We'll see the release of the newest Pokémon season, Pokémon Journeys, in less than 24 hours on Netflix, and what better way to prepare for the new episodes than to have a chat with Ash Ketchum? Sarah Natochenny, the actress who lends her talent to the English dub of the anime, has been voicing Ash since 2006, and we finally got the chance to pick her brain about it.
We spoke to Sarah in support of her newest role, the narration of Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood. Marking Marvel's second Serial Box outing, the series is sandwiched between March's Marvel's Thor: Metal Gods and last month's introduction of Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing With Fire.
As Natochenny is best known for portraying Ash Ketchum over the past fifteen years, we made sure to ask a few questions about her experience voicing for the popular character as well as what her favorite creature is. Check out what she had to say below!
Joe: I understand you were 11 when Pokémon first began to air. Was it your dream to voice act at that time, or was that something you realized closer to landing the role nearly a decade later?
Sarah Natochenny: No, I wanted to be an actor starting from like age 12 when I started going to acting school.
Voice acting was never the thing I wanted to do, I wanted to do theater and film mostly and then I kind of fell into voice acting and realized how fun it is and how great it is to be able to play all of these different roles regardless of the way you look.
Joe: I’ve read that you do multiple impressions of celebrities such as Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie, and more. Do you think practicing impressions is what helped you with your range in Pokémon?
Sarah Natochenny: Definitely, especially if you’re not good at impressions. Even if you can’t do good impressions, you’re still able to get a character out of it. The most fun thing to do is take an impression of one person and an impression of another person and mix them together.
But when it comes to Pokémon, they had me do a voice match for Ash, which is different from an impression. I don't know why I'm so offended by the word impression. (Laughs)
Joe: Who is your favorite Pokemon?
Sarah Natochenny: Meltan's my favorite. He’s the best! Do you disagree?
Joe: I’m not sure many people will agree with you considering he takes 400 candy to evolve! But did you see that they snuck two Meltans into the One Piece manga?
Sarah Natochenny: No, I didn’t, but that’s so cool. See? I told you that Meltan’s the best!
Joe: Is there anything else you would like me to share with your fans regarding your social media accounts or upcoming projects?
Sarah Natochenny: Yeah, sure! Marvel’s Black Widow: Bad Blood Episode 8 just dropped. There are 14 episodes and they’re being dropped weekly on Tuesdays at serialbox.com and on the Serial Box app.
The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon is a podcast that I do for Funny or Die with Kevin Bacon, Keira Sedgewick, and other people.
Pokemon Journeys, the new season is dropping on Netflix on Friday.
And make sure you foster animals! I know it’s hard to even get fosters right now, but that doesn't make it any less important. And also, voicesforfosters.org has a lot of information if you need it.
What do you think about these comments from the Ash Ketchum voice actress? Check out the trailer and synopsis for Pokémon Journeys below and be sure to share your thoughts in the usual spot!
Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum has a new plan: see the world! ...
With Ash as determined as ever to become a Pokémon Master, and Goh aiming to catch one of every Pokémon (including the Mythical Mew), our heroes are in for adventure and excitement as they explore the wide world of Pokémon!
Pokémon Journeys hits Netflix tomorrow, June 12th. Sarah can also be heard in her most recent project as the narrator for Marvel's Black Widow: Bad Blood on Serial Box.