Gunnar Sizemore is a young Actor and voice actor who started down the path to fame when he appeared on nationally-run commercials for companies such as Old Navy, Disneyland and Juicy Juice.
A native of Southern California, Gunnar loves to play an array of sports like basketball, football and volleyball. He speaks English, Spanish, and Japanese. He enjoys volunteering and getting involved with charities that are really meaningful to him such as Angel on My Shoulder (a group that provides clothing and food to those on Skid Row), Children's Hospital LA, Angel City Sports (which supports adaptive athletes).
At the age of six, Gunnar found himself in the voice over booth with legends like Tom Kenny “Sponge Bob” and Dee Bradley Baker “American Dad" on the animated series “Miles from Tomorrowland” for Disney. Through the years, he’s also appeared in on-camera TV Shows such as “Kickin’ It,” “The Gates,” and most notably as Micah Brenner on the ABC series “Nashville.” In addition, he sang and played guitar with fellow actor Sam Palladio on the song titled “Roots and Wings” which is currently available on iTunes. By the age of ten, Gunnar’s performance in a short film called “Heartfall” earned him a Best Actor Nomination at the 168 International Film Festival and “The Night Guardian” won Best Comic Book Film at Comic Con.
Other notable projects he had the pleasure to work on are “The Book of Life,” “The Prophet” and “Friday the 13th: The Game."
While he enjoys on-camera acting, Gunnar is becoming very popular as a voice actor in cartoons ranging from “Shimmer and Shine” to “Loud House” and “Doc McStuffins.”’ Gunnar plays the guitar and showed off those skills in the short movie “By Way of Guitar” alongside “Titanic” actor Billy Zane.
Currently he is working on two animated series for Dreamworks and Nickelodeon that will come out in 2019.
Gunnar granted an exclusive interview on August 30, 2018, where he discussed all of these projects and more.
TV, commercials, characters, and Cartoon Network
Meagan Meehan (MM): You initially acted in commercials so how did you get into that and what do you most remember about those shoots and what commercial did you enjoy filming and why?
Gunnar Sizemore (GS): I did my first commercial when I was two. It was a Juicy Juice commercial. What I remember the best about doing commercials is how well you get to know the other people involved in the production in such a short amount of time being together. One commercial I really enjoyed filming was for Old Navy about seven years ago. It was really fun! We had to learn a dance routine, act like a mannequin and there was even some stop motion involved!
MM: Besides being part of the cast of Cartoon Network's animated series “Craig of the Creek” that just received a season 2 pickup and “Ben 10,” you’ve lent your voice to many shows. What do you have coming up that we don’t know about yet?
GS: I have an animated series coming out the end of this year and an animated film that will be out in March in 2019. I can’t release the names yet because they won’t be announced till about September, but I’m so fortunate to be part of some great projects and can’t wait for people to see them.
MM: How did you get into voice acting?
GS: I got into voice acting just by taking classes. My very first class was with Sue Boyajian and after my first month of classes, I booked my first job. It just kind of snowballed from there. I also continue to take classes to this day so I can get better!
MM: You also work on television shows like “Nashville" on ABC and Movies like the upcoming "The World We Make," so how different is that from voice acting?
Do you prefer one type of medium over the other?
GS: With on-camera acting, you don’t have to use your voice as much as your face to show emotions, but in voiceover, you have to push the emotion more because even if there is animation to your voice, there needs to be conviction and emotion in your words. You have to use your entire body sometimes to connect with your character. I honestly like both on-camera acting and voice acting equally. On a few films I’ve worked on, I’ve been able to play the guitar and that’s been a blast!
MM: How do you get into characters and what roles have you most enjoyed playing? What sort of character would you like to portray in the future?
GS: I don’t have a routine to get into character, I just always think, “How would he (character) say this line?” I get into character as much as possible during the scenes, but I don’t do method acting.
Some of my favorite roles I’ve done so far are Jason from "Craig of the Creek" and Billy Billions from "Ben 10.”
YouTube, languages, and charity
MM: You started a YouTube channel where you make a short film every Monday, so where did that idea come from and have you any favorite “Monday Shorts”?
GS: The idea started when my cousin and I just goofed around with a camera in July 2016. We made a silly short film and wanted to post it on YouTube, but we needed a channel. We brainstormed, and since it was a Monday, we decided to make short films on Mondays. Sadly, our schedules have been so busy the channel has been inactive recently, but when time allows, I’m thinking about bringing back Season 3. My favorite short was probably our first one, “Pokémon No!” which was a skit about the then popular “Pokemon Go.”
MM: You speak other languages, so how did you master them and do you feel like being multi-lingual will help you in your career?
GS: Practice is the key. Before doing this interview I had my Japanese lesson. Learning alone can only get you so far, so having conversations with people using the language I'm learning is really helpful. I feel like being multi-lingual will help me in my career because it gives me so many more job opportunities for different countries. Spanish is one that I’ve learned in school, but when I went to Japan for the first time a few years ago, I fell in love with the culture and started studying it a lot and I really have fun speaking it.
MM: You do a lot of work for charity, so how did you get into that and what causes do you most like to support?
GS: I got into charity work through an event at my school called Angel on my Shoulder when I was in second grade.
Our school would go down to a homeless shelter a few days before Christmas and give out toys and food to the homeless. It really made me want to continue to do charity work. I support many causes, but two of my favorites are Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, which I’m doing a campaign with with school this year and all donations go towards research to help cure children with life-threatening illnesses. I’m also passionate about Angel City Sports, which is a program for individuals with physical disabilities or impairments.
MM: What are your biggest hopes for the future of your life as an actor and entertainer, Gunnar, and where can people find out more about you?
GS: My biggest hope for my future is that I am able to make a positive impact on the world and be a good role model for others. People can follow me @gunnarsizemore on Instagram and Twitter and check out my IMDB page under Gunnar Sizemore.
