In the first of our exclusive Robotech.com "Behind The Scenes" interviews, we present Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Marcus in his first ever interview since joining the ROBOTECH cast.

Yuri Lowenthal was born in Nashville Tennessee, but has lived in Virginia, West Africa, Japan and New York and currently resides in Los Angeles. Yuri discovered his talent and passion for acting near the end of high school and since then has made a reputation of being a committed and creative artist on both stage and screen in both the U.S. and Japan. He has written and produced an independent short "Faithful", which he also starred in. On stage, he was cast as Romeo in an off-Broadway production of "Romeo and Juliet." He is a student of Kung-Fu and speaks fluent Japanese, French and German. His roles in anime include Sasuke in NARUTO, and in video games such as HALO 2, MEDAL OF HONOR 2 : RISING SUN (in which he played a Japanese-American intelligence officer), RAVE MASTER, and most notably as the title character in the PRINCE OF PERSIA game by UBISOFT. His live action credits include guest starring roles in GILMORE GIRLS and ALIAS. He is currently working with his own Monkey Kingdom Productions on their first feature length film, TUMBLING AFTER.


Robotech.com's Tom Bateman fired off some questions to Yuri shortly after coming on board.


Tom Bateman: How did you feel about the opportunity to join the ROBOTECH cast in ROBOTECH - THE SHADOW CHRONICLES?

Yuri Lowenthal: I was thrilled and honored. "Thronored," if you will.
I heard that they were looking for an older voice for Marcus and I feel very lucky that I was called in to audition. I used to be such a big fan and so I was actually really nervous about it. Excited, but really nervous. It's just so big, you know? And now I'm just ecstatic to be a part of the Robotech family. I still kinda don't believe it's true.


TB: How did you get involved in voice acting? Did you start out in live action?

YL: I did start out in live action -- and continue to work in both theatre and TV/film. It was only in the last 2 or 3 years that I discovered voice acting -- as a career anyway. Don't get me wrong, I've been making funny voices since I was a kid. I used to put little radio shows together with myself in all the roles and record them with a beat-up little tape recorder my dad gave me.


TB: What other projects have you done?

YL: I have a lot of favorites, but I'm only going to list a few. Anime-wise, NARUTO, which I'm working on now, seems to be a big hit and I'm having a blast. Um, I have also loved SCRAPPED PRINCESS, KYO KARA MAOH, GIRLS BRAVO, SAIYUKI:RELOAD, CYBUSTER, RAVEMASTER, MARMALADE BOY and my very first job in anime, SD GUNDAM FORCE. Outside of anime, I have loved playing the Prince in the PRINCE OF PERSIA videogame series (Sands of Time & Two Thrones) and Kamal in the alternate reality game ILOVEBEES.


TB: Had you watched ROBOTECH when it first came out?

YL: Oh, hell yes. I used to cut out of school early to run home so that I wouldn't miss it.


TB: Who is your favorite ROBOTECH character?

YL: My knee-jerk answer is Rick, because that's who I wanted to be when I first started watching it at age, oh, 14 or so. But upon reflection, my favorite ROBOTECH character is the Veritech VF-1S in Guardian Mode. I fantasized about that more than I ever fantasized about Rick. Sorry, Rick.


TB: What do you think makes ROBOTECH different from other anime?

YL: Nowadays there are a lot of anime that have piggybacked on the designs and epic storytelling that ROBOTECH forged, but when it came out, it was the only anime I had ever seen like it. So, for me, it'll always be the first.


TB: What are your career influences, favorite films/actors, etc.?

YL: I am a product of a lot of things. Here are some of them, in stream-of-consciousness order: STAR WARS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, DOC SAVAGE, comic books, Ray Bradbury, Terry Gilliam, BRAZIL, TIME BANDITS, MONTY PYTHON, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, BUCKAROO BANZAI, B-movies, THE BIG SLEEP, Chow Yun-Fat, hardboiled detective novels, Robert Rodriguez, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, HOMICIDE:LIFE ON THE STREET, SPORTS NIGHT, THE KIDS IN THE HALL, BLACKADDER, Viggo Mortensen, bad horror movies, H.P. Lovecraft, Christian Bale, HAROLD & MAUDE, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, HELLBOY, BLADERUNNER, the Coen Brothers, Bruce Campbell, THE PROFESSIONAL, AMELIE, Edward Gorey, SUPERNATURAL BEAST CITY, AKIRA, STAR BLAZERS, BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, GODZILLA, Jack Black, punk rock, Soul Coughing, Louis Jordan... tired yet?


TB: What do you think about your character, Marcus?

YL: I had a blast playing Marcus. He's courageous but naive, thoughtful but impulsive, and he's got a lot to learn about love. I hope to get another chance to take him to those places and more.


TB: Are you going to be at any anime conventions?

YL: Yes. I was just at Youmacon in Troy, Michigan (I had a KILLER time) and I'll be at Ushicon in Austin, Texas at the end of January. I'm looking forward to it.


TB: Lisa or Minmei?

YL: You ask that like a threesome's out of the question...


Discuss Yuri Lowenthal in the Robotech.com message boards!

Find out more about Yuri at his website: yurilowenthal.com