Do American and Canadian voice actors dislike each other?

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J_Money P

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I have heard around that American voice actors often dislike Canadian voice actors, because they feel Canadian voice actors steal their work. Is that true?
 
I hope Candians and American VA's don't hate each other like this.

Many appreciate either way, I just hope there isn't some sort of strike or something.
 
I don't believe that's the case- it just doesn't make any sense. Some of the best cartoon voice-over actors we've ever had work here in the states actually came from Canada, namely Henry Corden, Stanley Jones, John Vernon, Lloyd Bochner, Maurice LaMarche, William Shatner, Peter Cullen, Cree Summer, Michael Donovan and the list goes on. They've all worked well with the voice-over actors from here in the states, so the question of whether U.S. voice-over actors and their Canadian counterparts disliked each other is really irrelevant, considering the length of their work with each other in animation over the years and how well it has eventually turned out.
 
American voice actors wouldn't dislike Canadian voice actors if they moved to America, they would just dislike it if an American producer decided to all the voice work done in Canada. I know of a cartoon or two, were they had the pilot voiced in America, then decided to have the series voiced in America.
 
Well there might be some tension but I don't think there's any real reason for them to dislike each other unless one of the groups is incredibly close-minded. I mean It's not like there's some secret war between Canadian and American voice actors.
 
You are correct about that. Example: Peter Cullen(a.k.a. Optimus Prime) and Frank Welker(a.k.a. Megatron) at the BotCon conventions.
 
What about that Wendee Lee interview I posted on this very thread?



Cullen lives in LA, I'm not counting Canadian VAs who moved LA or something, I'm taklking about Canadian VAs who live in Canada and American cartoons that are voiced entirely in Canada. I'm talking about an outsourcing issue here, that isn't an issue if Canadians move to LA.
 
I think Lee's objection is less that they're Canadian and more that they're non-union. Union voice work means you can land residuals and it will count towards qualifying for health insurance and other benefits. The actor loses a lot more than just a job if a show decides to go non-union. However, in this case, I think all Lee is saying is that there are more non-union actors to be found in Canada willing to do the work, which then forces more American actors to take non-union work as well.

In any event, if there is resentment towards Canada, it's not simply because they're Canadians.
 
I think that at worst they don't like the companies. I mean if they charge so little they probably don't pay the actors that much. There might be some corporate rivalry but I bet they don't make it a personnal matter.



That would be badass!! XD
 
I never inferred that American voice actors dislike Canadian voice actors just because they are Canadian, but that they disliked them because some American productions and animes are voiced in Canada because its cheaper, which takes work away from them.

I believe most Canadian voice actors are union based, the difference is instead of SAG, its ACTRA. Some of the same rules apply, you can't do non union work and do ACTRA work at the same time. Now I'm not sure if anime dubs are covered ACTRA, but most American and Canadian cartoons voiced in Canada would be covered by ACTRA. Its way of having cheaper voice actors, who are still unionized, this giving SAG less reason to complain. Its also cheaper because often Canadian money is worth less then American money. Also ACTRA likely has some key differences between it and SAG that would make them cheaper, like support from the government.

I believe another complaint is the Canadian government would give voice productions in Canada support, with funding and tax breaks and such. That wouldn't happen in America of course.
 
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