we're giving someone
their big break and giving them there a year contract
with C E. SD and right see his face, it's like, yeah,
that's one of the things you want. You can have
the website. So we wanted to talk you about, you know,
(19:32):
American Idol a little bit of course, because that's essentially
what we've You don't mind, yeah, I mean, if you
don't mind, it is our super awesome contest to become
the next big voice actor and you get flown up.
That's the entire title title. You're flown out to Los Angeles,
you have lunch with us, you meet your agent, you
get to sign for a year with C E. S D.
Thousand dollars, you in a thousand dollars you do promost
(19:54):
for for our show hard Radio. The website. It's awesome.
If two minute entry no more, no longer to I
hear voices at I heart radio dot com. There you go,
(20:17):
American idol. Obviously they say, oh, that's your break, but
the fact remains, you started training and singing well before
any of the Atlanta Choir. I mean that's at the
boy Atlanta Boys Choir, which is obviously known throughout the world.
So I mean, can you can you walk us through
a little bit of how you got started with everything,
not just idol, but before how you just found your
(20:38):
love of what you're doing now, found your voice. Yeah,
that's it. I found beautiful, beautiful intro um. Yes. So
really it just came down to, like everyone else, I
just sang with my parents in the car, and one
day somebody at a school, it was out of doors
schools what it was called in Georgia, was like said
(20:59):
to my uh dad in very uh typical Southern fashion,
they said, but your son can carry a tune in
a bucket. And so from there, uh, they just saw
that I kind of just was able to to sing.
And we had this big piano in the hallway and
I would I would hear things and I would plunk
it out. You know. It was about four and I
(21:21):
wasn't like Mozart being in the stretch imagination, but like
I would plunk out melodies and I just showed an
interest and so at four years old they had me
auditioned for the Atlanta Boys Choir and I ended up
getting in four years four. Yeah, so I was a
little boy soprano and that was this intro. My my
conductor was named Wolskang, so you know, it was for
(21:44):
real and and so that was my entry into the
world of choir, into the world of both sacred and
secular music. And you know, it didn't hurt to have
the parents that I have. My mom was one of
the first anchor women on CNN when it started up
in the early d My dad was chief of police
in Atlanta, on the force for thirty plus years. So
(22:05):
I grew so I grew up around the lights, the politics,
the cameras, the everything, and so that certainly was a
huge catalyst for everything that I do. And then just
would go on from there to to continue to sing
in school and audition for for you know, local theaters
(22:26):
and whatnot, and then um, I would go away. I
went to college for vocal performance at University of the Arts,
studied theater there as well, and dance there as well.
So it was always just always always geared towards performance,
and as happens. You know, the people say lucky break right,
But what is luck luck is preparation meeting opportunity, as
(22:47):
we know. And so I was just prepared from a
very young age, went to school for it, um and
and studied it. And then all of a sudden, this
opportunity show nobody had ever heard of came along. And
it was at my first sort of like entry into
the scene because I've been auditioning for another Disney project
(23:07):
called The Lion King shame didn't do well. Uh yeah,
and in and out of theaters, out of theaters, and
so I was auditioning for the Broadway show. Uh and
about four years I had been auditioning for it, had
done everything that you could possibly do other than set
foot on the stage with a contract in my hand,
and um, as things happen, I get this yellow piece
(23:31):
of paper from the show nobody had ever heard of,
called a golden ticket to go to Los Angeles, a
place I've never been at the time, in two thousand two.
And that very same week I get a call from
the casting office of course Lion King, and they're like
and so I'm like, oh, really, well, there's this show
in l A. Can I call you back in a week?
(23:52):
I might get cut. Let me call you back in
a week. And so I got out to l A
long story slightly less long. I am at the point
where I have to say yeah or nay to the
Lion King, or yea or nay to this show called
American I don't nobody had heard of. And Hollywood Week
is designed to just wear you out, designed to yeah,
(24:13):
designed to test you to see if you can handle
being on the big show, which is like go go, go, Go,
Go go go. And so I was walking down the
aisle at the Pasadena Civic Center in Pasadena, shockingly enough,
and uh, I looked up at the stage with the
American Idle logo and the smoke and the lights and
the production and the camera on the jib arm. And
(24:34):
then I looked over into the orchestra section where all
of my you know, friends and competitors were chatting and
they were exhausted. I was exhausted, and I remember just
breaking out, just just bawling and crying. And it was
not something that I did at twenty two. Now that
I'm married and have three children and two dogs, like
crying comes a lot easier when I feel sorry for myself, right,
(24:56):
but like, uhh yeah, I'm tired, yeah really that emotional trained.
And yet I remember looking up at the stage and
thinking to myself, Oh my goodness, that stage that I'm
performing on, that I'm doing these things that I've really
never done before in this kind of way on the show.
That's the same stage that Michael Jackson at the fiftieth
(25:19):
anniversary of Motown did the moon walk for the first time.
So many of the people that I love and have
inspired me to have a music career have performed on
this stage. And I don't know what it was. I
would like to say God, but that's just what my
belief system that like this voice said do this. And so,
(25:39):
like a just strange person, I called up the Lion
King Disney and I said, thank you so very much,
please to consider me in the future, but I'm gonna try.
I'm I just gotta go for this other show. I
wasn't in the top thirty, which was like the big
sort of cut off I had. I could have been
cut the very next day, but there was something that
(26:00):
said do it, and so I called him up. I
said thank you so very much, but please keep me
in mind the future. And the really awesome bow of
this whole story is that about ten eleven years later,
I would make my debut on Broadway in a show
called Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Yeah,
and so depend on film, right, Oh you did there
(26:23):
you go? Yeah? Yeah, Well it didn't last very long,
but I would make my I would make my debut
being like Patti Lapone and Brian Stokes Mitchell's son in
this in this uh great Broadway show that didn't get
as much as us do as it deserves, but we
would have our opening night party in the same hotel,
(26:44):
in the same conference room that I first sat and
waited an audition for American Idol. Wow, it all comes back.
It just came right back around for me. So I
think I made the right choice. And now here I
am almost seven seven Broadway shows later. Yes, I was
gonna say, and shows and I mean best author author.
(27:05):
They always say with the with the you know you've
been waiting to do, uh Lion King and then Idol
comes up. They always say, as an actor, if there's
one audition you really want, book nonrefundable plane tickets on
the day of the audition. So that's then you know
for a fact you're gonna get it. That's like you
gotta do something there. So but let me is that
(27:25):
another audition secret? Will uh? Let me let me ask
you a question then, because to bring it back selfishly
to I, hear voices, Um, how important was Idle to you?
You know, in somebody giving you that break? I mean
it is is it? I mean it's do you look
back at that and say, Man, what my life would
have been had I not taken that opportunity? You know,
(27:48):
I wonder sometimes, but I just would have been in
the lion king, um, not the second place to go? Right,
not a bad not a bad fallback right? Yeah? Yeah,
And and so I do think, like I wonder what
it would have been like. But I know, just for
a fact, because I've been able to do so many
(28:09):
interesting and cool things that I've forgotten about, people will
come and remind me of things, or there is uh
someone her name is Judy, and she from the very
beginning has kept track of everything and anything that I've
done publicly and just like notated it on a website. Yeah,
it's a huge shout out to Judy and and you know,
(28:29):
and and this is not someone who's just sitting around.
She's like a lawyer, she has like her own boots,
and yet she just wanted to do this. And it
is such a blessing because I'm like, oh my god,
I totally forgot that I did all that. Oh my god,
I totally forgot that I met that person. And the
long and the short of it is that American Idol
gave me like not just a foot, but like propelled
(28:50):
the body through the doorway that most people are trying
to get through, so much so that now here, you know,
twenty years later. It was pre social media. It was
pre you know, so many of the things that we
know to use to leverage a brand, and yet you
can't get thirty million people to watch anything anything live
(29:12):
on TV phenomenon. I am not a musical guy. I
I don't sing, I don't dance. I watched every week.
I watched every week at the beginning, So it was
it was one of those things where it brought everybody
together and everybody watched every week. Something like that just
doesn't exist anymore. But that then brings me to something
I want to talk to you a bit about because
(29:33):
it's I know it's hugely important to you, um, and
something that we like to try to take a bigger role.
And then we're trying with this contest. But you're a mentor,
You're a mentor to other people that are up and coming.
Can you talk a little bit about what that's like. Yeah.
I had a very very very off putting audition experience
UM a few years back, and so much so. It
(29:56):
was for a major, major musical that you know, we
all know and love of. And yet the experience itself, uh,
in short, was three months of my time, wasted energy, money, everything. Uh.
And what happened was is that I was asked to
jump through all kinds of hoops, flaming hoops. Uh. You
(30:17):
know Acilene who all the hoops? And at the end
of it, after three months of my time learning a
significant amount of material, going in, staying in hotels, like
doing all the things that we do in order to
really make sure that we deliver in the room. UM,
they just were like, no, and we here know all
the time in this business all the time, but but
(30:40):
there's something to be said for no. And maybe here's
why are no? And hey keep keep coming back or no,
some takeaway something. Yeah, it can be very hard. I mean,
and don't even gonna starting the voiceover world. It's just
like you're screaming into the void sometimes or most of
the time. Right. And yet I realized, wait a minute,
(31:00):
it once I got over myself and I was like,
should I am be in this? Like I can't, Like
I'm not at the top of the charts, but I'm
also not starting out either, And if they can do
this to me, then imagine what they're doing to people
who don't have the experience, who don't have the agents,
who don't have the team and everything that I have.
And so that's when I thought, oh, my goodness. You know,
(31:20):
the audition is the way that we get gigs. It
is the it's it's our it's the way that we
you know, everything is kind of like an audition. Whether
we want an agent or a manager or whatever, we're
having to audition, having to prove our value. And yet
I realized, like, oh, I've been through a lot of auditions,
and I've seen a lot of stuff. I've not only
been on the side of the audition or table or
(31:43):
the audition ee rather, but the person that is being
auditioned for as well, and I see so many of
the same mistakes, and so just like you being a
mentor for me, The way I like to kind of
think of it is that I love taking people by
the hand and walking them down the road of whatever
it is that they're trying to do in auditions, helping
(32:04):
them avoid the potholes, helping them, you know, know where
the hairpin turns without any guardrails are, in order to
get them to their goal, get them to where they
want to go. Yeah, they're gonna make mistakes their own,
but they don't have to make my mistakes. They don't
have to make the mistakes that everyone else makes, and
it's just going further faster. That's why you hire a
good mentor, right, That's why people want to be a
part of your contest, because you get to go further
(32:26):
faster and in this ever changing, high paced world, that's
that's vital. That's great. Thank you. We were It's funny
because Christy and I often talk about because we both
started so young, you know, we were both child actors,
and so it's one of those things where you it
can be it can be a dangerous road. There's no
(32:47):
other way to say it. It's not what you know.
It can be depressing or upsetting. No, it can be dangerous.
So knowing that there are people out there that are
actually looking out for the next generation that is up
and coming is hugely important and something that a lot
of people needed or need still nowadays because you're right Yecially,
you're supposed to make your own mistakes. That's a point
of growing up. Uh, and you're growing up in the
(33:09):
business and becoming better at what you're doing. Of course,
you know they say, what is it. No, Um, no
great sailor ever learned anything in calm Sea's So it's
just I mean, that's just the way it is. So uh.
But knowing that there's a great captain out there who's
going to teach you the ropes not mixed metaphors, um,
but it's but it's pretty wonderful. So uh, yeah, it's
great that you're doing that, and please keep that up
(33:30):
because it's sure. But I think it's now more than ever,
especially with the kids coming up and I mean kids
like anyone, from kids like you are when you first started,
to people who are in their twenties coming out of college.
I mean, we are so at least in this country.
We are so fame obsessed, we are so um obsessed
(33:54):
with you. Yeah well, yeah, well, and but there's something
to be said for being selfish, but then there's something
to be said for being self centered, right, And so
when we selfish and we don't realize that it's selfish,
when we get caught up in in what I've heard
called vanity metrics, the likes, the subscribers, the number of
(34:15):
auditions that we've gone on, right, or the number of
this that those are just vanity metrics that make our
ego feel better, right, Because go to your supermarket and
try and pay for your food with subscribers or likes
right there, they'll kick you out. So really, then focusing
on what matters, and you say, it's a dangerous road.
Oh yes, because we get caught up in allowing our
(34:38):
value to be determined by the number of people clapping, right,
or the number of people liking, or the number of
how much money we're making, And that's not it. And
so I'm so glad that you're doing things like this.
I'm glad that I get to do stuff like I
do because I'm shifting and I know you are as well.
Shifting the perspective away from all that vanity stuff and
(35:02):
more towards like, hey, here the nuts and bolts. You're
gonna make huge mistakes. But if you're willing to fail,
like you like to talk about here, if you're willing
to just go for it, you're going to discover so
much about yourself. And I will guarantee you every single
thing that I've ever done that has had any sort
of success in it, whether that's the Little Sweet commercials
(35:23):
or this Disney project or American Idol or Broadway, I
have failed miserably, but I've been willing to fail because
in those moments of failure, I'm like, oh, that doesn't work,
or in those moments of I don't know what's gonna
come out next, let's see what happens. Like that thing,
that reason why we got into this business, that unique
(35:46):
X factor, if you will, not to talk about another show,
but that that X factor that is unique to us
and us alone, is allowed to shine through. Man. That's
great that you are a wonderful guest and we're so
lucky to have you on. And obviously I told you
I'm I'm already a fan of the show and I
will be watching it yeah, alright, So I have a
(36:08):
question that I have a question for you. You're you
get to pick your ultimate voice over role. Who do
you play any character? No matter what you are the
voice of, who's it gonna be? Wow? Is it Mickey?
You know what? I love Mickey, as we all do.
(36:30):
The one thing about well you know what, Yeah, Mickey
would be super fun. I mean I take it from
like also, I think like a life perspective because it's like,
you do Mickey, and that's probably all you're gonna do.
That's your job. That's your job until you've just written
the first line of your obituary. Right, Yeah. Yeah, that's
(36:51):
interesting with these shows. It's interesting with these like really
popular shows, right like um Wicked, for example, I was
in that on Broadway. There are people who been in
that from the very beginning. Lion King. I could have
been in that maybe a couple of years into it,
and we called the Golden Handcuffs, right, It's like, oh,
it's like, oh, you're like the gilded Cage. Yeah it is.
(37:12):
It is gold handcuffs, gilded cage and all that stuff.
So I would say Nicky would be really fun, But um,
I would love to play um like a really comedic, fun,
goofy character. Um, you know, like something along the lines
of and and you know, who could ever possibly do
(37:32):
this better than then he could? But like the Genie
with Robin Williams where you can just go off, you
know like that with that kind of character. So, you know,
would I have a character that I've always loved? Um,
I can't like picking which breath I like exactly, But yeah,
I seem to be more the Disney side than say
superhero side. So it's not like, oh, I want to
(37:53):
play Superman or I want to play Batman, or I
want to play interesting. But like I think it would
be on It would be interesting, But I think I
like more of the fun characters. I mean, you know,
nothing would be just having my voice and just using
it like that, right, But there's something to be said for,
you know, some of the more you know, fun guys.
You know, I don't know. It just seems fun to me.
(38:15):
Make bold choices bold that so interesting? Interesting? How about
a villain if you ever want? I mean, we've got
kies with super kitties, We've got you know, it's kind
of the fun young more other than being a villain.
It's more just kind of finding your way and maybe
not always taking the right path. What about a super
(38:35):
villain something along those lines could be pretty I'd always
love to play the Joker. Yeah, that would be like
that would again, it's just like more of like the
sort of real crazy guy. And I actually got to
meet Mark hamill uh during one Tony's and I was like,
I don't know if I love you more for Luke
or for the Joker. Yeah. We were when we were
(38:58):
doing Return of the Joke and I was just sitting
in between him and Kevin Conroy for a week. It
was the most insane thing in the world watching the
two of them go back and forth. It's like, I
don't even belong in this room. Yeah I know, it's
the greatest. Yeah, so that character. And you know they've
I've I've actually auditioned for it and they didn't want
you to do the Mark version of it. But they've
(39:18):
had a bunch of different kind of you know, some
people are just like this is the joke, like we
like interesting like choices on the Joker. So but but yeah,
I would. I would. I would steal greatly from Mark
Cambll's version. Everyone would. That's just the way it is.
When you got the best, you kind of go okay,
yeah exactly. It's like yeah, exactly right, yeah, I'll be
(39:39):
the cheaper version, right exactly. That's what they say. It's
like I'm diet I'm I'm diet joker exactly. So other
than super kitties, where else can everybody find you? Oh
my goodness? Well, all you have to do is just
search on social media at Justin Guarini. If you can't
spell that, don't worry. Just took look up the guy
with from American idol with the hair that help, right.
(40:00):
A couple of other people will come up, but I'm
the one. I'm the Justin little I was gonna say
when I thought the guy with the with the huge
mohawk would have yeah, yeah, yeah, he'll come up. He'll
come up to he's a lovely guy by the way.
Um but uh yeah and that and just you know,
you can find everything from my book to wacky videos
of my children driving me crazy all there on social
media at Justin Guarini. And don't forget to catch super
(40:24):
Kiddies on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney Plus. It's
out now, please go watch it. It sounds like a
ton of fun. Yeah. I don't know if anybody's going
to be more excited than you about it, though, I
think a little six year old that's yes. Well, you know,
it takes so long. It takes so long for all
for all the voicing and the the animation and stuff
(40:46):
like that. So you know, it's just been I feel
like I've just been like sitting on my hands for
like the better part of a year wait more actually
waiting for this to happen. So now that it's finally here,
I couldn't be more excited. Sounded on the rooftop, so gratulations.
This is the coolest thing in the world. And thank
you again for mentoring everybody else coming out check out
his book and you know all the social media stuff
(41:06):
and of course Super Kitties which is coming. And thank
you so much for joining us. Really it's very cool,
and we want to have you back on when we
are in the midst of our contest, we'll we'll fring
you out an absolutely on. Maybe you can help come
and mentor one of the one of the younger voice
over actors as they would love to bread and Butter.
I love it awesome. Thank you so much. For joining us.
Go check out everything he's doing. Because I don't know
(41:28):
about you, but I'm pretty inspired right now. I mean,
and I think, thank you, thank you so much. Justice,
Yeah my pleasure. Yeah. Thanks. That was amazing. I mean,
it's so inspiring to to talk to him, and I
feel like I could run like two or three miles
after right, right, It's just it's somebody who's so positive
and who who um, I mean, just it was. I know.
(41:51):
We've talked about our contest a whole bunch of times. Again,
it's a super awesome Christy, it's the super awesome contest
to become. It's the super awesome contest. I can't look
at it to become. The next it is and your
big break, people, it's your break break. January ninth to
February nine, Enter again and up to a two minute video.
(42:12):
We've talked about this. Do whatever you want voice over wise, uh,
please enter because we're gonna find you and don't ever
forget if you think you have what it takes to
step up to the microphone, put your voices where your
mouth is. Thanks everybody, by guys I Hear Voices is
hosted by Wilfred l and Christy Carlson Romano Executive produced
by Wilford L. Brendan Rooney, Amy Sugarman and Vicky Ernst Chang.
(42:32):
Our executive in charge of production is Danielle Romo, Our
producer is Lorraine Vera Wez and our editor slash engineer
is Brian Burton. And that was my announcer voice. Some
side effects of listening to I Hear Voices are sore
abs from hilarity falling down the Coco melon rabbit hole,
sneezing due to mass nostalgia, and hugs. Follow I Hear
Voices wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss
any of the amazing voices. Be sure to follow us
(42:53):
on Instagram and TikTok at I Hear Voices podcast. You
can also check us out on my space omeigal Vine,
Lime Wire. Hey I'm an uster. Okay, well, let's teach
you about the Internet. The who
Hey Christy, Hi Will, how are you? I'm fine? Thanks?
How are you doing? I'm doing just fine. Can't complain?
I can Oh, gosh, I'm not going to. I just okay.
I was like, was there something in particular or just no.
I just love when people are like, I can't complain.
I mean, if you want me to be open and
my back kind of hurts, you know a few times
(00:20):
last night? Yeah, this chair I'm sitting and doesn't have
a pillow, We I to complaint? Okay, we got to
go down that road to ask my husband. I'm a
big complaining If you just do you complain to brendon
a lot? Are you kidding me? I'm just curious. I mean, also,
my husband is a former marine, Like he's like a
(00:41):
complaining marine is a happy marine. That's like what they say.
But and so yeah, I mean in general, that's like
our love language is complaining. But overall, date night is
just sitting across from each other at a candle at
dinner and just complaining about everything. I don't know about you,
(01:02):
but I'm particularly we say this every week. We might
as well just put this on a loop. But I
am particularly excited for today's episode. I am always astounded
at the diversity and the level of mastery, the variation
of mastery that we have, because all of our guests
are so different, um, you know, coming from different aspects
of the industry, which you know, of course, there's one
(01:24):
way to get a big break right, like you get
it right, and that including our contest, which if you haven't,
please go ahead and and submit your two minutes or
less submission to I hear voices at I Heart radio
dot com. Um. But honestly, like this guy was, also,
this wonderful guest of ours is no stranger to competition
or contests of this sort. I will say, yeah, it's
(01:47):
actually if there's the perfect person to talk about exactly
what our contest is and how you know, how your
life can change from something like this. It's our guest
who is with us today, Christie. Oh my gosh, it's
Justin Guerini. Hello, Hi, how are you? I'm doing fine?
How are you? I'm doing well? Thank you? I got
(02:10):
by far the nicest background of the three, right, goodness,
what I loved you. I was just about to comment
on your background. It's very very much voiceover Boothy. Oh,
thank you, thank you very much. Christie looks like she's
being held hostage to joke, held hostage in a tropical
location though it's very sun Thank you, thank you sunniness.
How are you doing well? Thank you well, thank you
(02:33):
for joining us? Hey, well, thank you very much for
having me a kid. I mean, this is great. We
know you're super busy going on, so it's really good
we're able to join us for a while. Well, no,
and I appreciate you having me on, and and just
the fact that I get to promote this show is
pretty awesome because it's fun and I've been like waiting
waiting for it to come out. So is this your first?
Is this your first big video gig? No? I mean
(02:57):
well I think yes, well my first like big it's
sort of like being on like multiple shows and actually
being a cast member. Yeah. I'm trying to think, can
I do anything else in the voiceover? I've done to
other cartoon voiceovers, but like never this one. We'll talk
about it in the actual interview. Unless this is the interview.
This is the actual interview. Yeah, yeah, exactly, Who's who's
(03:21):
the one being held hostage? I wanted? Yeah, no, I
this is the first sort of like big deal certainly
to me UM and cast member one, because I grew
up loving Disney cartoons so much, like it's like pretty
much everybody unless they've been hiding under a rock. And
yet I went in one day a long time, like
(03:45):
I'm talking like maybe fifteen years ago, and I was
meeting with some executives at Disney UM in their sort
of voice over department, because I wanted to do it,
and they were telling me about how at the time,
the gentleman who was I think only the third or
four maybe fourth voice of Mickey Mouse was starting to
(04:05):
get older wanting to retire, and um they were looking
for a new voice. And I just went, oh boy,
and I was and and I just like broke it
out and I was like, I've always, you know, thought
that Mickey was a fun voice. And the guys were like, uh,
do you want to come in an audition for it.
I was like, Yeah, I want to come in audition
from making I would love to. And so at the
(04:26):
time I was working for TV Guide Network and doing
a lot of live red carpets in studio hosting like
talk talk Talk Talk Talk talk, talk talk talk all
day long and was Awards season, and so I was
on the carpet and doing all sort of stuff that
I had to go in for this interview. I got
to go into this interview and like my voice was
feeling a little rough and like yeah, and so it's
one of those like very typical actor e l A
(04:49):
things to have happened, right, and and you know, fortunately
I was working, but I went in and um, you know,
I did something to the effect of say you want
to come to my club house, Well, right, let's go,
and like just doing it and having fun with it.
But it was kind of like ragging the guy. When
I came out of the booth, you was like, that
was really really awesome, And he didn't say to me
(05:12):
in so many words. I think later I found out
the note was like it was really close, great job,
We'd love to see you in the future. And uh.
They ended up casting from inside the actual company, which lovely,
which they love to do, right and uh. And so
then many many years later this came along and I
was like, yes, let me give it a shot. But
(05:32):
it was something where it was just that I got
to create all my own and and there were some
references in there. Um, and I just really took like
the idea of like the earth a cat or the
kit rather cat woman, but yeah, and just ran with it.
(05:54):
And so that's that's how cat Perker. You said you
grew up loving Disney cartoons, which ones? Like what were you?
What were your favorite cartoons growing up? My favorite of
all time? I mean like you've got Bambi, And I
(06:17):
remember a friend of mine who was a family friend.
She was like, she took me to that when I
was little, and she said, you just started bawling at
the very beginning because of the story. There were over
hard like from the start, right from the start, Uh,
(06:39):
Fox and the Hound, which funny story, not really funny,
but it's interesting to see how how the world has changed.
Like if you go back and you watch the original
Fox in the Hound, it's dark, it is. It is
more like the grim fairy tales, where like the world
is not a perfect place and you're gonna ago. Whereas
(07:00):
now you look at the newer version of it and
the opening sequence is this big slapstick like literally farmer
steps on the rake sort of thing, and they're like
running around having a great time. So it's just interesting
to see how uh tastes have changed. All we say
over the over the years. UM, but my favorite, to
answer your question directly, of all time is The Sword
(07:21):
and the Stone. Not the most commercially successful Disney cartoon,
but one that just got me so much because I
think Arthur got the chance to go with Merlin, and
you know, I love the magic of it all, and
I just love that he got to have the different
perspectives of the different animals and was what he ultimately
(07:41):
needed to have in order to become the leader that
he would become. O. That's so beautiful. What about shows?
Were there any shows that you watch growing up? Were you?
I mean like SHOs, Formers? No, any shows any any
animated sit where you like a Transformers fan or former
Definitely g I Joe and going back to look at
those p s A s are hilarious. Um, and then
(08:03):
like Gummy Bears, um, duct Tails, Yeah, dubs one for me. Yeah,
I loved all that. Um. Let's see what are the
other ones that stick out in my mind? I also
loved and still love Adults Swim Adults from like when
it first came out, with like Cow and Chicken and
Dexter's Lab and like all those things. Like so I've
(08:25):
been like a cartoon junkie for that. It's like your
comfort zone. It's your comfort it is it is and
I was like one and it gets It's Disney like,
am I gonna sell? It's exciting. Well, let's talk a
bit about that because you we've been talking about your
show without actually really mentioning your show. So what show
do you have coming out? And who do you play? Sure? So, um,
(08:46):
it is called Super Kiddies and it is a very
exciting uh show that is geared towards two to seven
year old. It'll be on Disney Junior and Disney Plus.
And it is all about these cats, these kiddies that
live in Kitty Dale, of course, and who want to
make it and a possum possum but from possum place
(09:10):
to live and so uh, these kitties are very special
kitties and whenever they hear the call from their friends
help something's wrong, Um, they transform into the Super Kitties.
And they each have individual powers and unique powers. And
so who I play is the reason why they get
the call a lot of times, and that is Cat Burglar.
(09:34):
He is a sneaky, slinky Nina bad guy. I get
to play the bad guy it's great, yeah, I mean,
but bad, really bad. He's not so bad. I think
he does uh, he does something like the wrong things
for the right reasons, right, and so you know, yeah,
he will go and as his name would suggest, he
(09:56):
will cat burgle things from people, uh and pets around
Kitty Dale. Um. But it's always because he needs something
or because he thinks that's going to help him get
something else. And what I love about him is that,
always and forever, every single time he is eventually caught
by the super kitties, he gives the stuff back. He apologizes.
(10:19):
He always admits that. Yeah, he always admits that he's
done something wrong, and he learns a very valuable lesson.
And I think that's so important now, especially for kids,
because I have a nine year old, a twelve year old,
and then my stepdaughter just turned eighteen yesterday. Yeah wild right.
And so I mean, kids now, when it comes to
making mistakes, I mean, that's like the worst thing you
(10:41):
could possibly do to them, right. They don't want to
raise their hand necessarily in class. My my boys really
complain about that, and yet I encourage them. I like,
you know, what mistakes are like the best way that
you can learn getting it is. You know, strong and
wrong is what my my acchoired director used to say. Right,
It's like we're gonna just sing out, so we'll no
be strong and wrong, right, strong and wrong, so we
(11:02):
know where the mistakes are right. And so that being said,
I think that one of the things that I love
about this show, and especially about cat Burglar's role in
this show, is that his job. He comes in and
he makes plenty of mistakes, yet he always takes responsibility
for it, He always apologizes for it, he always learns
his lesson, he always gives the stuff back that he takes.
(11:22):
So I think that's it's important for kids to know
that you can make a mistake and still grow and
still be Okay, Okay, so we'll hold on, hold on.
Do you think I have a six year old and
I have a three turning four year old? Okay, and
my six year old is when I say obsessed with cats, like,
(11:43):
I don't know if you understand, she has been obsessed
with cats and kittens. With have a Bengal cat in
her house and she just loves it to death and
it and and she I mean, I cannot tell you
how obsessed this girl as a cat. She is going
to I am going to you watching you all the time.
Every day, I'm going to tell her I know cat.
(12:05):
She's gonna freak out. Yeah. I don't know what it
is about cats, but like when we were growing up,
I think we all love teddy bears and like puppies
and cabbage kids. But I think, like if there was
I don't know what it is, and I don't know
if this is a generational thing. But cats are big
right now. Okay, cats are so big. Cats are in
(12:30):
and I'm happy to that I get to play one
of them. And another thing, just does your daughter like music?
She loves music and cats singing music? Are are you
singing as well? I might be singing a little bit
of Well, look, I'll tell you this much if you
if you love cats, great, if you love music extra great.
Because each one of the twenty two minute episodes has
(12:53):
an original song in it. So I mean it is
it is music, it is cats, It is uhen ship
and favorite. But it will be your daughter because she's
like twenty something, right, But listen to I really do
appreciate it. And it's the face the face of your
demographic Okay, Like really, I love it because, um, like
(13:16):
you're saying, they're taking cat Burglars taking accountability. And you know,
usually when we see villains they're very villainy. Um. But
I have noticed in the program programming that Disney Junior
has been doing lately is that they're making it, you know,
nothing's too scary and nothing's too bad where the villains
can't come back from it. And I think that's wonderful.
How do you how do you approach a villain character
(13:39):
that's not too hate herbal right? And I think, well,
it comes down to the great writing that's on the show,
first of all, and and then it comes down also
to the way that the actual super Kitties handle things,
you know, meaning cat Burglar can get away, cat Burglar
can tease, right, cat Burglar plays cat and mouse with
(14:01):
them all the time. And yet at the end of
the day, when cat Burglar does eventually get caught, because
he gets caught every single time, um, the super Kitties
always treat him with respect. They're like, hey, look, this
wasn't right, but we hear you because because cat Burglar
always explains why he does something with anything, he's really
important right to know that it's not just because he's
(14:24):
mean or because he's just somebody who likes to steal things,
right now, he always has a reason, and he's always
trying to just like kids, just get their needs met,
just like anybody trying to get their needs met. But
he goes about it in a way that can sometimes
make other people feel sad, can sometimes make other people, um,
hurt other people's feelings, and so you know, in order
(14:48):
to then take all of that and make sure that
I honor the fact that these great writing and the
super Kitties themselves really treat him with respect, it's in
the voicing side of it. Really, it's just making sure
that he never gets to mean right. Like he can
like tease and it's like really fun to be teasy,
(15:09):
but to never like make it a little too uh
nan nanny boo boo, if you know what I'm saying. Saying,
but like and at the same time also just keep
him light, keep him fun. And and so again I
rest heavily on the great writing in the show, but
really it's just about making sure that it always has
(15:32):
this undercurrent of fun, always has an undercurrent. I mean,
obviously it's a high pitched voice, um, and so Um,
that helps, right, But to just always keep in mind
and remember that he is and he doesn't want anybody
to know it, but that he's really a good kittie
at heart. Are we allowed to hear the voice? Are
(15:53):
we allowed to hear it yet? Or oh sure, it's
no problem. I mean it's up here. And sometimes he
gets a little like, hey, come on, guys, can't catch
me that, you know. So it's like never to it's
never like Growley or anything like that. But um, but
it's it's just so fun to hear him like work
out a problem and you know, even I think the
(16:17):
worst thing and it's not really bad at all. It's
like sometimes he turns around, he goes super kid, right,
you know. You see he doesn't necessarily like the fact
that the super kitties come and try and uh yeah,
he's always having fun. That's so interesting. So the range
(16:39):
of your voice is fascinating to me. So obviously we
there's a lot of folks right well that we that
we know. Maggia is one of them where they are
able to do they have these beautiful, rich, deeper voices,
you know, because I don't know in terms of are
you what are you are? You are you a baritone?
Like no, no, no, I would be a high tenor
(16:59):
when it I'm just singing. Yeah, but it's really interesting
because I you know, and then you know, as you
both no doubt, no, you know you talked throughout the
day and you you have everything kind of drops a
little bit lower. But um, and when you have the
old you know, the old SMB seven and then do
you have a when you have annoyment over there? What
are you rocking annoyment? There will something serious? I don't
(17:20):
know's I've got my my my, I have the m
x L, I have the old nine thousand whatever. It's rocking.
It sounds great. And so yeah, the the whole point,
like you know what I mean. So like it's the
microphones definitely come into play. But for me, I've always
had a bit of a higher register, and um, as
I get older, it definitely drops and I'm like more
(17:42):
in the speaking baritone zone. But like almost every single
day I will warm up my voice and I'll warm it,
whip up and and to make sure that I keep
that range. And literally it's just keeping the your chords
flexible and the muscles around them flexible. That helps, you know,
and someday I'll get to play, you know, maybe a
character that has a little bit more of this, you know,
(18:03):
and I love like doing. At the end of the day,
you know, there's like like like the was that the
guy from h Inspector gadgets another one? Right? Yeah? Right,
yeah exactly so yeah, so I just I'd like to
it's the spirit of play at the end of the day.
One of the reasons why I love Super Katies so
much is because there is this undercurrent. Even when the
(18:26):
Super Katies are chasing Cat Burglar, it's play and um
for two to seven year olds. I don't know about
your two to seven year olds. With my two seven
year olds when they were two to seven, um, that's
all they want to do. And even when Cat Burgers
being chased by the Super Katies, even when he gets
caught all the things, it's always play. And so for
me developing vocal characters, UM comes down to just being
(18:50):
willing to play, being willing to fail, being willing to
get it so unbelievably wrong. UM, because at the very
least you'd learn what doesn't work, and at the very
uh most, you find these new things that you wouldn't
have otherwise found if you tried to play it safe, dude.
We talk about that all the time on here, and
and we inspire people, like we have a really big
(19:11):
contest where we try to inspire people. I'm sure contest
going right now. That's very exciting because we're giving someone
their big break and giving them there a year contract
with C E. SD and right see his face, it's like, yeah,
that's one of the things you want. You can have
the website. So we wanted to talk you about, you know,
(19:32):
American Idol a little bit of course, because that's essentially
what we've You don't mind, yeah, I mean, if you
don't mind, it is our super awesome contest to become
the next big voice actor and you get flown up.
That's the entire title title. You're flown out to Los Angeles,
you have lunch with us, you meet your agent, you
get to sign for a year with C E. S D.
Thousand dollars, you in a thousand dollars you do promost
(19:54):
for for our show hard Radio. The website. It's awesome.
If two minute entry no more, no longer to I
hear voices at I heart radio dot com. There you go,
(20:17):
American idol. Obviously they say, oh, that's your break, but
the fact remains, you started training and singing well before
any of the Atlanta Choir. I mean that's at the
boy Atlanta Boys Choir, which is obviously known throughout the world.
So I mean, can you can you walk us through
a little bit of how you got started with everything,
not just idol, but before how you just found your
(20:38):
love of what you're doing now, found your voice. Yeah,
that's it. I found beautiful, beautiful intro um. Yes. So
really it just came down to, like everyone else, I
just sang with my parents in the car, and one
day somebody at a school, it was out of doors
schools what it was called in Georgia, was like said
(20:59):
to my uh dad in very uh typical Southern fashion,
they said, but your son can carry a tune in
a bucket. And so from there, uh, they just saw
that I kind of just was able to to sing.
And we had this big piano in the hallway and
I would I would hear things and I would plunk
it out. You know. It was about four and I
(21:21):
wasn't like Mozart being in the stretch imagination, but like
I would plunk out melodies and I just showed an
interest and so at four years old they had me
auditioned for the Atlanta Boys Choir and I ended up
getting in four years four. Yeah, so I was a
little boy soprano and that was this intro. My my
conductor was named Wolskang, so you know, it was for
(21:44):
real and and so that was my entry into the
world of choir, into the world of both sacred and
secular music. And you know, it didn't hurt to have
the parents that I have. My mom was one of
the first anchor women on CNN when it started up
in the early d My dad was chief of police
in Atlanta, on the force for thirty plus years. So
(22:05):
I grew so I grew up around the lights, the politics,
the cameras, the everything, and so that certainly was a
huge catalyst for everything that I do. And then just
would go on from there to to continue to sing
in school and audition for for you know, local theaters
(22:26):
and whatnot, and then um, I would go away. I
went to college for vocal performance at University of the Arts,
studied theater there as well, and dance there as well.
So it was always just always always geared towards performance,
and as happens. You know, the people say lucky break right,
But what is luck luck is preparation meeting opportunity, as
(22:47):
we know. And so I was just prepared from a
very young age, went to school for it, um and
and studied it. And then all of a sudden, this
opportunity show nobody had ever heard of came along. And
it was at my first sort of like entry into
the scene because I've been auditioning for another Disney project
(23:07):
called The Lion King shame didn't do well. Uh yeah,
and in and out of theaters, out of theaters, and
so I was auditioning for the Broadway show. Uh and
about four years I had been auditioning for it, had
done everything that you could possibly do other than set
foot on the stage with a contract in my hand,
and um, as things happen, I get this yellow piece
(23:31):
of paper from the show nobody had ever heard of,
called a golden ticket to go to Los Angeles, a
place I've never been at the time, in two thousand two.
And that very same week I get a call from
the casting office of course Lion King, and they're like
and so I'm like, oh, really, well, there's this show
in l A. Can I call you back in a week?
(23:52):
I might get cut. Let me call you back in
a week. And so I got out to l A
long story slightly less long. I am at the point
where I have to say yeah or nay to the
Lion King, or yea or nay to this show called
American I don't nobody had heard of. And Hollywood Week
is designed to just wear you out, designed to yeah,
(24:13):
designed to test you to see if you can handle
being on the big show, which is like go go, go, Go,
Go go go. And so I was walking down the
aisle at the Pasadena Civic Center in Pasadena, shockingly enough,
and uh, I looked up at the stage with the
American Idle logo and the smoke and the lights and
the production and the camera on the jib arm. And
(24:34):
then I looked over into the orchestra section where all
of my you know, friends and competitors were chatting and
they were exhausted. I was exhausted, and I remember just
breaking out, just just bawling and crying. And it was
not something that I did at twenty two. Now that
I'm married and have three children and two dogs, like
crying comes a lot easier when I feel sorry for myself, right,
(24:56):
but like, uhh yeah, I'm tired, yeah really that emotional trained.
And yet I remember looking up at the stage and
thinking to myself, Oh my goodness, that stage that I'm
performing on, that I'm doing these things that I've really
never done before in this kind of way on the show.
That's the same stage that Michael Jackson at the fiftieth
(25:19):
anniversary of Motown did the moon walk for the first time.
So many of the people that I love and have
inspired me to have a music career have performed on
this stage. And I don't know what it was. I
would like to say God, but that's just what my
belief system that like this voice said do this. And so,
(25:39):
like a just strange person, I called up the Lion
King Disney and I said, thank you so very much,
please to consider me in the future, but I'm gonna try.
I'm I just gotta go for this other show. I
wasn't in the top thirty, which was like the big
sort of cut off I had. I could have been
cut the very next day, but there was something that
(26:00):
said do it, and so I called him up. I
said thank you so very much, but please keep me
in mind the future. And the really awesome bow of
this whole story is that about ten eleven years later,
I would make my debut on Broadway in a show
called Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Yeah,
and so depend on film, right, Oh you did there
(26:23):
you go? Yeah? Yeah, Well it didn't last very long,
but I would make my I would make my debut
being like Patti Lapone and Brian Stokes Mitchell's son in
this in this uh great Broadway show that didn't get
as much as us do as it deserves, but we
would have our opening night party in the same hotel,
(26:44):
in the same conference room that I first sat and
waited an audition for American Idol. Wow, it all comes back.
It just came right back around for me. So I
think I made the right choice. And now here I
am almost seven seven Broadway shows later. Yes, I was
gonna say, and shows and I mean best author author.
(27:05):
They always say with the with the you know you've
been waiting to do, uh Lion King and then Idol
comes up. They always say, as an actor, if there's
one audition you really want, book nonrefundable plane tickets on
the day of the audition. So that's then you know
for a fact you're gonna get it. That's like you
gotta do something there. So but let me is that
(27:25):
another audition secret? Will uh? Let me let me ask
you a question then, because to bring it back selfishly
to I, hear voices, Um, how important was Idle to you?
You know, in somebody giving you that break? I mean
it is is it? I mean it's do you look
back at that and say, Man, what my life would
have been had I not taken that opportunity? You know,
(27:48):
I wonder sometimes, but I just would have been in
the lion king, um, not the second place to go? Right,
not a bad not a bad fallback right? Yeah? Yeah,
And and so I do think, like I wonder what
it would have been like. But I know, just for
a fact, because I've been able to do so many
(28:09):
interesting and cool things that I've forgotten about, people will
come and remind me of things, or there is uh
someone her name is Judy, and she from the very
beginning has kept track of everything and anything that I've
done publicly and just like notated it on a website. Yeah,
it's a huge shout out to Judy and and you know,
(28:29):
and and this is not someone who's just sitting around.
She's like a lawyer, she has like her own boots,
and yet she just wanted to do this. And it
is such a blessing because I'm like, oh my god,
I totally forgot that I did all that. Oh my god,
I totally forgot that I met that person. And the
long and the short of it is that American Idol
gave me like not just a foot, but like propelled
(28:50):
the body through the doorway that most people are trying
to get through, so much so that now here, you know,
twenty years later. It was pre social media. It was
pre you know, so many of the things that we
know to use to leverage a brand, and yet you
can't get thirty million people to watch anything anything live
(29:12):
on TV phenomenon. I am not a musical guy. I
I don't sing, I don't dance. I watched every week.
I watched every week at the beginning, So it was
it was one of those things where it brought everybody
together and everybody watched every week. Something like that just
doesn't exist anymore. But that then brings me to something
I want to talk to you a bit about because
(29:33):
it's I know it's hugely important to you, um, and
something that we like to try to take a bigger role.
And then we're trying with this contest. But you're a mentor,
You're a mentor to other people that are up and coming.
Can you talk a little bit about what that's like. Yeah.
I had a very very very off putting audition experience
UM a few years back, and so much so. It
(29:56):
was for a major, major musical that you know, we
all know and love of. And yet the experience itself, uh,
in short, was three months of my time, wasted energy, money, everything. Uh.
And what happened was is that I was asked to
jump through all kinds of hoops, flaming hoops. Uh. You
(30:17):
know Acilene who all the hoops? And at the end
of it, after three months of my time learning a
significant amount of material, going in, staying in hotels, like
doing all the things that we do in order to
really make sure that we deliver in the room. UM,
they just were like, no, and we here know all
the time in this business all the time, but but
(30:40):
there's something to be said for no. And maybe here's
why are no? And hey keep keep coming back or no,
some takeaway something. Yeah, it can be very hard. I mean,
and don't even gonna starting the voiceover world. It's just
like you're screaming into the void sometimes or most of
the time. Right. And yet I realized, wait a minute,
(31:00):
it once I got over myself and I was like,
should I am be in this? Like I can't, Like
I'm not at the top of the charts, but I'm
also not starting out either, And if they can do
this to me, then imagine what they're doing to people
who don't have the experience, who don't have the agents,
who don't have the team and everything that I have.
And so that's when I thought, oh, my goodness. You know,
(31:20):
the audition is the way that we get gigs. It
is the it's it's our it's the way that we
you know, everything is kind of like an audition. Whether
we want an agent or a manager or whatever, we're
having to audition, having to prove our value. And yet
I realized, like, oh, I've been through a lot of auditions,
and I've seen a lot of stuff. I've not only
been on the side of the audition or table or
(31:43):
the audition ee rather, but the person that is being
auditioned for as well, and I see so many of
the same mistakes, and so just like you being a
mentor for me, The way I like to kind of
think of it is that I love taking people by
the hand and walking them down the road of whatever
it is that they're trying to do in auditions, helping
(32:04):
them avoid the potholes, helping them, you know, know where
the hairpin turns without any guardrails are, in order to
get them to their goal, get them to where they
want to go. Yeah, they're gonna make mistakes their own,
but they don't have to make my mistakes. They don't
have to make the mistakes that everyone else makes, and
it's just going further faster. That's why you hire a
good mentor, right, That's why people want to be a
part of your contest, because you get to go further
(32:26):
faster and in this ever changing, high paced world, that's
that's vital. That's great. Thank you. We were It's funny
because Christy and I often talk about because we both
started so young, you know, we were both child actors,
and so it's one of those things where you it
can be it can be a dangerous road. There's no
(32:47):
other way to say it. It's not what you know.
It can be depressing or upsetting. No, it can be dangerous.
So knowing that there are people out there that are
actually looking out for the next generation that is up
and coming is hugely important and something that a lot
of people needed or need still nowadays because you're right Yecially,
you're supposed to make your own mistakes. That's a point
of growing up. Uh, and you're growing up in the
(33:09):
business and becoming better at what you're doing. Of course,
you know they say, what is it. No, Um, no
great sailor ever learned anything in calm Sea's So it's
just I mean, that's just the way it is. So uh.
But knowing that there's a great captain out there who's
going to teach you the ropes not mixed metaphors, um,
but it's but it's pretty wonderful. So uh, yeah, it's
great that you're doing that, and please keep that up
(33:30):
because it's sure. But I think it's now more than ever,
especially with the kids coming up and I mean kids
like anyone, from kids like you are when you first started,
to people who are in their twenties coming out of college.
I mean, we are so at least in this country.
We are so fame obsessed, we are so um obsessed
(33:54):
with you. Yeah well, yeah, well, and but there's something
to be said for being selfish, but then there's something
to be said for being self centered, right, And so
when we selfish and we don't realize that it's selfish,
when we get caught up in in what I've heard
called vanity metrics, the likes, the subscribers, the number of
(34:15):
auditions that we've gone on, right, or the number of
this that those are just vanity metrics that make our
ego feel better, right, Because go to your supermarket and
try and pay for your food with subscribers or likes
right there, they'll kick you out. So really, then focusing
on what matters, and you say, it's a dangerous road.
Oh yes, because we get caught up in allowing our
(34:38):
value to be determined by the number of people clapping, right,
or the number of people liking, or the number of
how much money we're making, And that's not it. And
so I'm so glad that you're doing things like this.
I'm glad that I get to do stuff like I
do because I'm shifting and I know you are as well.
Shifting the perspective away from all that vanity stuff and
(35:02):
more towards like, hey, here the nuts and bolts. You're
gonna make huge mistakes. But if you're willing to fail,
like you like to talk about here, if you're willing
to just go for it, you're going to discover so
much about yourself. And I will guarantee you every single
thing that I've ever done that has had any sort
of success in it, whether that's the Little Sweet commercials
(35:23):
or this Disney project or American Idol or Broadway, I
have failed miserably, but I've been willing to fail because
in those moments of failure, I'm like, oh, that doesn't work,
or in those moments of I don't know what's gonna
come out next, let's see what happens. Like that thing,
that reason why we got into this business, that unique
(35:46):
X factor, if you will, not to talk about another show,
but that that X factor that is unique to us
and us alone, is allowed to shine through. Man. That's
great that you are a wonderful guest and we're so
lucky to have you on. And obviously I told you
I'm I'm already a fan of the show and I
will be watching it yeah, alright, So I have a
(36:08):
question that I have a question for you. You're you
get to pick your ultimate voice over role. Who do
you play any character? No matter what you are the
voice of, who's it gonna be? Wow? Is it Mickey?
You know what? I love Mickey, as we all do.
(36:30):
The one thing about well you know what, Yeah, Mickey
would be super fun. I mean I take it from
like also, I think like a life perspective because it's like,
you do Mickey, and that's probably all you're gonna do.
That's your job. That's your job until you've just written
the first line of your obituary. Right, Yeah. Yeah, that's
(36:51):
interesting with these shows. It's interesting with these like really
popular shows, right like um Wicked, for example, I was
in that on Broadway. There are people who been in
that from the very beginning. Lion King. I could have
been in that maybe a couple of years into it,
and we called the Golden Handcuffs, right, It's like, oh,
it's like, oh, you're like the gilded Cage. Yeah it is.
(37:12):
It is gold handcuffs, gilded cage and all that stuff.
So I would say Nicky would be really fun, But um,
I would love to play um like a really comedic, fun,
goofy character. Um, you know, like something along the lines
of and and you know, who could ever possibly do
(37:32):
this better than then he could? But like the Genie
with Robin Williams where you can just go off, you
know like that with that kind of character. So, you know,
would I have a character that I've always loved? Um,
I can't like picking which breath I like exactly, But yeah,
I seem to be more the Disney side than say
superhero side. So it's not like, oh, I want to
(37:53):
play Superman or I want to play Batman, or I
want to play interesting. But like I think it would
be on It would be interesting, But I think I
like more of the fun characters. I mean, you know,
nothing would be just having my voice and just using
it like that, right, But there's something to be said for,
you know, some of the more you know, fun guys.
You know, I don't know. It just seems fun to me.
(38:15):
Make bold choices bold that so interesting? Interesting? How about
a villain if you ever want? I mean, we've got
kies with super kitties, We've got you know, it's kind
of the fun young more other than being a villain.
It's more just kind of finding your way and maybe
not always taking the right path. What about a super
(38:35):
villain something along those lines could be pretty I'd always
love to play the Joker. Yeah, that would be like
that would again, it's just like more of like the
sort of real crazy guy. And I actually got to
meet Mark hamill uh during one Tony's and I was like,
I don't know if I love you more for Luke
or for the Joker. Yeah. We were when we were
(38:58):
doing Return of the Joke and I was just sitting
in between him and Kevin Conroy for a week. It
was the most insane thing in the world watching the
two of them go back and forth. It's like, I
don't even belong in this room. Yeah I know, it's
the greatest. Yeah, so that character. And you know they've
I've I've actually auditioned for it and they didn't want
you to do the Mark version of it. But they've
(39:18):
had a bunch of different kind of you know, some
people are just like this is the joke, like we
like interesting like choices on the Joker. So but but yeah,
I would. I would. I would steal greatly from Mark
Cambll's version. Everyone would. That's just the way it is.
When you got the best, you kind of go okay,
yeah exactly. It's like yeah, exactly right, yeah, I'll be
(39:39):
the cheaper version, right exactly. That's what they say. It's
like I'm diet I'm I'm diet joker exactly. So other
than super kitties, where else can everybody find you? Oh
my goodness? Well, all you have to do is just
search on social media at Justin Guarini. If you can't
spell that, don't worry. Just took look up the guy
with from American idol with the hair that help, right.
(40:00):
A couple of other people will come up, but I'm
the one. I'm the Justin little I was gonna say
when I thought the guy with the with the huge
mohawk would have yeah, yeah, yeah, he'll come up. He'll
come up to he's a lovely guy by the way.
Um but uh yeah and that and just you know,
you can find everything from my book to wacky videos
of my children driving me crazy all there on social
media at Justin Guarini. And don't forget to catch super
(40:24):
Kiddies on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney Plus. It's
out now, please go watch it. It sounds like a
ton of fun. Yeah. I don't know if anybody's going
to be more excited than you about it, though, I
think a little six year old that's yes. Well, you know,
it takes so long. It takes so long for all
for all the voicing and the the animation and stuff
(40:46):
like that. So you know, it's just been I feel
like I've just been like sitting on my hands for
like the better part of a year wait more actually
waiting for this to happen. So now that it's finally here,
I couldn't be more excited. Sounded on the rooftop, so gratulations.
This is the coolest thing in the world. And thank
you again for mentoring everybody else coming out check out
his book and you know all the social media stuff
(41:06):
and of course Super Kitties which is coming. And thank
you so much for joining us. Really it's very cool,
and we want to have you back on when we
are in the midst of our contest, we'll we'll fring
you out an absolutely on. Maybe you can help come
and mentor one of the one of the younger voice
over actors as they would love to bread and Butter.
I love it awesome. Thank you so much. For joining us.
Go check out everything he's doing. Because I don't know
(41:28):
about you, but I'm pretty inspired right now. I mean,
and I think, thank you, thank you so much. Justice,
Yeah my pleasure. Yeah. Thanks. That was amazing. I mean,
it's so inspiring to to talk to him, and I
feel like I could run like two or three miles
after right, right, It's just it's somebody who's so positive
and who who um, I mean, just it was. I know.
(41:51):
We've talked about our contest a whole bunch of times. Again,
it's a super awesome Christy, it's the super awesome contest
to become. It's the super awesome contest. I can't look
at it to become. The next it is and your
big break, people, it's your break break. January ninth to
February nine, Enter again and up to a two minute video.
(42:12):
We've talked about this. Do whatever you want voice over wise, uh,
please enter because we're gonna find you and don't ever
forget if you think you have what it takes to
step up to the microphone, put your voices where your
mouth is. Thanks everybody, by guys I Hear Voices is
hosted by Wilfred l and Christy Carlson Romano Executive produced
by Wilford L. Brendan Rooney, Amy Sugarman and Vicky Ernst Chang.
(42:32):
Our executive in charge of production is Danielle Romo, Our
producer is Lorraine Vera Wez and our editor slash engineer
is Brian Burton. And that was my announcer voice. Some
side effects of listening to I Hear Voices are sore
abs from hilarity falling down the Coco melon rabbit hole,
sneezing due to mass nostalgia, and hugs. Follow I Hear
Voices wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss
any of the amazing voices. Be sure to follow us
(42:53):
on Instagram and TikTok at I Hear Voices podcast. You
can also check us out on my space omeigal Vine,
Lime Wire. Hey I'm an uster. Okay, well, let's teach
you about the Internet. The who
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