From favorite food to Ash Ketchum moments | Sarah Natochenny Q&A

Q: This is the end of an era. After 17 years, how does it feel?

A: It feels amazing. 

I feel so lucky and blessed to be part of such an incredible legacy, you know, and to have had a job and steady acting job my entire adult life. 

So I was a fan of Pokémon when it first started. I was like 11 years old and then I turned 18 and I happened to book the main character on the show. So Pokémon has been with me my entire life in some capacity. So it's going to be really -- I can't transition fully out of this. I'm always going to have Pokémon in my life, but to not have it be a part of my week-to-week existence is going to be really strange. 

Q: How did you first land the role and how did that feel?

A: I got representation and they got me the audition randomly. I wasn't trying to be a voice actor. I just wanted to be, I wanted to do on camera mostly, and I just happened to book it. 

It was like it was hard work. Preparation meets luck and that a career can make. 

Q: How did you learn to dub?

A: During my audition, actually.

Q: How does it feel to kind of have that legacy and know that some fans who were young and watched you these past 17 years are now showing it to their own kids? You're multi-generational.

A: Yeah, that's my favorite part, actually. So when I go to these Comic Cons, I meet parents with their little kids and they, like, look at me kind of sheepishly, though, like, 'Yeah, I'm the fan. I'm the fan. But now my kids the fan, too.' 

Q: Who was your favorite Pokémon to play? Who was your least favorite?

A: Now my favorite Pokémon to play is Buneary.

Buneary is actually really versatile. I feel like it's voice kind of -- I let it go kind of all over the place, but definitely with a very specific personality. So that's kind of how I am too, in my real life. 

(As far as least favorite) I would say Wingull because I do it on an inhale. That was the biggest mistake I ever made as a voice actor, was doing a character on an animal that I would have to sustain over multiple episodes. But Wingull doesn't show up that much, so I'm not that regretful.

Q: What's your favorite episode/movie?

A: Oh my goodness. Of all my children I love, "I choose you!" I think it was my favorite movie. I loved making "Secrets of the Jungle" the animation was so cool.

And "Mew Two Strikes Back," that was really fun to do because it's like a remake of the first movie. I came at that as a fan first and the performance just followed. So that was really special. 

The episode -- there were so many scenes, so it's a really hard question to answer. But I love any time I get to play Ash as not himself, so is like an evil twin as his British twin, as a rapper. Ash wrapped this season, he did. And I got to do that. Those are my favorite moments of my time as Ash. 

Q: Have you played any of the video games?

A: I was really obsessed with Pokémon Go. Like, really obsessed. I stopped at level 35. So for anyone who's disappointed by that, I'm very sorry. 

Q: If you had to pick your favorite starter Pokémon, which would it be? 

I'm going to make Pikachu count, Pikachu counts for me, Pikchu is my favorite Pokémon. Otherwise, I love Charmander because Charmander sets things on fire.

Q: Throughout your experience, did you feel like you grew a lot as an actress? 

A: Oh, it was unexpected, actually. 

Playing a kid who doesn't age for 17 years makes you really look into the nooks and crannies of his character quite a bit. So every arc brought us a bit of a new side of Ash. So I never really felt like I was playing the same character the whole time. 

Q: Did you know Ash was going to become a world champion trainer?

A: No, I had no idea. I didn't think it was going to end! 

I mean, I think deep down I knew something was up because this whole season is him traveling and meeting up with his friends. And so, like, I knew something was up.

My friends were like, 'What? Did you think this was going to go on forever?' 

I'm like, Yeah! 

So I was shocked. I was definitely shocked. And then, of course, in hindsight, I was like, this was happening, but it was still shocking. I'm very happy for him and I'm very happy for this multi-generation situation that we have now. 

We have 25 years of a show with a protagonist who is so tenacious, who's not very good in the beginning, and he gets really good by the end and he finally wins. It's 25 years of shows and movies that we have. So what a gift to the world Pokémon has given us. Can we all just revel in that for a second? So it's bigger than me? My opinion doesn't matter on this. Like this is so much bigger than me. It's here for all of us. And for that I'm grateful.

Q: In what capacity are you part of Pokémon now?

A: I don't know yet. That's a really good question. I will always have this. I will always have been the voice of Ash Ketchum. I don't know for certain that Ash won't be back. I don't know for sure whether he is. I don't know anything. I don't know anything. But if he does come back, obviously I'm very happy to do that. And if that's not in the cards, that's okay, too. If I'm in the show going forward, I have no idea. I have no idea. But I do hope to be as involved as possible and, of course, be there for the fans and continue to fulfill my position as whatever inspiring source of inspiration I can be for young people. That's that's a really fun position to be in, so I'm going to keep doing that.  

Pokémon has given me the opportunity to change other people's lives and that's the best thing about it.

Q: What have been some of your other favorite projects that people may not know about?

A: So I love "If I Go Missing the Witches Did It" as a podcast that I did with Gabourey Sidibe, and I got to play this woman who is who just really feels like she needs to help. She's a white woman and feels like she really needs to help this Black girl who's gone missing and she's a little bit insufferable and kind of wonderful in her own way. And it was an absolute joy playing her. 

I also did this podcast called "The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon," starring Kevin Bacon. And I got to play 10 different characters in that. And any time I get to play a lot of different characters in something, I'm really happy because it's so much fun to trick people and be like, 'Oh, I'm that guy, and that guy, that guy, and that guy.' I was also a bunch of the mini puffs in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" which is probably the most random thing I've ever done.

Now I'm in Tokyo, Revengers, which I'm told is a fan favorite. And I get to play Yuzuha who actually sounds a lot like me, and that's quite different from any of the other few anime shows that I have done. I'm always playing like really, really high pitch somebody and this time I'm just like kind of playing myself and that's kind of cool.

Q: What kind of projects are you hoping to do now that you may have a little bit more free time?

A: So I'm working on my first feature film right now, and it's an idea that I've been percolating on for a while. But now, like you said, I have some time, so I'm going to really sit down and do it. It's about a voice actor who is way more famous than me. Higher stakes situation. The voice actor who loses her job after 20 years and loses her mind just like straight downward spiral. She's a mom, she's a great mom, but everything else she does is just is just a dumpster fire. So I really want to make that will be I feel like the adults who are fans of mine at this point, by the time this movie gets made, I feel like all the kids, they will also be so excited to do that.  

Q: You were not so much in the public eye not too long ago. What encouraged you to hop back in and speak to media like me?

A: You know, it's fun. I did a lot of work on myself over the last, well, over the pandemic. I actually felt a lot better. 

So I have had I have struggled with depression for like for all of my 20s. And it was a pretty dark time. And I just needed stability and I needed not to have any kind of social media influence. Early in my life, I had a very bad experience on social media, and so I didn't want any of that. 

I thought my whole career I was like, maybe I shouldn't be aiming for anything that could even make me even a little bit famous. I became a film editor and went behind the scenes completely. And now that I realize what an effect I can have on people, I feel this responsibility to speak out and be more vocal and be more present for them. So going out, doing conventions, actually looking at fan mail, responding to it, being present as the voice of Ash Ketchum, taking on the responsibility more. Yes, that comes with a certain level of fame, but I've done the work to be OK with that, to be comfortable with that and to accept it as a side effect of the things that I really want to do with my life.

Q: What are your favorite parts of Comic-Con or conventions and meet-ups?

A: I love the fact that I get to sit at a table and then one by one, people come up to me and tell me the story of their relationship with the show that I'm on. It's very simple and it's really, it's really beautiful. It's so it's unlike anything I've ever experienced before, meeting people who just, like, love what you do. It's like it's hard to put into words just how heartwarming and touching that is. It's really an incredible feeling. So that's yeah, that's my favorite also, because the excitement and the camaraderie in the community, that is all like the fact that Comic-Con exists and the fact that these shows are happening in every city, even the smallest cities in America. It's really great because I didn't have that as a kid, and I wish I had because I would have gone and I would have made friends that were like my people, you know, not just the people that I'm thrown into a school with. So it's amazing that this generation gets to have this. I love that. 

Q: Favorite pastime?

A: Oh, Christ, That's really good. My life has changed so much in the last year. I don't have a pastime right now, but playing the piano was probably my favorite way that I used to spend time before I started traveling. 

Q: What's your favorite color?

A: Green. Shades of green. Many shades of green, I like green. 

Orange is also good. I don't know, burnt umber -- that's a good one. I like burnt umber a lot. I like a nice safe, a nice burnt umber, earthy. I'm an Earth sign.

Q: And do you have a favorite hobby?

A: Keeping up with what's the latest in my field, I think, is probably it. You know, I read a lot and I like to be abreast of the goings on of my peers and my business. That's boring, isn't it? I'm an adult; that is a hobby. I really did adult on that one.

What my hobby isn't is paintball. I'm sorry. I've never done it. Anybody who does it just bruises everywhere. I'm not interested.

Q: Favorite food?

A: Pizza, I am from New York. It's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Q: Do you have a favorite dessert?

A: It used to be chocolate. Now it's more of like a fruity thing. Probably. Maybe like a key lime pie.

Q: What's your favorite fun fact about yourself?

A: Fun fact about myself? Oh, that I won a bronze medal at the Junior Olympics and rhythmic gymnastics when I was 13 years old. Yeah, nobody believes that but (I'm) a bronze medalist over here.

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