Posted in: TV | Tagged: Chris Diamantopoulos, mickey mouse, The Sticky

The Sticky: Chris Diamantopoulos on Voice Acting Boundaries, Biopics

Chris Diamantopoulos (The Sticky) spoke with us about voice acting, whether he has boundaries to beloved characters, biopics, and more.

Oscar Wilde once said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." It's something many actors like Chris Diamantopoulos have done throughout his character in live-action and voice-over. Since his debut in 2000, the actor has amassed over 125 credits to his name across film and television playing a variety of smaller and larger roles alike. One of the boldest decisions is the current voice of beloved Disney character Mickey Mouse; he's also tackled Moe Howard in the 2012 reimagining of The Three Stooges from the Farrelly Brothers and played Robin Williams in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy. While promoting his Prime Video comedy heist series The Sticky, Diamantopoulos spoke to Bleeding Cool about the challenges of being in front of the camera compared to behind the microphone; if there are boundaries, he won't go for adult animated shows like Family Guy using his Mickey Mouse voice; and what he hopes to cross off next for his acting bucket list.

The Sticky Star Chris Diamantopoulos on Live-Action vs. Voice Acting, and If There Are Boundaries He Won't Go for Comedy in Adult Animation

Bleeding Cool: As someone who lives regularly in both the live-action and voiceover worlds, do you feel at home or one or the other? Is there an advantage to doing one or the other? Do they come with their own set of challenges?

That's a good question. I started on television when I was a kid doing commercials and television in Canada. I quickly graduated to the stage, and I ended up on Broadway for years, cutting my teeth, learning the craft, and then ending up back in television and film. Eventually, I found my way into animation, which presents beautiful freedom about how willing you are to go to the edges of the malleability of your voice.

It can also be limited in the sense you can't use your body, face, or anything to express what you need to express other than your voice. There can be times when a character isn't as specifically drawn or if a showrunner in an animated project doesn't have a clear vision as to what the character is going to be. It can get frustrating and challenging to try and find the living essence of a character only using your voice and a microphone.

Conversely, on camera, I'm a physical actor. Top-to-tail, I work with my face, body, and voice, and there is a beautiful chance for me in every role to disappear and become someone new, someone that you haven't seen. There's also sort of a need to make sure the character is authentically portrayed, and I'm doing exactly what needs to be done in the genre and the piece. Today, finding roles to disappear is getting more challenging. It's always fun to find something I can challenge myself with.

To speak of the experience of what you've done in voiceover for a long time, and the market flourishes in the current age of streaming. We're seeing this deluge of adult animation, and it's been proliferating over the past 20 years. Some of the best examples of this are 'South Park,' Seth MacFarlane's shows like 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad,' and I know you're also doing Prime Video's 'Invincible.' Do you feel like there's an added dimension and layer as far as the options you have as a voiceover artist? Do you approach roles differently behind the mic, depending on the demographic?

I love animation in all forms. I'm fortunate enough to be the fifth person in history to voice Mickey Mouse. If you want my opinion on children's animation, that's probably the job of my lifetime. I wear it like a badge of honor. I love to entertain children in that regard, not only like Mickey Mouse but in other children's cartoons. It's wonderful to see their faces light up when they hear a voice that they recognize. That's what got me wanting to do all this acting, to begin with. It was all Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner cartoons, Tom and Jerry, and Mickey Mouse. That's a real honor and a real thrill. Plus, with the kids' stuff, you get a chance to do silly things with your voice, whereas it's more of the animated stuff; they tend to want to go more realistic.

That's not to say it's not fun. I'm on [an adult animated] show called 'Blood of Zeus,' which is terrific on Netflix, and I get to do these neat character voices, stuff that I would love to do on camera, but that doesn't necessarily come to me as easily because I'm playing British or something in that in that capacity. Doing stuff like 'Invincible.' look, I love working on that show because I get to use unaffected voices, but I also get to characters like Doc Seismic, where I get to bring back some of my favorite childhood voices. My Doc Seismic voice, I'm doing an homage to [the late Chris Latta's] Cobra Commander [from 'G.I. Joe'] and Starscream [from 'Transformers'].

Some of the parody shows, does it ever feel awkward for you if you're asked to do a scene against type as Mickey?

That's interesting, particularly on the MacFarlane shows; I've got to be careful. There are certain times I've said "No," and I didn't want to do a certain parody. The humor within those shows is at this point it's become part of the urban lexicon. We know what that humor is, and there's certainly a place for it. It makes me laugh, but there are some things I just won't touch. Not necessarily because I revere them sometimes, but other times, I don't necessarily want to do it.

I've done some stuff on 'Solar Opposites.' It's a similar, very acerbic, and graphic sense of humor, and there's a place for it. It's a matter of your comfort level with some of the stuff they've asked me to say. It's far out there. You've got to take everything with a grain of salt and recognize that even though it might not be your cup of tea, it's important to remember that comedy and a sense of humor should be allowed to be free. That's what makes this all so great: we can say stuff we think is funny; someone may disagree, and that's fine.

You've done so much throughout your career. What is still on your acting bucket list, and what do you want to tackle next? Is there genre work, talent, or director you hope to work with in the future?

I've always wanted to work with the brilliant Paul Thomas Anderson. I've read about his method and seen everything he's done probably ten times each. He's someone I would adore the opportunity to work with. I had a great chance to work with the great George Clooney in a historical epic [2023's 'The Boys in the Boat']. I would love to do more work in the historical and biopic worlds.

I love being given the task of getting the identity of someone who once existed and morphing into them, that's my sweet spot. It's how I got into falling in love with character work when I first did 'Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy' [2005] and then, of course, 'The Three Stooges.' While those aren't necessarily the templates for biopics, they were an opportunity for me to exercise my talents and desire to change and shapeshift. I love to do more and more of that.

The Sticky, which also stars Margo Martindale and Guillaume Cyr, is available on Prime Video.

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