[Honey's Anime Interview] Patrick Seitz – Voice of Dio, Garrosh, Jeritza, and More! (V-CRX)

Honey’s Anime: How do you approach playing villains (Dio, Jeritza, Arthas, etc.)? Do you attempt to understand them, or do you ham it up as much as possible?

Patrick Seitz: Even when I go ham on a character, I always try to tie it to a reasonable motivation that the character himself would actually feel. I would never forsake understanding. Actually, from where I’m sitting, understanding and ham needn’t be mutually exclusive. A lot of villains feel the need (whether warranted or otherwise) to defend their actions to the greater world, which is where you get those grandstanding moments. It’s really just a matter of how many of those public moments you’re juggling versus the more private, introspective moments.

Honey’s Anime: What has been your most challenging voice acting role to date?

Patrick Seitz: Probably Garrosh Hellscream from "World of Warcraft." The voice itself is so brutal and pushed, but there’s a lot going on under the hood with Garrosh, so to speak. There needs to be space for that nuance to come through without sacrificing any of the brutality in the tone. It’s exhausting—but when you’re putting yourself through the wringer for the greater glory of a character like Garrosh, it’s well worth it.

Honey’s Anime: Since many of your characters tend to be fountains of memes, do you have a favorite meme among them? “The Culling of Arthas” and basically anything Dio says are top tier for me, personally.

Patrick Seitz: For me, it would probably have to be the Dio memes. I’ve got a shirt with the whole “But it was me, Dio!” moment on it. I actually bought two of it, because I loved it so damn much and I knew if I only got one, I’d just wear it into the ground.

Honey’s Anime: Thank you so much for your time! We’re looking forward to seeing your full panel at the Virtual Crunchyroll Expo this weekend!