This panel was the official announcement for the presale of my book, found here at roysamuelson.com/book – for the below video, I’ve been doing this 3 minute bit for a few years now, it still seems to resonate and give a sense of the multiple aspects of the audience experience of audio description (AD) in film and tv. (In front of a Comic-Con backdrop, Roy wears a badge around his neck next to Chad Allen. Joshua Loya off camera.)
News
Not So Bad Podcast
BBB Cross Post with The ADNA Presents
Stephanae McCoy, founder of Bold Blind Beauty, cross posted this ADNA Presents podcast episode on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q685lJY1gI To follow along with The ADNA Presents, here’s the link
Access World Interview 2024
https://afb.org/news-publications/media/aw-podcast/episode-7
Welcome to another episode of AccessWorld, a podcast on digital inclusion and accessibility. The AccessWorld podcast is a production of the American Foundation for the Blind.
In this episode, Aaron and Tony celebrate the power that audio description can have toward making media more inclusive for audiences who are blind or have low vision. They welcome Roy Samuelson, a leading audio description performer, producer, and advocate who continues to be a champion for inclusive media and entertainment. Roy shares his own professional journey, how a close friend sent him on a mission to bring quality in audio description to the masses, and how the team he assembled for AFB’s documentary film “Possibilities” took the craft to a whole new level.
Want to learn more about those who work behind-the-scenes to make media more inclusive through audio description? Check out the Audio Description Network Alliance, where you can also find out more about your own favorite voices describing content for television and film.
To learn more about AFB’s documentary film Possibilities, visit www.afb.org/possibilities.
About the Hosts
Tony Stephens is the Director of Communications for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and Aaron Preece is editor-in-chief of AccessWorld, a quarterly online publication produced by AFB encompassing all things digital inclusion and accessibility. To learn more about AccessWorld, and to gain access to over 20 years of back-issues free of charge, visit www.afb.org/aw.
Founded in 1921, the American Foundation for the Blind creates opportunity and expands possibilities through thought leadership, advocacy, and strategic partnerships. Learn more about AFB at www.afb.org and consider making a tax-deductible gift to support our work creating a future of endless possibilities for people who are blind or have low vision.
AccessWorld Podcast, Episode 7 Transcript
Transcripts are now available through the Apple Podcasts app.
2024 ACB Sunday Edition: AFB Film “Possibilities”
Sunday Edition: Catching up with Tony Stephens and Roy Samuelson and the AFB Film Possibilities
This week Anthony and crew welcome Tony Stephens and Roy Samuelson back to the show. We will find out what they have been up to and we will dive into all the information about the Helen Keller inspired AFB Film , Possibilities taking film festivals by storm. Tony will share with us how we can get free screening tickets in the Los Angeles area and other potential screening opportunities.
Tony Stephens is the director of Communications for the American Foundation for the Blind and a producer on AFB’s full-length documentary film Possibilities,” which is currently making its run through the festival circuit. With over three decades of experience crafting communications for grassroots and national nonprofits, he has worked extensively on campaigns that expand inclusion and opportunity for a diverse range of stakeholders. While at the American Council of the blind, Tony served five years on the Disability Advisory Committee for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is an avid proponent for inclusive media. He holds an AB.J in Radio, television and Film and a M.A. in Mass Communications from the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia. An avid sailor, he currently lives just off Baltimore Harbor, where he enjoys escaping on the water with his two sons and guide dog Nougat.
“Possibilities” is a full-length documentary film Chronicling the life of Helen Keller, who served as AFB’s chief ambassador for over 44 years. Her impact is told through the real life stories of contemporary voices who are blind, deaf blind, and low-vision. The film premiered in February 2024 at the historic TCI Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, and it was a finalist at the 2024 Barcelona Independent Film Festival and received an award of Excellence from the 2024 Impact Doc Awards. It was also accepted into the Manchester Lift-Off Festival and will be part of the AV Film Festival in Napa Valley on April 28th. AFB will hold a special Los Angeles screening at the Tateuchi Center for Democracy the evening of April 18th at the Japanese American National Museum. Seats for this event are still available. To learn more about the film and upcoming screenings, visit: www.afb.org/possibilities
Since 2015, Roy has performed thousands of Audio Description (AD) projects for film and TV. From his role as an executive committee member of the Television Academy (home of the Emmys), to supporting SAG Awards inclusion of AD for screeners, he uses his decades of experience in entertainment media to jump start sustainable parity opportunities for AD professionals and audiences.
Questions or comments for the show can be sent to:
Listen to the show live Sunday’s at 1pm ET on your devices by asking them to play ACB Media and choosing stream 1. You can find ACB’s Sunday Edition with Anthony wherever you listen to your podcasts.
TMNT: Every Voice Actor Who Has Played The Turtles — Cowabunga that’s a big cast of TMNT actors!
From the article – Every Voice Actor Who Has Played The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (thegamer.com)
Aside from Marvel and DC, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is another comic book property with many adaptations across films, television, and games. There’s been animated TV show after animated TV show, along with many animated and live-action movies that stretch across each decade since the 1980s. And with 2023’s Seth Rogen-produced TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, a new set of actors now voice the iconic group.
With each new TMNT project, there’s always a fresh cast giving their own unique take on the characters, with some standouts being the 1990s films and the Nickelodeon animated series. You’ll see all these and more, including the young cast of Mutant Mayhem.
Raphael – Nolan North, Sean Astin, Alan Ritchson, Greg Abbey, Brady Noon, And More
The sternest and most down-to-business of the Ninja Turtles, red-masked Raphael is voiced by Rob Paulsen in the original 1987 animated series, who’s been the voice of many characters across cartoons like Animaniacs, Curious George, and Danny Phantom. Josh Pais, Laurie Faso, and Tim Kelleher voiced the character in the 90s films, and Greg Abbey, or Tristan Taylor from the Yu-Gi Yoh! series, took over for the 2003 animated show.
Then, in 2007 for the new animated TMNT film from Warner Bros., you had none other than Nolan North portraying Raphael. Nolan North is the voice of Nathan Drake in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, Desmond Miles in Assassin’s Creed, and Deadpool in the video game and other animated projects. And you can see him in live-action in Pretty Little Liars as Peter Hastings.
Stranger Things and The Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin voiced Raphael in the 2012 Nickelodeon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which ran for five seasons. Besides being Frodo’s friend Samwise Gamgee and Joyce’s boyfriend Bob, Astin was also in FX’s The Strain, The Goonies, Rudy, and countless other Hollywood roles.
TMNT shifted to a live-action Nickelodeon production in 2014, followed by a 2016 sequel called Out of the Shadows, and television star Alan Ritchson played the CG Raphael in both films. Ritchson was Aquaman in Smallville, Thad Castle in Blue Mountain State, Hank of duo Hawk and Dove in Titans, as well as Jack Reacher in Prime Video’s Reacher. Omar Benson Miller from 8 Mile, Ballers, and CSI: Miami was Raph in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In Paramount’s latest TMNT outing, Mutant Mayhem, Boardwalk Empire child star Brady Noon becomes the new voice of Raphael. No stranger to working with Seth Rogen in the past, you may remember Brady Noon as Thor from the R-rated comedy Good Boys. He’s also the voice of Greg Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid films on Disney+ and plays Evan in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.
Other voice actors for Raphael include:
- Darren Criss (Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
- Ben Rausch ( Injustice 2 ).
- Mick Wingert (TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan video game).
- Roy Samuelson (2014 TMNT video game and Brothers Unite).
- Mark Whitten (Smite video game).
- Carlos Alazraqui (TMNT: Out of the Shadows 2013 video game).
- Al Fritsch, Eric Anzalone (Turtle Tunes).
- Matt Hill (The Next Mutation TV series).
- Kim Strauss (Power Rangers In Space Crossover).
Donatello – Josh Brener, Corey Feldman, Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, Micah Abbey, And More
The debut of the purple-masked and bo-staff-wielding Turtle Donatello in the 1987 animated series was done by Barry Gordon, who’s since reprised the voice in the video games Shredder’s Revenge and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 Slime Speedway. Rob Paulsen, who co-starred with Gordon as Raphael in the original series, went on to voice Donatello in Nickelodeon’s 2012 TMNT animated series.
In other Nickelodeon shows, Rob Paulsen is Carl from Jimmy Neutron and Mark Chang from The Fairly OddParents. In the 90s live-action trilogy, this Turtle was voiced by Corey Feldman in the first and last film and Adam Carl in 1991’s The Secret of the Ooze. Corey is a musician and actor who starred in the 80s hits Stand by Me, The Goonies, and The Lost Boys, and later returned to the TMNT universe as Slash in 2012’s TMNT show.
Silicon Valley’s Nelson Bighetti actor Josh Brener, or as his friends on the series call him Big Head, portrayed the character in Nickelodeon’s 2018 series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Brener was also in the Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn tech comedy film The Internship and the voice of Neeku Vozo in Star Wars Resistance.
Mitchell Whitfield of My Cousin Vinny and Friends provided the voice in the 2007 film, and Jeremy Howard from Malibu Rescue and Mighty Med voiced in the 2014 and 2016 live-action films.TMNT: Mutant Mayhem enlists young star Micah Abbey for Donnie, who’s guest starred on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Bunk’d and is best known for his character Leaf in Nickelodeon’s Cousins for Life.
Other voice actors for Donatello include:
- Sam Reigel (2003 animated show and various video games).
- Yuri Lowenthal (TMNT: Out of the Shadows 2013 video game).
- Baron Vaughn (Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
- Oliver Vaquer (2014 TMNT video game and Brothers Unite).
- Gavin Hammon (TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan video game).
- Joe Brogie (Injustice 2).
- Landon McDonald (Smite video game).
- Richard Berg, Eric Anzalone (Turtle Tunes).
- Jason Gray Stanford (The Nexy Mutation).
- Ezra Weisz (Power Rangers in Space Crossover).
Leonardo – Seth Green, Johnny Knoxville, Michael Sinterniklaas, Brian Tochi, Nicolas Cantu, And More
Named after Leonardo da Vinci, the dual-wielding katana Turtle with a blue mask had many comedian actors voicing him throughout projects. In the 2012 TMNT show, the first two seasons saw Jason Biggs as the voice before comedian Seth Green took over for the rest of its run. Biggs is most notable for playing Jim Levenstein in the American Pie franchise, Larry Bloom in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, and a slew of 2000s romantic comedies like Wedding Daze and Saving Silverman.
Seth Green was Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, young Richie Tozier in the original It miniseries, Dr. Evil’s son Scott in Austin Powers, and is most well-known for voicing Chris Griffin in Family Guy and various characters in the stop-motion Robot Chicken, a show he also created. The trend of comedians for Leonardo continued with Jackass and Bad Grandpa star Johnny Knoxville voicing in Nickelodeon’s 2014 live-action adaptation.
Before playing Leonardo in all three of the 90s live-action TMNT films, actor Brian Tochi was Takashi in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds and Nogata in Police Academy 3 and 4. He also reprised Takashi in Revenge of the Nerds 3 and 4 and voiced Liu Kang in the animated Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm show. Tochi’s video game credits include Xenogears and True Crime: Streets of LA.
Legendary voice actor Cam Clarke was the original 1987 voice of Leonardo, but that’s not the only character from your childhood he’s voiced. Clarke has also been the alternate voice of Simba in various Lion King projects, including Disney Dreamlight Valley. In addition to reprising Leo in the TMNT video games, he also voiced Liquid Snake opposite David Hayter’s Solid Snake in Sons of Liberty.
Michael Sinterniklaas would be Leonardo in the follow-up animated show in 2003, and you may know him as Dean Venture from Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros. and Caprikid from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. Sonic the Hedgehog voice and Space Force actor Ben Schwartz was Leo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And 2023’s Mutant Mayhem sees The Walking Dead: World Beyond and The Amazing World of Gumball actor Nicolas Cantu assuming the role of the blue mask.
Other voice actors for Leonardo include:
- Dominic Catrambone (Nickelodeon’s 2012 TMNT animated series and games).
- Scott Whyte (TMNT: Out of the Shadows 2013 video game).
- Eric Bauza (Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
- Corey Kreuger (Injustice 2).
- Peter Ploszek (Out of the Shadows 2016 film).
- Matthew Curtis (Smite video game).
- James Arnold Taylor (TMNT 2007 movie).
- Michael Dobson (The Next Mutation).
- Alfredo Miller, Johnny Kemp (Turtle Tunes).
Michelangelo – Townsend Coleman, Greg Cipes, Noel Fisher, Brandon Mychal Smith, Shamon Brown Jr., And More
Michelangelo – Townsend Coleman, Greg Cipes, Noel Fisher, Brandon Mychal Smith, Shamon Brown Jr., And More