Yuri Lowenthal Talks About Ben 10: Alien Force

Hear what the star of Ben 10: Alien Force has to say about Omnitrix aliens, his favorite lines, and following up the original Ben 10 animated series.

Every day at work, Yuri Lowenthal gets to activate his alien wristwatch and fight evil as the mischievous Spidermonkey, high-flying Jetray, or gigantic Humongousaur.

Well, sort of. As a voice actor, Yuri gets to play Ben Tennyson, the fifteen-year-old hero of Ben 10: Alien Force who can transform into different aliens by using his extraterrestrial Omnitrix device. With the help of his cousin Gwen and teammate Kevin, Ben battles the Highbreed, a race of fanatic aliens who want to destroy the Earth.

Yuri recently appeared at the 2009 Phoenix Comicon where he participated in several panels including a January 23 Ben 10 panel in which he answered questions about the show from his fans. The following is an edited version of his responses.

On following voice actress Tara Strong who provided a younger Ben’s voice in the original animated series Ben 10.

I’ve done other shows where I play both a younger version and an older version of a character. But in this case, I’m playing an older version of another actor. Who’s a woman. And I knew Tara's work and had worked with her on other shows like Legion of Superheroes before. So when I went in to audition, I didn’t try to sound like her but made sure that what was at the core of her voice – Ben’s spirit, his essence – came out of my voice.

And hopefully because I was also concentrating on what made Ben “Ben” – that came through and helped me get the role.

His favorite things to say on Ben 10: Alien Force

You can’t beat, “It’s hero time!” That’s one of the coolest hero call-outs I’ve ever got to say!

But my favorite things to say as Ben aren’t the fighting lines or the dramatic stuff, but the banter between me and Kevin and Gwen when we’re just dealing with relationship stuff – when I’ll be making fun of Kevin because he’s in love with Gwen and making fun of Gwen because she’s in love with Kevin.

One of the hardest things for me though is not getting to say all the creature transformations! Because I always get geared up and I’m all like, “Okay, it’s time for –” And then [voice actor] Dee [Bradley Baker] steps in and says, “HUMONGOUSAUR!!” And it’s like – I wanted to say that!

His favorite Ben 10 alien

That’s tough. But I think I’ll have to go with Spidermonkey. Because he’s a spider and he’s a monkey! That’s kind of cool!

On whether or not Ben will turn into Alien X again

Well I can’t give away specific points. Alien X is the most powerful of Ben’s incarnations. But it’s also very difficult for him to then change back or to get the halves of Alien X to agree on anything. So I think what they would have to do is come up with another story where that kind of conflict would be interesting again without going over the same story we saw last time. I hope they do – I think Alien X is really cool.

On which one of the animated characters he plays would win in a fight – Sasuke (from the Japanese anime Naruto) or Ben (from Alien Force)

Oh man. "Who would win in a fight” questions are always tough. I think for a while they would be pretty evenly matched. But I also think that Ben might be a little too nice. I think Sasuke has a little more ruthlessness. And even if Sasuke did lose, he would never give up. He would only be defeated if Ben would turn into something so huge that he would just crush him!

In addition to his voice acting work, Yuri Lowenthal is also an accomplished on-camera actor, writer, producer, and novelist. Learn more about his career by visiting his website!

And read more about Yuri at Inside the Voice Actor's Studio.