Jamie McGonnigal: The Man Behind Barry

By Hsing Tseng on March 7, 2013

Jamie McGonnigal visited Animeland Wasabi on Mar. 1-3. Photo by Ryan Lumpkin Photography.

One of the best parts about going to anime conventions is meeting celebrities, especially those who have voiced characters that you adore. This weekend, Animeland hosted their 6th annual Wasabi Con at the Double Tree Hotel – Denver Stapleton in Aurora, Colo. and brought in special guests to host panels and events for con-goers all Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Jamie McGonnigal, voice actor and LGBT activist, was one of the special guests invited to present panels about his voice acting career and activist efforts, talk to fans, and sign autographs.  McGonnigal has voice acted in several different anime series and video games, providing voices for beloved characters such as Barry from Pokemon.

According to McGonnigal, the voice actor started his career doing musicals in New York, which eventually led him to direct and produce more than 200 Broadway concerts and events.

“ I was actually doing a musical in in south New Jersey and someone who I did that with said ‘You’d be really good at cartoon stuff.  Have you ever tried out for anything? …She passed my name along to someone at the SciFi.com network and I did … an online flash cartoon called Barbarian Moron. Eventually I ended up with 4Kids doing Pokemon and doing Yu-Gi-Oh and I did Viva Pinata,” McGonnigal said.

As voice acting requires getting into character, McGonnigal cites his background in musical theater as especially helpful in this respect.

“Getting into character is easier for some then it is for others,” McGonnigal said, who uses what he calls his “muscle memory” to bring particular voices to mind.

Animeland Wasabi 2013 was not McGonnigal’s first anime convention by far – the voice actor has appeared at prominent conventions such as Ohayocon, New York Comic Con, AnimeFest and more.

“I can’t imagine coming to a place like this…seeing so many people that are so thrilled and happy to be here and able to express who they are and have a great time, and not be thrilled by all the happiness around them,” McGonnigal said.

McGonnigal enjoys the con scene because of the freedom that con-goers have to be comfortable in their own skins and connect with others who share their interests.

“In many cases if you live in a small town and you’re an anime fan, you very likely may be the only one in your school, or one of two or three, and it can make you feel really lonely. So to see people like really coming here and being at a con, and feeling like they can blossom into who they are and have no shame at all for wearing a squid hat, or being a twenty-two year old chubby guy in a Sailor Moon costume — you can do what ever you want here. There is no judgment… That’s what I love,” McGonnigal said.

Though Animeland is one of the smaller conventions McGonnigal has attended, he says he tends to enjoy the smaller cons more.

“Some cons are really huge and some are really small. I prefer the smaller cons personally, ‘cause you get lost in the shuffle when there’s 20 thousand people at a convention. It’s just more challenging,” McGonnigal said.

McGonnigal has not been doing any voice acting recently, but instead has been working hard on fighting for LGBT rights in the United States, a cause that he passionately supports as a member of the gay community.

McGonnigal founded TalkAboutEquality.com to discuss the issues facing the LGBT community and contributes to the Huffington Post. McGonnigal has also worked with the United Nations, going to South Africa with several teenagers working with the HERO campaign to help educate about AIDs and assist isolated AIDs affected communities.

McGonnigal claims that though he is lucky to work in a place where everyone is progressive and supportive of his being gay, but not everyone has that privilege.

“In many parts of this country, if I put a picture of my fiancé on my desk, I could get fired for that…There’s 31 states where I can be evicted from my apartment for being gay…There’s still a lot of discrimination, there’s discrimination written into the laws of the country,” McGonnigal said, referring to the many struggles LGBT people face in the U.S.

Despite all of this, McGonnigal says he is optimistic about LGBT rights in the United States. Currently he is working on gathering the “United for Marriage” rally at the Supreme Court March 26th-27th as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 are brought to the senate.

What’s next for McGonnigal? McGonnigal is excited to soon be marrying his fiancé Sean Carlson in Washington D.C and start a family.

Hopefully, we’ll be able to see him back here in Denver for Animeland Wasabi 2014!

Uloop writer Ellen Scott contributed to this article.

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