Some people need to create. The muse strikes them, and they are compelled to use their skills in whatever manner they can.







Vic Mignogna is best known for his voice acting work dubbing anime such as “Fullmetal Alchemist,” “Ouran High School Host Club,” Dragon Ball Z,” “Vampire Knight,” “Bleach” and “Digimon Adventure tri.” While these roles are what has earned him a following, and have made him a regular guest at conventions, they only scratch the surface of a career that includes on-screen acting, singing as well as taking on numerous production duties in both fields. He is also the driving force behind the fan production “Star Trek Continues,” which sees Mignogna play the role of Captain Kirk.









Mignogna, who was born in Greensburg and grew up in Western PA, returns to the area April 6-8 as a guest at Tekko,Pittsburgh's premier Japanese culture convention, held annually at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.





The Swerve Magazine: I know that you have been performing in various capacities for much of your life, but what initially attracted to you to acting?







Vic Mignogna: Well, to be honest with you, around the age of 10 or 11, I discovered “Star Trek.” I was just a little kid, and I found this show on television, and I fell in love with it. I was actually obsessed with it. I would watch it every day and record it on my audio cassette recorder. I would make uniforms. I would round kids up in the neighborhood and make little home movies where I got to play Captain Kirk. Watching “Star Trek” and being moved by the stories and the themes and the characters, I wanted to do what they were doing.







Around that age, I started auditioning for school plays and church productions and community theatres. I took drama courses and acting classes, so I've been doing my whole life since I was 11 or 12 years old.







SM: How did you initially become involved with voice acting?







VM: Quite by accident. I was living and working in Houston, Texas. I was working on a video production, and one of the guys I was working with one day said, “Hey, you've got a lot of experience with acting, don't you?” I said, “Yeah, I've been acting since I was 11 or 12 years old.” He said, “You ought to go and audition at this place in town. They buy these Japanese animated shows, and they dub them into English, and they're looking for actors.”







The image that immediately came to my mind was “Speed Racer” and shows that I remember watching when I was a little kid. It sounded like fun, so I went and auditioned and got cast in “Street Fighter II.” That was almost 20 years ago. I never imagined that I would do it more than once or twice, but it continued to grow and grow, and I was just very fortunate to be on the ground floor right before anime exploded.







SM: Having gotten in fairly early, what has it been like to watch the industry change and grow over the years?







VM: It's been really, really amazing. When I started doing it, I had no idea that anything would come of it. To me, it was just another opportunity to act. I just enjoyed acting. Voice acting didn't pay a lot of money, but I didn't take the job for money, I took it for love of acting. Most actors act because they love acting, it's not because they're going to make a lot of money because except for the top 0.5%, most actors don't make very much. Most people act as amateurs for recreation, as opposed to getting paid to act.







I have been blown away to see how the industry has grown. Now, I will do event appearances where there are literally hundreds and hundreds of people lined up for my autograph, and I am humbled. I can't think of any other word than humbled, every time I walk into an autograph session and see a huge line of people because I never expected it, I never imagined it. It's just really humbling and mind-blowing that the anime industry has grown as much as it has.







SM: Speaking of conventions, what is it like—especially with something like “Fullmetal Alchemist” that deals with some heavy, emotional material—to hear the fans' feedback about how those stories have affected them?







VM: When you record a character for an anime, you do it alone in a recording booth. There is no audience; there are no other actors. You do your best, but you don't really know how it's going to be received. If you do a stage play, you can immediately hear and sense and see and experience the audience's reaction to your performance. In voice acting, you don't have that opportunity. I have been completely blown away over the years to meet fans at conventions, and have them express to me how much a character that I played in “Fullmetal” or “Dragon Ball Z,” “Ouran High School,” “Pokemon” or any of a number of shows meant to them, or how much that show meant to them.







It takes me back to my own experience with “Star Trek.” It reminds me how “Star Trek” made me feel and inspired me when I was young. I find it so serendipitous and so amazing that I can be a part of shows that inspire people now in the way that “Star Trek” inspired me.



When I started doing conventions 15-plus years ago, there weren't many anime conventions around, and now there's one almost every weekend somewhere. It's astonishing how much it has grown.







SM: You've mentioned Star Trek a few time. How did you get involved in creating a producing the “Star Trek Continues” series?







VM: My college degree was in the film and I minored in theatre. I've always enjoyed filmmaking. I learned and developed all of the skills in film production over the years, whether it be in directing or shooting or lighting or make-up or props or wardrobe or sets or editing or sound design, all of the elements of production, and I've had a lot of experience with most of them. About five years ago, I decided that I wanted to pay tribute to the show that inspired me when I was a little boy to do all of the things that I do now professionally. Again, not for money, not for any reason than for love and appreciation of Star Trek.







I brought my own filmmaking and acting skills to the table, and I invited a bunch of my friends who are also Star Trek fans, but good actors or good camera people or makeup people or sound people or costuming people, and brought them all together and decided to produce and episode, just one. I just wanted to make one episode where I got to play my childhood hero, and make an episode of “Star Trek” the way that I remembered it. We made that episode, “Pilgrim of Eternity,” and I actually paid out of my own savings to make that episode. After we finished it, we released it publicly having no idea how it would be received.







I was extremely gratified to see how many people enjoyed it, and after we got the response that we did, we launched a crowdfunding campaign to see if the fans liked it enough to help us make more. They did, so they donated money, and we made more episodes and then more episodes. The goal was to finish the original series of Star Trek, which was canceled abruptly in its third season even though it was supposed to be a five-year mission. We have now completed eleven episodes, and we have done exactly what we set out to do. We completed the original series, and we filled the gap between the original series cancellation and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” We've got over 8 million views, we've won over a dozen awards, it's been an extremely well-received series, and I am so proud of what we have accomplished.







SM: Looking at the series, you also attracted a number of great guest stars. What was it like to be making Star Trek alongside actors like John de Lancie and Marina Sirtis?







VM: Because of my voice acting career, I am a guest at conventions with these other people. I've had the opportunity to become friends with people whose work I was a fan of when I was younger, whether it be Lou Ferrigno or Erin Grey or John de Lancie or Colin Baker or Marina Sirtis. As I was making these episodes, I would call them and say, “Hey, I've got this episode, and I have a character who I would love for you to play.” And in almost every circumstance, whoever I called said, “Sure, I'll do it.”







SM: Shifting gears, there is a video on YouTube of you that I appreciate, filmed at the Triad Anime Con two years ago where you confronted the street protestors. What prompted you to confront them rather than just walking past them?







VM: My faith is a very big part of my life. My grandfather was a pastor of a church in Greensburg that I grew up in. I am a Christian. I've seen protestors marching around outside conventions before. I've always thought to myself, “Wow, what a poor representation of God's love.”







On that particular day, I was leaving the hotel to walk down the street to get some lunch. As I was walking by, I thought to myself, “You know, I would like to ask these people very tactfully and very politely what they think they're doing. Because if their motivation is to somehow reach these anime kids, marching around with signs telling them that God condemns them and they're going to Hell is not the way to do it.” So, I walked up to them, and I tried to start a conversation with them, and it apparently got pretty heated. I later found out that they were from Westboro Baptist, who most people know have such a bad reputation of being hate-mongering and condemning.







I've always felt very strongly, and I've always tried my best in my convention appearances and in my responses to fan emails and in my interactions with fans—I've always tried my best to demonstrate God's love to them, and let them know that God loves them just the way they are. To see that horrible representation from people that call themselves Christians, I could no longer stand idly by. I went up to talk to them, and I really didn't even realize that it was being videotaped, but somebody standing right there was videotaping it. I hope that it's been a positive encouragement.







SM: As somebody who is very open and expressive about your faith, do you think that people sometimes conflate you with so-called Christians like those protestors?







VM: Yes! It happens all the time! I get rumors and lies and hateful stories spread about me all over the internet by people who absolutely can't stand that I take a stand for my faith. They cannot stand that I try to share God's love with people and they actively seek to destroy my reputation and to cause me trouble because of it. And I get people who just assume that because I call myself a Christian, I must hate homosexuals; because I call myself a Christian, I must hate transgender people. I must be one of those hate-filled, condemning people and nothing could be further from the truth.







SM: I have seen some of the stuff people have said, and the claims people have made about you. I have been to a number of anime conventions where I have been around you, and I have not seen that person, but it's remarkable the malice that some people seem to have towards you.







VM: It is. The sad thing is that I have never—and you mark my words, may God strike me dead if I'm lying—I have never, ever, ever been cruel to a fan, I have never ,ever been condemning or judgmental of a fan, I have never been abusive or taken advantage of or been inappropriate with a fan. And yet there are people out there who either don't like my faith and my stand for my faith or they are just very lonely and very desperate for attention, and they don't care how they get it. So they will make up stories or spread vicious lies about somebody that a lot of people know, just to get attention.







I remember when I was in college, I took a general psychology course, and I don't remember much from that course, but I do remember one thing. I remember a lecture where the teacher was talking about attention, how desperately people want other people's attention. How much it means to each of us to have other people notice us and acknowledge us. I'll never forget what the professor said; he said, “Studies have proven that kids would prefer negative attention to no attention at all.” They would rather be noticed for saying something hateful and mean than to be not noticed at all.







I do a lot of anime conventions, and I meet a lot of kids.I meet a lot of people, and a lot of them are lonely, they feel insignificant, they feel like nobody cares about them, that nobody notices them, that they are just completely anonymous and invisible to the world. That kind of feeling can motivate some people to be hateful and mean-spirited and spread stories just to get attention.







SM: That is really sad.







VM: It is, and it is very sad that they would pick on somebody who has given so much of themselves to this industry. Who has never done anything but been kind and encouraging to fans. I hear stories that are so outrageous about me yelling at a fan because they asked me to sign their yaoi, or suing a hotel because somebody slid yaoi under my door. Getting off to sleeping with Edward Elric cosplayers, just twisted sick garbage.







The good news is that for every one of those fans, there are 5,000 who are positive, encouraging fans.







SM: Shifting back to more positive aspects, you are coming in for Tekko, where you have appeared numerous time. Returning to the area, does this show hold a special place for you?







VM: Oh absolutely. I was living in Monroeville, in an apartment with my mom when I discovered “Star Trek.” I grew up in that area. I'm a big Steelers fan, a big Pirates fan, I have a lot of fond memories of attending Star Trek conventions in Pittsburgh, and going to Carnegie Museum and admiring the dinosaurs, and living in Delmont and Greensburg and Monroeville. I'm very, very excited to be coming back. In fact, some of my friends that I grew up with may be coming to the convention, we're talking about people from 35, 40 years ago. I've always loved Tekko and have enjoyed being a guest there, and was very excited when they invited me back.