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Yukomicon chats: The voice of Sailor Moon’s Tuxedo Mask, Toby Proctor

The Canadian voice actor is coming north for Yukomicon
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Toby Proctor, the voice actor most known for his role as Tuxedo Mask in the Salior Moon Series, will be back at Yukomicon this weekend. (Photo illustration by Joel Krahn/CC/Image courtesy Toby Proctor)

After going on hiatus last year, Yukomicon, the self-proclaimed largest gathering in the territory for all things geek-culture, is coming back to Whitehorse for its third edition. The News caught up with special guests who will be making appearances at the Yukon Convention Centre Aug. 25 to 27, including voice actor Toby Proctor, who voiced Sailor Moon’s Tuxedo Mask:

You came to Yukomicon two years ago. What were your impressions?

I didn’t know what to expect and when I got there, it was so well organized, people were smiling from ear-to-ear. Yukomicon’s kind of the perfect size in my mind because you you can feel an energy in the room and I like that.

One of your most recognizable roles is Tuxedo Mask, a character that’s over 20 years old. Does that bother you?

You don’t get to pick your nickname, so I’m happy that it was something for a lot of people in a generation. If it gets out ata gathering, people still, to this day, kind of freak out. I guess it’d be like for me, meeting Mel Blanc, the voice of all the Loony Toons, I’d go crazy. The fact that I became even just a little slice of that pie is pretty cool.

How did you land Tuxedo Mask?

The woman who was the very first Sailor Moon was also the very first Sailor Moon director. I was taking a workshop with her. I did my first class and she said, “If you worked on your reading, you could make this your entire career.” And I was like, “Yeah, okay, whatever.” About a week later, I get a call to audition for something and it was my nightmare, reading cold. I went in and they said, “Here’s a tape of a guy, don’t try to be him exactly but try to get the vibe,” and it was the original Tuxedo Mask. I did it and the next thing I know, my agent called me and said, “Hey, congratulations, you just got Sailor Moon!” And I was like, “That’s amazing! What’s Sailor Moon?”

You auditioned not knowing what the show was?

Nobody did! Everybody who auditioned for this show had no idea because it was in Japanese and I didn’t even get to see the animation. I literally just got a paragraph to read and that soundbite to listen to. It was fast and furious. The week later, I landed the voice of Flash Gordon so I was doing two series at once. It was pretty freaky.

Have you showed you kids Sailor Moon or any of your other work?

About a year ago, we watched a little bit and it was a strange because they have Tuxedo Mask plushie dolls and they ran around the house saying lines from the show. I still live in the space that I lived when I got Tuxedo Mask, and now I have three kids running around saying my name, it’s weird.

Do strangers ever recognize your voice?

Commercials is what I get recognized for. I was at a concert and some crazy scary biker guy taps me on the shoulder and says a line from one of my commercials and it freaked me out, like, “How did you even know that was me? I was facing the wrong way.” And he goes, “It was your voice.”

Is it weird that people don’t really know your face but know your voice?

For sure. I’ve had friends who have asked me to call someone for their birthday and say, “Hey, it’s Tuxedo Mask calling,how are you doing?” and it freaks them out. And I find being at comicons, that’s basically the thing — “Can you still do the voice? Can you do it for me?” And the minute you do, it zaps them from a 33-year-old back to their 12-year-old self, and it’s an honour.

Interviews edited for length and clarity.

Contact Jackie Hong at jackie.hong@yukon-news.com