Ethan Phillips kept the audience laughing for a full hour at both speeches during Thundercon 6 in Oklahoma City on June 1 and 2. He answered most questions, excluding those about theater, with a joke.
Ethan claims everyone dies but him on the season premiere and that the next season will be about him wandering around the ship. He also declares "I'm a terrible cook." Even more, he says that since he comes from a family with 5 sisters, he has no problems taking orders from a woman like Captain Janeway.
When asked what music Neelix would like, he said probably Moraccan music because of its dissonance.
One of Ethan's favorite aspects of Voyager is that "I finally got the girl." He says he used to always play the best friend or the uncle of the guy who got the girl.
According to Ethan, it has taken anywhere from "one and a half minutes to six days" to put on his makeup and it feels like "having a mattress glued to your forehead." In reality it takes 2 hours and 45 minutes down from 3 hours. He says he knows his makeup man really well.
Shortly after getting the part of Neelix, Ethan got a call to do a part that Robert Picardo (The Dr.) had turned down because he had just gotten his part on Voyager.
Ethan didn't know what Neelix would look like until the final auditions of Voyager. Before an audition in CA, Ethan was sitting next to a Janeway finalist who almost got the part. Right before he entered the audition room he found out from her that Neelix looked like a hedgehog.
As for fun on the set, Ethan says the three Roberts are all practical jokers, and Robert Beltran does Marlon Brando impressions.
Ethan says each Voyager director has had an attribute he loved. He described Jonathan Frakes as funny and innovative. He said another could tell a story with a camera.
This quote shows the great respect Ethan has for the theater. Ethan always expressed such joy when speaking about this topic and never joked about it. Ethan supports an organization that brings in students to produce their plays at a workshop and then, hopefully, send to a regional theater. Each day Ethan supported the charity by auctioning off an autographed picture whose full proceeds went to the organization. The pictures were sold for $200 and $500 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Edgar from King Lehr was Ethan's favorite theater role to play, and he considered playing it very challenging. He enjoyed playing Macbeth as well.
Ethan says more job offers have come his way since he started Voyager, but since the 2 months hiatus is this only significant time he gets to spend with his family, he does not like to act then.
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