Yuri Lowenthal, born on March 5, 1971 in Alliance, Ohio, is an accomplished voice actor who provides several voices for Monster High: Deuce Gorgon, Gillington "Gil" Webber, Heath Burns and Clawd Wolf. In Season 2, Volume 2, he only voices Deuce and Gil, Heath and Clawd now having separate voice actors.

Other Notable RolesEdit

• Afro Samurai - Jinno/"Kuma"
• Bleach - Keigo Asano, Young Renji Abarai, Additional voices
• Naruto - Sasuke Uchiha,
• The Prince of Tennis - Katsuo Mizuno, Keigo Atobe
• Zatch Bell! - Danny; Donpocho; Kory
• I Love Bees - Kamal Zaman
• Saints Row 2 - Shogo Akuji
• Mass Effect 2 - Daniel, additional voices
• Marmalade Boy - Ginta Suou
• Legion of Super-Heroes - Superman, Superman-X/Kell-El, Stone Boy
• Paprika - Doctor Kōsaku Tokita
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - The Prince
• Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - Future Luke
• Bayonetta - Luka
• Ben 10: Alien Force - JT (in the pilot episode), Ben Tennyson, the Omnitrix, Albedo, additional voices
• Ben 10: Ultimate Alien- Ben Tennyson, the Ultimatrix,Buzz, AmpFibian (in Fused), Albedo, additional voices
• Ben 10: Omniverse - Ben Tennyson, Kickin Hawk, AmpFibian, The Worst, Pesky Dust, Molestache, Walkatrout, Feedback, XLR8, Mr. Smoothy's Employee, additional voices
• Saints Row: The Third - Matt Miller

Voice Acting CareerEdit

Lowenthal began acting towards the end of high school when he auditioned for a play and fell in love with the art. He took theater classes in college and continued to do performance-based activities while on the JET Program. “I did sketch comedy, butoh, dance, Suzuki-style theater, and made independent movies with other JETs.” Then came a turning point when Lowenthal committed himself to try acting after returning to the U.S. post-JET. “I didn’t want it to be one of those things I regretted not taking the chance to do.”

Like many actors first starting out, he tried the two cities he thought would be optimal for acting. “I loved New York, and hated L.A.,” Lowenthal recalled humorously. After six years in New York working with Japanese production companies and Off-Broadway theater, he moved cross-country to Los Angeles and serendipitously got married along the way. “I proposed in Ohio to my girlfriend, we got married in Las Vegas, and ended in L.A.”

In Los Angeles, Lowenthal along with his wife Tara Platt, now also an accomplished voice-over artist, began to explore all of their entertainment career options. “It’s a hard road with no guarantees. We started thinking about voice-over work, though neither of us had really considered it before.” While doing temporary work for a year, Lowenthal and Platt took a voice-over class and made a “demo reel” (an equivalent of a head shot or resume) and luckily came across an opportune chance. “The guy who taught the class got a job directing Japanese anime, asked me to audition, and I got the job. You could say it was my entrée into the industry.” After a year and a half of small anime jobs, Lowenthal built up enough work to leave his day job and started voice-overs full-time.

^[1]

Personal and Professional LifeEdit

Yuri's father worked in the Foreign Service, and he grew up in Tennessee, North Virginia, and West and North Africa. Yuri was an East Asian Studies major at William & Mary in Virginia, and did a study abroad in Osaka his junior year. After graduation, he worked as Coordinator of International Relations for two years in Shiga Prefecture as part of the JET program. ^[2]

Yuri often works with his wife Tara Platt, who is also a talented voice actor. In addition to working on several shows and projects together, they co-founded independent film production company Monkey Kingdom Productions in 2004, and co-authored a a book called Voice-Over Voice Actor: What It's Like Behind the Mic.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ JETAASC Interview with Yuri Lowenthal
2. ↑ JETAASC Interview with Yuri Lowenthal