Scifipulse recently had the privilege of interviewing Marilena Gant. Marilena is a voice actor, actor and singer based in London, UK. Her voiceover work includes games such as RAID: Shadow Legends; Titan Quest 2 and Eiyuden Chronicles. As well as Ready Eddie Go and Foolish Mortals, among many others. Additionally, Marilena is also a singer who has performed at The Corfu Varkarola Festival and was the Official Anthem Singer for The International Game of Truce. During this interview Marilena gives her stance on AI and talks about which voice actors inspire her.
SFP: What made you want to be a voice actor?
Marilena Gant: When I first graduated from university, where I studied English literature, I realised I really missed all the acting and performing I had done during high school. I wanted to find a way back to performing and find a career that combined my love of words and stories with my love of acting and singing. I’d had a little bit of exposure to the voice acting industry when I was about 9 years old, as my brother, who was an actor, was cast in an animation pilot. I remembered this experience and decided to explore the world of voice acting and totally fell in love with the industry! It seemed like it combined all my passions and I knew that this was what I wanted to do!
SFP: How has the voice acting industry changed since you started out?
Marilena Gant: I started in the industry just after the COVID lockdowns here in the UK and at the time almost everything was recording remotely! Nowadays, most of the games, animations and even a lot of the commercial work I do is recorded from other studios in London. Home studios are definitely not going anywhere, and I still record from mine on a daily basis, but a lot of work is now back in-studio. I think this has probably been one of the biggest changes that I’ve personally noticed.
SFP: You posted a video on YouTube about your experiences of being diagnosed with a pulmonary AVM. What would be your advice to those who are struggling with this and other health conditions that are not well known?
Marilena Gant: I used to worry that my condition might hold me back from doing the things I loved but I realised that it really doesn’t have to! There’s always a work-around or a way to adapt something to make it accessible for everyone (although you might not catch me running a marathon anytime soon!). So my biggest piece of advice is that whatever challenges you are facing or whatever health struggles you might have, just remember that it doesn’t define you – you can absolutely achieve whatever it is you have your heart set on in life! Above all though, be kind to yourself and trust that you can do amazing things!
SFP: I understand you’re a singer as well. In what ways is music different from voice acting and in what ways is it the same?
Marilena Gant: This is such an interesting question because for me, there are so many ways that music, and singing in particular, is similar to voice acting.
Having a sense of rhythm, pacing and melody all really help when creating character voices and figuring out how to bring a character to life because all language and speech has a sense of melody and rhythm! When you are working on dubbing or ADR projects, timing is super important and this is a skill that you can really hone with music or singing training too! You also learn how to protect and look after your voice if you take singing lessons or join a choir and this is unbelievably helpful when working in the voice acting world!
Ultimately both music and voice acting are about storytelling. In both singing and voice acting, we explore emotion, share experiences and connect with an audience through our voices!
SFP: What is your stance on AI?
Marilena Gant: I think AI is tricky because we have opened Pandora’s box in a way, and it’s going to be almost impossible to close it. I think that, most importantly, laws around AI need to change to ensure that any AI voice model is used and created ethically, and by that I mean with the full and informed consent of the voice actors involved, plus fair pay, the right to withdraw consent, term limits on voice usage and secure storage of vocal data.
When it comes to acting, I personally believe that nothing can replicate the human experience and bring a character to life in quite the same way as a human actor. The same goes for art, music and literature too! I definitely wouldn’t be keen to watch a show or play a game or read a novel where artists, musicians, writers and actors have all been replaced by AI. It would be a pretty empty world without human creativity.
SFP: Which voice actors are you inspired by?
Marilena Gant: So many! Tara Strong is an incredible talent and I have always loved her work – Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls is just the best and I grew up watching The Fairly OddParents too! I’m also a HUGE fan of Robin Williams and his iconic performance as the Genie in Aladdin has stuck with me ever since I was little!
SFP: Do you have any advice for aspiring voice actors?
Marilena Gant: The best piece of advice I can give is don’t wait till everything is absolutely perfect to get started, because there is no such thing as perfect. There comes a point where you just have to believe in yourself and go for it!
I also think that doing some acting training or performing arts training is not only an enormous asset but essential, whether that’s an acting class, an improv class, joining a local theatre club, even stand-up comedy or singing lessons!
SFP: And finally, if you were given the choice, would you kill the ice golem or stop for snacks?
Marilena Gant: Hahah, oh I would absolutely stop for snacks!
Scifipulse would like to extend our most heartfelt thanks and warmest best wishes to Marilena Gant for so graciously taking the time to answer our questions.
Marilena’s website: Marilena Gant – British Female Voice Actor and Voiceover
Her Instagram: Instagram
Marilena’s YouTube channel: Marilena Gant – YouTube
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