Nolan North

[on why he switched from being a reporter to being a voice actor] I studied journalism at The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. I did my graduate work at Emerson in Boston and I was actually a reporter for a year in New York and New Jersey. It dawned on me that I wasn't cut out for that line of work. I mean... there's a certain thing that really good reports have that I just didn't. Some of my stories were just mired in stuff that wasn't my cup of tea. I covered a teen shooting victim in Newark, a house fire in Jersey City, and all around they were just some really grizzly stories-didn't like the vibe. Much like the Nathan Drake character in Uncharted, I kind of fell back on my sense of humor to keep my sanity. Maybe it's truly my defense mechanism, but y'know I just wanted out of it-I wanted to do something different. I considered going with ESPN or doing The Daily Show, but it just came to a point where I didn't see that happening. I eventually became an actor, starting with doing stand-up comedy in New York and then theater wherever they would let me. Finally, I moved out here to Los Angeles and got on a show. Through doing that for a few years I met somebody who introduced me to my current agent-I have to give my wife some credit in that! For so long she put up with all my silly voices and accents and she kept hammering at me saying, "You got to get into voice over!" She was a pretty good actor herself, too, I must say. But when I was introduced to Pat Brady, my first agent who is still my agent to this day, she plucked me out of obscurity and said, "You can do this!" So out of all of these experiences I have to say that it is nice to be able to make a nice living doing what teachers gave me detention for in school. Show less «

[on voicing the Penguin] The Penguin from Batman: Arkham City is a real departure from what I'm most known for. People actually didn't realize it was me. That's the one thing about doing voice over work that people don't realize, and you can interview anybody in this industry-you have to be a good actor as well as having a good voice. Show less «

I mean, Gary Oldman, one of the greatest actors on the planet, did Call of Duty. He wouldn't have done it 10 years ago. It's a new age dawning, and I'm just really proud to be part of. Show less «