SEAN Astin, the Academy Award-nominated producer and talented American film and TV actor, appeared in The Goonies as Mikey Walsh when he was just 13 years old, but he is better known for his roles in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as
award- winning drama series such as 24 and Las Vegas. With such serious roles under his belt, you can imagine how much of a surprise it was to find out that the 38-year-old Astin is the voice behind special agent Oso in an animated children’s series of the same name and that he loves it.
“I’ve never met an actor who didn’t like doing voice- overs because, essentially, you don’t have any of the hassle that comes with wardrobe, make up or hair,” he says. “There isn’t a lot of rehearsal, because you just show up and emote. It took about 15 seconds to decide that I wanted to be a part of it.”
Astin says he also enjoys being the voice behind the bear because special agent Oso is a cool and handsome bear who is climbing the career ladder.
“I know they wanted to find somebody to do the voice who they thought emulated the striking physical features of the character. He’s an agent in training, so not unlike Sean Connery or Roger Moore or one of those guys, he is still making his way up,” he says.
“Oso has the ability to do everything, like ski, go into outer space or any of the things that agents nowadays are called out to do. I think even Interpol wanted him at one stage,” he laughs. “But it’s a developmental time in his career, so he has to train at the beginning and the end of each episode. I find that interesting.”
Created by Ford Riley, Special Agent Oso follows a lovable stuffed panda who is training as an agent with United Network for Investigating Quite Usual Events (Unique), an institution dedicated to helping children perform well in day-to-day tasks such as homework and cleaning up their rooms.
Catch episodes of Special Agent Oso on Disney channel every weekday morning at 9.10am until the May 29.
