Lenore Zann, X-Men Rogue voice artist interviewed

Lenore Zann visited Auckland last Labour weekend for Armageddon Expo. An award-winning actress/singer, Lenore has performed around the globe with hundreds of credits in TV, Film, Animation, Radio, and Theatre. She is best known as the iconic "Rogue" of the animated X-Men franchise. Somewhat of a superhero herself, she was also a politician in the Canadian House of Commons and remains a passionate defender of social and environmental justice.

So Lenore, how great to have you here. Is it your first time in New Zealand?

Thank you. What a treat to be here. It's actually my second time. I came over when I was eight with my parents when we emigrated from Australia to Canada. We came into New Zealand on the way and picked up a load of New Zealand teachers, because my mom and dad were both teachers. On this ship from Australia and New Zealand to Canada, there were 2000 Aussie and Kiwi teachers all emigrating to Canada.

So, I got to get around the island with mom and dad and see it and it was so beautiful. I drew pictures, which we still have to this day.

Tell us about coming to a convention in a place like this. There's an incredible sense of community at these conventions, people who come together with a shared passion.  Are they coming to see you or your character?

Oh, that's an interesting question. Obviously people fall in love with the character, and they also have fallen in love with the show, X-Men: The Animated Series, the original one. Many people come to me and say, "You made my childhood." 

We talk about the fact that everybody's different and that it's okay to be different, and that in fact, if we all come together and appreciate each other's differences and appreciate one another, we're stronger together. And that's a really important message. So many people tell me that they're really grateful that they grew up with those principles and those values, and now they're introducing their children to the show. 

So, we have sometimes two and three generations of families all coming to meet me, and they say whenever they read the comics, they hear my voice. And I say, "Well, I've been living rent-free in your head for 30 years now."

That’s interesting. You've got more than a hundred acting performances to your name now, but because they're voice parts, you almost inhabit somebody's mind more than somebody that they see?

Sometimes. I played Star Catcher in My Little Pony, and a lot of people say they grew up with that as well. A very soothing voice, who believes in magic, and teaches them that magic is possible. And kids love that. Also, like Rescue Heroes, I played Wendy Waters, a female firefighter, and Dragon Tails, I played a little boy dragon in a wheelchair, and that was one of the first times they'd ever had a character with a disability in a cartoon. So, I love doing those kinds of roles that give voice and appearance to people who maybe are underrepresented. 

Being Rogue must've been a wonderful role. How did you end up voice acting?

I started off in live theater doing musicals, playing Marilyn Monroe in a rock opera on the life of Marilyn Monroe. I was only 19 when I was chosen to play that part. And then that led to all the movies and television. So I started doing on-camera work, movies, TV, also radio dramas in Canada, we had a really wonderful radio drama going all across the country for the CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and I won best actress for my work in a play called Salt-Water Moon by playwright David French. And that was the very first time I'd ever won something. I was 26 at that time. 

And then I went on to doing theater in New York and Chicago and doing film and TV in the States. Also, some stuff in Australia. The John Singleton Show was a variety show, and I went on that, met Tiny Tim, we sang, I Wanna Be Loved by You, boop boop be doop, with him playing the ukulele and me dressed as Marilyn Monroe sitting on his knee.

It was so much fun. So I did all that. And then the voiceover stuff came later. And now I do on-camera work again. I've got a new TV series called Revival, I think it's called. It's based on a comic book series... Revival, yeah. It's based on a comic book series that's a horror comic book series. And I've got a recurring role on that, so I'm shooting that as well right now.

But Rogue is definitely one of my favorite roles. Yes.

So if you could take on a dream role next, what would it be and why?

I'd love to play a detective. A detective with an edge, maybe somebody who rides a motorcycle, and she does things not quite by the book, follows her gut instinct. I mean, that would be a lot of fun. I would love to do something like that.

But I also know that I'm creating a number of things. My book that I just wrote, A Rogue's Tale, which is my memoir, I spent two and a half years writing. I'd like to get it made as a film. That's what I'd like to do next.

So that brings us round full circle to another reason that you are here. You have family here? But there’s an interesting story about your name - Zann?

Many generations ago, my family moved from Croatia to Australia. And in Croatia, the family name was Zaninovich - which means son of Zan. My dad was born Paul Zann. His father Marino Zaninovich was born in Croatia and then emigrated to Australia. And I found I have some relatives in New Zealand. I'm very excited. 

We've got some Zanes, they're here with the E on the end. We, in Australia, they changed their name to Zann and added them extra N to that name. In the States, they dropped the inovich and they just used the first three letters, they call themselves Zan. And here, they're Zanes. 

So I met one of them already, Kelly Zane. She came to see me first day at the Comic-Con. So we're going to get together again for coffee. And then there are other family members who married into the Zaninovich family in Australia who are McMahon's... Our great, great, great-grandfather was a Michael McMahon from Limerick in Ireland, who came over to Australia as a young man and became the first mayor of North Sydney. So I'm going to meet all that line of the family, and I'm very excited about that.

And you’re going to get some time to see the country?

Yeah, I want to look around and I want to meet my family members and connect that larger extended family. I think it's very important. And I think more and more people today are more curious about where they came from and those genetic roots, because a lot of the immigrants that moved over to the new world, as we call it, some of them were ashamed of their heritage. They wanted to try and assimilate. They really wanted to fit in with the English world. And so they didn't really talk about their past. And our family was one of them. 

We didn't really know who we were or what we did in the old country. And now I'm finding out, and Ancestry.com has been helping a lot. Also finding out that I come from a long line of convicts. I have highway robbers on both sides of the family!