We met the person behind the official voice of Mickey Mouse. Bret Iwan, who tried his luck by responding to a simple email, made a childhood dream come true by dubbing the famous big-eared mouse. But he always sought to protect his true identity from his family. Confidences.
Bret Iwan has been behind the American voice of Mickey Mouse since 2009 and is the 4th official voice, succeeding Wayne Allwine. Visiting London on the occasion of Disney 100th Anniversary, Bret Iwan revealed his journey to us, and the surprising way that allowed him to become the understudy of the most famous mouse. Because nothing really predestined him to become the voice of Mickey since he studied art, quickly becoming a professional artist.
“One day, a friend of mine who currently works at Pixar Animation Studios, sent me an email that described the current audition process. They were looking for someone to dub the voice of Mickey Mouse. His name is Wayne Allwine. He’s been doing the voice for 32 years, but he was starting to have a little trouble doing it, so they decided to look for someone to help him.” he remembers. This is how Bret Iwan tried the experience that would change his life. “The email said: “Do you want to be the voice of Mickey Mouse? I figured I had no experience in this field, but I loved Mickey Mouse and had always wanted to work with Disney, so why not give it a shot? So I tried. Eventually I was asked to come to California, auditioned in person and they started using me in some projects“, says Bret Iwan who currently lives in Los Angeles.
If Mickey’s voice is recognizable throughout the world, Bret Iwan has never really capitalized on this notoriety, and especially not among the children of the family. On the contrary, he has always sought to preserve his true identity. “Believe it or not, I’ve gone out of my way to protect Mickey’s magic when it comes to my family members“, he tells us. Uncle of 7 nieces and nephews who are all under 8 years old, Bret Iwan could have imitated Mickey’s voice to please them each time he visits, but that’s not really the choice he made. “I knew that one day they would find out what their uncle was doing. In the meantime, I did everything I could to protect Mickey’s voice. Of course, I called them on their birthdays, I sent them messages signed Mickey, but I try not to do it in front of them. The eldest, who just turned 8, came across an interview with me on YouTube. She came to me one day and said: “I know what you do, you are the voice of Mickey”. The secret is now out for the grown-up, who will be careful not to reveal Uncle Mickey’s identity to the other children until they discover it for themselves, a bit like Santa Claus.