Yuri Lowenthal

Actor

Screenwriter

**Yuri Lowenthal** (born March 5, 1971)

is an American actor, producer, and screenwriter known chiefly for his voice-over work in anime, cartoons and video games. Some of his prominent roles in anime and cartoons include Sasuke Uchiha in *Naruto*, teenage Ben Tennyson in *Ben 10*, Jinnosuke in *Afro Samurai*, Simon in *Gurren Lagann*, and Suzaku Kururugi in *Code Geass*. In video games, he voices The Prince in Ubisoft's *Prince of Persia*, Alucard in *Castlevania*, Hayate/Ein in *Dead or Alive*, Matt Miller in *Saints Row*, the protagonist in *Persona 3*, Yosuke Hanamura in *Persona 4*, Marth in *Fire Emblem*,Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Insomniac's *Spider-Man*. He has a production company Monkey Kingdom Productions with his wife, Tara Platt, where they have produced several feature films and a live-action web series called *Shelf Life*. He co-authored the book *Voice-Over Voice Actor*.

## Early life and education

Lowenthal was born in Alliance, Ohio and raised in Nashville, Tennessee,[4] later moving to Northern Virginia.[5][6] His father worked for the United States Agency for International Development, and he spent two years in Niger in Africa.[5] He didn't do much acting until the end of high school when he tried out for drama class in his senior year, but it was enough to get him interested in acting.[7] His early exposure to anime was from shows such as *Speed Racer*, *Star Blazers* and *Battle of the Planets*.[8]

At The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, he took classes in theatre but majored in East Asian studies where in his third year, he studied abroad in Osaka, Japan.[9] He also participated in the school's gymnastics program and ROTC.[5] After graduating in 1993, he joined the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) where he served as a Coordinator of International Relations, helping out foreign English teachers in Shiga Prefecture. While at JET he continued to participate in theatre and acting.[5][7][9] After two years there, he still wanted to try acting full-time, and moved to New York City and participate in theatre in shows that were off-off-Broadway.[5] He spent six years in New York doing theatre and indie films.[7][9][10][11]

## Voice-over career

Lowenthal moved to Los Angeles and worked in live-action and theatre roles,[12][13][14] To supplement his on-camera work, he and his wife Tara Platt took a voice-over class.[5][7] Their instructor later happened to be directing the English dub for an anime show called *SD Gundam Force*; he got his first ever anime dub role there, and soon tried out for other anime roles as well as other voice-over work in animation, commercials, and video games. Lowenthal recalled that his first voice appearance in a video game might have also been for *SD Gundam Force*.[15]

Lowenthal's first major role in video game voice-overs was as the Prince in Ubisoft's *Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time*. In an interview with *Critical Gamer*, he describes that role as "a very lucky break for me, because it ended up being a super game. We audition all the time for all different kinds of projects, and videogames are one part of that, a part that I love." He said that "[he felt] that [he] in a way originated that role". Lowenthal did not return to voice the Prince in *Warrior Within*, being replaced by Robin Atkin Downes. Lowenthal felt that this was a conscious decision by Ubisoft to fit in with the game's overall tonal shift, and thought it was the right decision. For *The Two Thrones*, he returned to play the role, as fans had stated their preference for his portrayal of the character.[16] The Prince became one of Lowenthal's favorite roles, and he was pleased to return to the role for *The Forgotten Sands*.[17] According to Lowenthal, his well-received performance put pressure on him in future games from both fans and staff, as he needed to remain true to and improve on his original portrayal. This ultimately gave him little creative freedom with the character after *The Sands of Time*.[15] For the reboots following the live-action films, the staff wanted a different portrayal of the Prince to Lowenthal's, and so recast the role.[16]

Lowenthal continued voicing in other anime shows, including the lead character Haru Glory in *Rave Master*, which had a run on Cartoon Network's Toonami line up.[18] He also voiced a character in *Zatch Bell!* which had a notable run on Cartoon Network. He starred in a number of anime shows such as: *Girls Bravo* where he played Yukinari,[19] *Scrapped Princess* where he voiced Leo Skorpus,[20] *Kyo Kara Maoh*, where he voiced Yuuri Shibuya, and *Saiyuki Reload* where he voiced Son Goku.[21] When he auditioned for *Naruto*, which was being directed by the same person who did *Rave Master*, he had tried out for multiple roles including Sasuke Uchiha and Iruka, and got a call back for Sasuke. In an interview with Silionera, Lowenthal said that "It certainly allows me to go to some dark places as the series continues. And it makes Sasuke that much more interesting as a character. And that much more fun to play." [20] The *Naruto* anime became one of the more popular anime shows in the U.S.,[22] and its sequel *Naruto Shippuden* has also aired on Adult Swim.[23]

Lowenthal in 2009 for a launch party for *Afro Samurai*

In 2007, Lowenthal was cast as Jinnosuke, aka "Kuma", a teddy-bear-headed warrior, in the anime feature *Afro Samurai* which starred Samuel L. Jackson as the title character. In an interview with Eastern Kicks, Lowenthal said that what he liked about Jinno was that he "starts off as one guy and ends up in a very different, very very dark place. Plus I got to kick Sam Jackson's ass. And they keep bringing him back from the dead for me to play again. And he's a twin-sword-wielding insane cyborg death machine with a giant teddy bear head. What's not to like?"[24] He also said that they recorded the voicing for *Afro Samurai*separately so he did not get to meet Jackson personally until a release party for the related video game years later.[5][24] Luke Carroll of Anime News Network described Lowenthal's voicing as a "good performance" but "not enough to make it more than an average dub at best".[25] Dennis Amith of J-ENT! thought the voice acting was well done.[26] Lowenthal would reprise the role in the 2009 feature *Afro Samurai: Resurrection*.[27][28] Steve Fritz of Newsarama wrote "The action sequencing is still top notch, and the vocal performances from Jackson, [Lucy] Liu, Lowenthal and company is on the money."[29]

Other lead roles in anime include Suzaku Kururugi in *Code Geass*, which ran on Adult Swim,[30] and Simon in *Gurren Lagann*, which ran on Toonami.

In 2006, Lowenthal landed the role of Superman in the cartoon series *Legion of Superheroes*. In the show, Superman travels to the 31st century to help superheroes battle against the Fatal Five villains. In an interview with *The Oklahoman*, Lowenthal recalled that he read for Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5 in the original audition, and was called back to do Superman. During the callback, he had begun reading for Superman and Braniac 5 when the producers stopped him. He was later informed that he got the main role, and they did not need to hear more of him on other parts.[31]

In 2008, Lowenthal provided the voice of 15-year-old Ben Tennyson in *Ben 10: Alien Force*.[32][33] Set five years after the original series, the premiere of *Alien Force* set ratings records for Cartoon Network in its key demographics.[34] In portraying Ben, Lowenthal was given guidance by series director Glen Murakamiwho he had worked with on *Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo*. Early on in the show, Murakami told Lowenthal to portray Ben as less of a wisecrack than his 10-year-old persona, and did not want Ben to "veer into the whining, Luke Skywalker". The show was renewed for a second season,[35] and would be followed by *Ben 10: Ultimate Alien* which ran from 2010–12, and *Ben 10: Omniverse*[36] which ran from 2012–14. In *Omniverse*, Ben's age was bumped up to 16 years old.[33] Lowenthal said that he did not realize how popular the show was outside North America until he went to Australia, England and Ireland, and saw kids wearing *Ben 10* merchandise. He also said that at comic conventions, he was able to walk the halls unbothered until the *Ben 10* panel, after which he was "outed".[33]

Lowenthal has also been involved in *The Swan Princess* direct-to-video series starting in 2012 with *The Swan Princess Christmas* where he was the voice of Prince Derek, and then in 2014 with *The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale* and in 2016 for *The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today* where he reprised the main role.[37] Of these videos, he also served as the screenwriter on *Christmas* and *Royal Family Tale*.[38][39]

Lowenthal speaking with fans at the 2016 Saboten Con.

Lowenthal provided the voice for the protagonist in *Persona 3* and Yosuke Hanamura for *Persona 4*. He also provides the voice of Cecil Harvey in the Nintendo DS remake of *Final Fantasy IV*, and again in *Dissidia: Final Fantasy* on the PSP. In the *Dead or Alive* series, he voices Hayate / Ein. He voices Matt Miller, the leader of the Decker gang in *Saints Row: The Third*; and in its sequel. He voiced Spider-Man in Sony's *Spider-Man* (2018) for the PS4. Kirk McKeand of Eurogamer described Lowenthal as "the man you've killed the most" for his participation in over 200 video games