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How our favorite Batman Kevin Conroy mentored Batman Beyond star Will Friedle early in his voice acting career
Will Friedle and Kevin Conroy shared a mentor/mentee relationship similar to their characters Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis
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When Will Friedle was cast as Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, the actor felt like he was out of his depth. Friedle had been a working television actor for years, including a regular stint on the sitcom Boy Meets World, but Batman Beyond was his first foray into voice acting.
Luckily, he had a great mentor to help him along the way. According to Friedle, his relationship with his costar Kevin Conroy resembled the onscreen relationship their characters Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis had onscreen.
“Kevin and I did a lot of conventions together and we kind of traveled a lot together and I’m blessed to say that I got to spend the time with him that I did. The relationship between Terry and Bruce very much kind of mimicked the relationship that Kevin and I had,” Friedle says during a panel at Animate! Colombus 2025.
According to Friedle, Conroy would give him tips for how to stand in the recording booth and the best ways to deliver his lines.
“Little things where I’m hunching over like this or I’m moving my pages too loud, and he just taught me how to, ‘Hey, roll your shoulders back. Sit back, open your diaphragm up, here’s how we’re going to move the pages.’ He really helped with everything.”
Friedle’s voice acting career took off after Batman Beyond, with notable roles on shows like Kim Possible, Thundercats, and Transformers. Conroy tragically passed away in 2022, but Friedle is keeping his mentor’s legacy alive. “I would absolutely not be the voiceover actor I am today without Kevin in my life. He was an amazing man. He really was.”
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