Richard Yearwood has had a long and diverse career through his acting, voice acting, directing, and producing. Discovered by a talent scout at a school play, he began his career in theater, eventually moving up to advertisements and finally landing a role in an episode of The Littlest Hobo. His two big passions are writing and acting, and he has concentrated on both of them for all of his life. He’s written two books – one of them titled The Perfect Relationship Handbook – and had a fairly prolific acting history.
The English-Canadian actor currently has over 50 TV and film credits to his name (with some video games on the side), and has played all kinds of roles, both big and small, from children’s favorites to quirky spy catchers to violent gang members to kung fu masters. These roles include Ritter Wells in Sanctuary, various voices in Saint’s Row, computer hacker Rick in the cult video game Dino Crisis and its sequel, an upcoming role as Ganymede in the next Percy Jackson film, and a lead recurring role as the “wild card” on the team of the action comedy InSecurity (“the Canadian 24”)1.
Aside from appearing onscreen and as an offscreen voice, Yearwood has gained experience behind the camera. According to his biography, Yearwood got some advice from the great Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg which “changed his life forever”: learn to direct, because you might get bored acting. As Yearwood wrote, “What it did was make me appreciate everyone’s role in making a project. From that moment, I worked on directing and producing and thankfully I got my opportunity to direct on my own…”2 At the moment he has directed episodes on seven different TV shows.
If you go to YouChew or have more than a passing knowledge of 90s cartoons, you probably know Yearwood primarily for one of his most well-known stints: the voice of Donkey Kong on Donkey Kong Country. The 1997 show, produced in France and dubbed in Canada, was one of the first children’s cartoons to use all computer graphics animation, and the results were memorable, to say the least. While the show’s quality is disputed – it’s loved in France in Japan, and it’s liked for a few of the wrong reasons over here – it definitely has its charms. It’s hard not to enjoy the vocal performances, like King K. Rool’s hammy portrayal by Benedict Campbell, and it’s impossible not to take to surprisingly great songs like “I’m Nobody’s Hero” and “One of Us.” It definitely didn’t deserve to be kicked off of Fox to make way for Bill Clinton’s impeachment, which it was. Have the network heads no taste?
Whatever you take away from the show, you have to admit that you remember Donkey Kong’s voice. Yearwood’s role on the show has lodged his voice into the minds of many children; the single comment on his online blog says “your voice as DK is just gorgeous.” His enthusiasm and emotive acting made him a great match to play the heroic cartoon ape; some actors might see Kong as a toss-off role, but Yearwood took pride in his performance, infusing him with his own personality. No matter how much Nintendo tries to make us think differently, we will always hear Yearwood as Donkey Kong.
Today the Writing Staff of YouChew would like to present a brief interview with the man who made Donkey Kong real for all of us, Richard Yearwood.
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How did you get involved with Donkey Kong Country?
I had done some voice work in the past for Nelvana like Magic School Bus and they brought me in to audition for the voice.
Are you a fan of the series?
Yes I am a fan of the series.
Could you tell us what it's like to work as a voice actor? A quick run-through will suffice.
Working as a voice actor is fantastic. You are able to be as silly as you want in the booth without anyone judging you. You can tell when the character is leaping off the page.
What are your general thoughts on the show, in retrospect?
I think the show was ahead of it's time and if it was on the air right now I think it would run for many years.
Have you ever gotten any notice from your role on the show?
Almost every role I do they bring up that I was the voice of Donkey Kong. It brings Adults back to their childhood and that is a good thing.
As DK, you had a great singing voice. Have you ever considered a musical career?
I used to sing backup for a jazz artist and I have had some luck in the music business. The funny thing is I only sang on the first episode.
Where can audiences find you nowadays?
Nowadays I am directing and producing mostly but just recently I finished a series called InSecurity. I am a CEO of a production company at Paramount Pictures.
Thank you for your time, Mr. Yearwood.
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Because of Yearwood's packed schedule, we weren't able to get a longer interview, but we're grateful for his cooperation in any way. Remember to look for him in the upcoming Percy Jackson: the Sea of Monsters, and keep watching Donkey Kong Country every chance you get.
1 "Richard Yearwood - Actor, Director, Producer." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0947073/>.
2 "Richard Yearwood Biography." Richard Yearwood. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. <http://richardyearwood.com/biography/>.
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