David Sobolov provided the voice for Depth Charge, the skidplate-kicking Maximal with a nasty hatred for Protoform X. Here's the Cold Hard Interview we conducted with him:

How long have you been a voice actor?

My first paying work as the voice of an animated character was only about five years ago (1995). Before that I was doing professional theatre and music gigs (touring with an a cappella quartet called "The Four Tunes" and playing my french horn in pit orchestras). I'd booked the occassional voice on a commercial before 1995, but that was the year I really started to book those 'toons.

What are some other voices you have done?

See my web site at http://www.sobolov.com for the whole story, but some of my favorites characters were Robocop in "Robocop Alpha Commando", Spookie Jar in "Sabrina The Animated Series" and Lord Tyger in "Spiderman Unlimited."

How exactly did you get the part of Depth Charge on Beast Wars?

I auditioned for the role, they liked... they cast!

What was being a huge, hulking, manta ray/robot-with-an-attitude like?

My main memory was physical exhaustion. He spoke mostly in a soft voice unless he was fighting with someone, but he was very intense emotionally. This made the performance of that character truly a full-body experience.

Any similarities to real life?

Beast Wars was a figment of the imaginations of all of us... All that fantasy was conjured up in the minds of the writers, the voice performers, the directors and the animators, but if the situations the characters were faced with, and the way we read those words didn't have SOME basis in reality, believe me, no one would have watched. We had to create a huge illusion... that everything our characters were doing might really happen. It's called "suspending your disbelief" cuz you KNOW in your mind that none of it is real... but for 22 minutes every episode - we had to make sure it looked and sounded like in another time and place it might have been.

What's the best part about being a voice actor?

As Rob Paulsen says... "We have pay for play contracts." We just show up... act good, and get paid! Cool job! We don't have to wear a shirt and tie to the office (in fact, I usually wear a t-shirt and shorts in Los Angeles now) and when I was doing Beast Wars my microphone was next to Scott's so I got the full Waspy experience LIVE every session! Now THAT was big fun!

Could you tell us a little bit about what you've done since Beast Wars?

See my web site for all the latest news... There was Sabrina, Spiderman Unlimited, and now some internet projects, Cataclysm (a new interactive game) and "The Elf King" - a new CGI series from Sirius Animation. I play the evil Shadowczar in that one. He's meaner than Depthcharge by at least a couple of crab cakes.

What are some of your goals in life? Like, do you plan on doing voices forever or would you want to move on to something else (like voice director)?

I'm pretty happy doing voices, but perhaps I'll attempt to break into doing some on-camera work at some point. A big goal for me is to not live with too many regrets... so far I've been pretty successful in that respect.

How do you prepare for a new character? Research? Meditation? Caffeine?

I don't really have a bag of tricks, or voices, for that matter. Every character pops out based on what I read in the script and see in the sketch (and what the director needs in the character to help the entire show work as a whole, of course). I studied acting in a really (American) classical way with Sandford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, so I approach those 'toon characters much like I might any character in a play or film... I try to decide where they're coming from, so to speak, and go there. Also, I often find myself hearing a rhythm - a beat - in the way a character is written, and I like to explore that. It's good to make strong choices in characterization early on... ya gotta find a voice that sticks episode after episode... unless of course your character gets a brain transplant at some point in the series. Anything is possible in a cartoon.

When you do a character, do aspects of that character find its way into your own life, and do you put parts of yourself into your characters? Basically, is there sometimes a "blurred line" between a voice you're doing and yourself?

There's always a bit of me in everything I do, but I'm pretty clear that acting is acting, and MY life is something else. My personality isn't much like any of the characters I play on tv.

So overall, is voice acting worth all the effort it takes to break into the industry? Any tips for the masochists...err.. devoted people who want to do what you do?

I'm going to say something you might find disturbing. If you can do anything else, do it. Yeah, what I get to do is off the scale groovy, but there are much much easier ways to make a living. Easier, I mean, in the sense that in most jobs you don't have to convince people of your worth every five minutes to continue working... not that I'm complaining - I'm used to it. For those of you who really can't help but be a voice actor, it's good to remember that it ain't just about being able to do funny voices... ya also gotta be able to act. Comedic performances are funnier when they reflect real life on some level IMHO. "Acting truthfully under given imaginary circumstances" is a skill you have to go and learn if you don't come by it naturally.