Josh Keaton is a bright young man with handsome looks that, based on this reporter’s opinion, should take over Shia LaBeouf’s role in the next Transformers movie. Michael Bay take note. An actor who has heart and soul who clearly loves what he does, here’s what he has to say…

Starburst: How did you get your start and what interested you in doing voiceover work?

Josh Keaton: I fell into it by accident. My agent started sending me out on auditions where I got to do voiceovers on Back To the Future the animated series, Peter Pan and The Pirates which starred Tim Curry as Captain Hook. It wasn’t until I got the role voicing young Hercules in the Disney movie that I was sought out by a dedicated voice over agent and at that point my eyes were opened up to the rest of the world of voiceover which is huge. There’s the people that do the intros and outros to television programmes and promos, commercials, trailers that you see at the theatres.

I met Nick Tate who played Alan Carter the Eagle One pilot from Gerry Anderson’s Space:1999 series and he mostly does voiceover work, especially for coming attraction trailers.

Those guys can make a pretty good living at it.

Tell us about the Spiderman series.

I had a lot of fun doing the role of Spiderman/Peter Parker. There’s so much depth to that character that everyone can identify with. A teenager with a secret he can’t reveal along with being a superhero trying to do what’s right while he has his share of villains and detractors like J.Jonah Jameson branding him as a menace to society.

With great power comes great responsibility.

So true.

Were you a big comic book fan as a kid?

I was! Spiderman, the Punisher and Wolverine. Occasionally, Batman and Superman. I would read just about everything, but mostly it was Spiderman.

Let’s talk about the Green Lantern animated series.

It’s a big production. You’re going to see Atrocitus, Zilius Zox, Kilowog, the Red Lantern Corps and a lot of other characters in the Green Lantern universe. The stories take place in deep galaxies, so it’s not earthbound. There’s a lot more to explore in frontier space. There’s no origin episode, so Hal Jordan’s going to the ground running. A lot of it will take place on their ship, the Interceptor, where it has hyperspace capabilities and those possibilities are endless where they go.

Carol Ferris isn’t in this?

She is, but its not Earth-centric driven in story structure. I like to say, the sky’s the limit, but the sky is pretty much the starting point. There’s so much going on in this series. You have the battle with the Red Lanterns, characters come and go, some die.

So kids and adults will enjoy it as well.

Without a doubt!

Playing the Flash and Aquaman in the Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths must have been a challenge. What did you do to prepare for the roles?

Aquaman was cast as a cameo on the spot. The director said ‘read this Josh’, so I read the dialogue and it was the part of Aquaman. They gave me a shot at it and I told them that I really wanted to do this role and I got it! Here’s Aquaman, who oversees the entire underwater world of Earth who’s mostly gotten the short end as a character. This is the King of Atlantis we’re talking about! So I gave him a regal voice and it paid off for him.

Aquaman finally got respect!

Absolutely! Flash was fun to do. He’s a bit like Spidey, but without the quips and one-liners. I played Barry Allan a little more serious.

Everyone loves the Transformers and Jack Darby in the animated series is an interesting character. What’s the news on the show?

Transformers the animated series is different from the feature films whereas we place more emphasis on the robots themselves. Jack Darby is an important character, but the show’s really about the robots. In the final episode of the season, Optimus Prime gets his memory erased and he now thinks he’s a Decepticon.

So it ends on a cliffhanger?

Yes.

Thanks for taking the time out and talking to Starburst. We expect to hear more about your talented work in the future.

That’s very kind of you to say that. Thank you.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series is set to air Spring 2012