From the mind of Tony Hale, the DreamWorks animated series Archibald’s Next Big Thing is Here follows the optimistic Archibald Strutter (voiced by Hale), a chicken who has learned how to deal with everything that life throws at him while he goes on his adventures. Things don’t always go as planned for Archibald, but he’ll still make the best of it, alongside his siblings Sage (voiced by Adam Pally), Finly (voiced by Jordan Fisher) and Loy (voiced by Chelsea Kane), as well as his trusty bee sidekick Bea (voiced by Kari Wahlgren).
During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Fisher talked about how he got involved with Archibald’s Next Big Thing, why he loves doing voice-over work, the fun family dynamic, and having to throw caution to the wind in the recording booth. He also talked about what he learned from the experience he had playing Mark in Rent: Live, and how excited he is to get more involved in developing projects.
COLLIDER: How did you get involved with Archibald’s Next Big Thing is Here and voicing this character? Is it just incredibly fun to get to voice a character that you could never play as yourself?
JORDAN FISHER: That’s a great question. I found out very quickly that one of my favorite things to do for work is voice-over work. I absolutely adore every facet of it. I think that just being able to go to work in your sweats is incredible. The other side of it is getting into a booth at a good recording studio, full of a bunch of people, obviously pre-COVID. We’ve been having to do things a little differently during COVID. To be surrounded by creatives that are hilarious and encourage you to play and have a good time is really the best time. That’s been my Archibald journey, from the beginning. It started off when my voice-over agent gave me a call and was like, “Here’s a great show. You know who Tony Hale is? He’s got this animated series and wants you to come in and read.” So, I did, and we’ve just been having a blast ever since.
What did you think when you saw what this character would be and what he would look like?
FISHER: I come from a big family and I’ve got a bunch of siblings, so there’s definitely that side of it – the big brother dynamic that Finly has with Archibald. That’s so fun and so funny. Listening to Tony’s voice when he’s reading back with you, or if you’re watching a clip of something that you have to punch in for ADR, he will incite belly laughter for you. Finly’s not too dissimilar from me. He’s probably just a caricature of me, as a person. He’s a sweet guy. He’s a little floatier than I am in real life, but that’s just because he lives in this constant state of creativity and music. These kids get themselves into some trouble from time to time, but it’s mainly just about figuring out how to get Archibald out of some terrible situation that he’s put himself in, and Finly typically has a song associated with it. That’s a lot of fun, his knack for creating things on the spot and being the creative sibling that always has a song prepared for the situation.
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How does the voice work on this show compare to the voice work you do on She-Ra and the Princess of Power? Is there anything really different about the two experiences, or are they more similar than different?
FISHER: The actual voices are very, very different. My work on She-Ra, I have a main character that I’m playing, which is Sea Hawk, but I’ve voiced nine or 10 other characters, over the course of the series. It’s not too dissimilar on Archibald. Sometimes they’ll give me maybe a drawing or rendering of a character, or sometimes they haven’t drawn the character out yet and want to do that after I’ve come up with a voice. They’ll say, “This character is a moose and he has a twin brother. Think Dumb and Dumber, but like beach bums.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” You mess around and start playing with vowels, and then you just take that and you run. That’s where the similar quality is for Archibald and She-Ra. Maybe you have a drawing and you can formulate a voice around what that character looks like. You’ll look at features like the size of the nose, how big the ears are, and if they have bad posture. You take all of those things into account, based on looking at that character and what you think they would sound like. You start there, and then you think about what you can throw in that will surprise people, in terms of the sonic quality of the character. When you find that little nugget or piece of gold, your character comes to life. That’s the fun of voice-over. The thing that I really enjoy the most is going in and creating new voices for new characters.
It really sound like, to be a successful voice actor, you have to lose that aspect of being self-conscious so that you can do crazy voices by yourself in a booth. When you started doing voice work, did you have a moment where you had to check yourself so that you weren’t self-conscious about it?
FISHER: You have to really throw caution to the wind. The looser you are and the more capable you are having fun in the booth, the better you will be, the better the show will be, and the more confident you will feel. Before I really started getting into voice-over, I would do little bits and pieces here and there, but it was really just in the last few years that I’ve established a space for myself in the voice-over world. I’ve probably watched 30 hours' worth of behind-the-scenes footage from different actors in voice-over booths for films and TV series, just to see how they go about doing it and what I could expect. What I saw was people being absolute idiots in the booth and it working. So, I went, “Okay, it looks like I’m just gonna go be an idiot,” and it worked. That’s exactly what it is. The more you just throw yourself at it, the better everything is and the more fun you have. That’s really why I fell in love with it. It’s fun. I get to have fun in the booth, every day. It’s always something new and something different, but I know I get to go be an idiot.
You were so terrific as Mark in Rent: Live. What did you learn from that whole experience?
FISHER: That everything happens exactly the way that it’s supposed to. That’s probably the cliche that I take away from it, and that’s a very real thing, truthfully. Even if I knew that it was gonna happen the exact same way, I would still do it, all over again. We had a great time. The cast bond was phenomenal. We all really just genuinely loved each other. There wasn’t one bad apple in the bunch. There wasn’t one individual on that set, in the crew, the cast, the creative team, or otherwise, that I didn’t like. We just enjoyed being with each other. Getting to do that musical, Rent was always a dream role of mine, and when the show closed on Broadway in 2008, I felt like I lost my opportunity to play Mark. And so, for that opportunity to be revived, everybody felt that it was such an honor and that we couldn’t believe we got to do it. There are all sorts of ins and outs that we could talk about, like how the structure of the show might not have been best for primetime television, just because of the content involved and what you have to sacrifice. We all learn from that, but at the end of the day, we still got to do the show and had a blast doing it, regardless of what happened. We all got something really beautiful out of it and have maintained a beautiful friendship. We have a Rent Live group chat on Instagram still. We’ll send each other articles and videos and check in on each other. It’s really great. I loved every moment of it and I would do it all over again.
When you’re a triple threat performer, like you are, and you’re a talented actor, singer and dancer, usually there’s an order of which you feel most comfortable or confident with. The longer you’ve been in this business, has that changed for you? Do you feel more equal in your strengths, in all three of those areas?
FISHER: That’s a really great question. Speaking candidly, I love dance. I’ve always loved dance. My relationship with dance is that I do it when it’s required and when I’m called to do it. I still love it and I’ve had lots of training, so it’s in my body, but I find myself craving the acting and music side of things more often. What my tenure in this industry has shown me is that I thrive the best when I’m in a creative space and I get to help make things what they are and what they become and have my hands on the project itself. I’ve really found a niche in producing and developing. That’s the world that I’m really excited to continue to dig into. I just executive produced my first film, and I’ve locked a couple more at different studios. I’m excited to continue to flourish in that space while also taking jobs that I feel really good about, as an actor and as an artist.
Archibald’s Next Big Thing is Here is available to stream at Peacock.
