Hey Adventurers!

Thanks for checking out this week's MythForce interview with the voice behind Victoria, actress Nikki Rae Hallow!

Nikki Rae Hallow (Nikki Hulowski) is an award-winning Canadian actress, comedian, voice actor, writer, improviser, instructor, and more. She performs on both film and the stage, and she's a member and co-founder of Marv n' Berry, a Canadian sketch comedy troupe that has seen international success. Nikki is a core cast member of the Lodestar Theatre company, an improviser with Rapid Fire Theatre, and the internationally acclaimed improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, and can be seen performing live, onscreen, or in your ears across Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and mainland Europe. Top it all off with cartoons all over Netflix, Prime, and more.

What's the unique challenge of voice acting as opposed to stage or screen acting?

One of the most difficult aspects of voice acting is that you have to convey all of your emotions, opinions, and actions through the voice alone. On stage or screen, we so often rely on our facial expressions or body language to do the work for us, but with voice acting those physical cues go out the window. There are still ways to use those physical subtleties to your advantage though; similar to a phone conversation, you can tell if a person is happy, smiling, or sad by the depth of their voice.

How did you first become involved in voice acting?

I first took an interest in voice acting because of my mom. She was a professional clown and puppeteer for years and could do a million voices on command. After graduating from university and diving headfirst into my full-time acting career, I was lucky enough to land a lead role on a cartoon almost immediately. I've been doing cartoons, corporate and educational voiceover, and now video games ever since.

What most appeals to you about the character of Victoria?

I think Victoria is as close to real-life me as I've ever found in a character—minus the full armor, fighting mythical creatures, and living in an 80s dungeon action realm, of course. She's tough, she's smart, and she's capable. Plus, she looks like me!

Was there a particular challenge in portraying Victoria?

Mostly knowing that I wouldn't get to perform as her every day forever until I die.

When you were growing up, what was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

Oh, this is easy. Transformers. All day, every day, to this day.

What do you love about the 80s era, even if you weren't alive then?

I, unfortunately, am not an 80s baby, but my three older brothers are, so I was constantly bombarded with everything 80s throughout my years.

There's nothing like movies from the 80s. Short, snappy plots that had you laughing (or cringing) from start to finish. Games, TV shows, and movies from the 80s never took themselves too seriously. They focused on the fun with a nice lesson or two. How many of those lessons are still useful today? Some might argue none, but to this day Rad remains one of the best films out there. Change my mind. Oh, and the colors! The 80s were not afraid of putting bright rainbow colors everywhere all the time, no matter whether they clashed. I think of the 80s as a time of positivity and chasing dreams. Unfortunately, once most people left their dreams for boring corporate jobs after their souls were crushed by Capitalism, we welcomed the depressed grunge era of the 90s. Fun time to be born into.

What's your favorite game? Or do you have a favorite memory of playing video games?

I am a massive Gloomhaven fan and play that religiously. As a child, I played the games that my oldest brother loved. I always loved Warcraft II, Diablo, Halo, Skyrim and Mario Party. Now, I favor Red Dead or Borderlands.

One of my favorite gaming memories is of playing Halo with my oldest brother, Gary. He was a massive gamer, and I knew relatively nothing. When Xbox Live first came out, I would wear the headset and shit-talk people while Gary would go on a massive rampage. At that time, it was really strange for girls to be gaming, let alone be good at it, which now that I think about it is such a strange concept. It was always more fun when hardcore gamers thought they were beaten by a girl. (Suckers.)

After MythForce, what other exciting roles do you have coming up?

After MythForce, I have a few film and voice projects coming up which unfortunately I can't talk about yet. NDAs and such.

I will be performing in the new season of Die-Nasty, an internationally acclaimed improvised soap opera, and you can always catch me traveling around the globe making jokes with my sketch boys in our troupe, Marv n' Berry (www.marvnberry.com). Plus, there's the odd time you can catch me performing on stage like the theater-trained actor I am with the incredible Max Rubin of Lodestar Theatre.

Where can people follow your adventures on social media?

Social media (Instagram/Facebook/Tiktok): @nikkihallows and @marvnberry

Website: www.nikkiraehallow.com and www.marvnberry.com

That's all for today's interview. Tune in next week for an interview with the voice behind Rico, Lee Savage.