My Casting Story: Actor Ry Chase on ‘The Walking Dead: World Beyond’
Fans of animated shows may recognize the voice of Ry Chase from The Loud House series, in which they brought to life the character of Mazzy. And video game enthusiasts can anticipate the actor’s performance in the upcoming End of Dragons expansion of Guild Wars 2. As for on-camera work, Chase appears in the second season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which is currently airing on AMC and streaming on AMC+. The actor sat down with Casting Networks to share their story of how they landed a recurring role on the series.
It’s great to see you again, Ry, and what can you tell us about your character in World Beyond?
The character’s name is Tiga, and they’re nonbinary. Tiga’s around 19 years old and works at a facility that lures in zombies to kill them. But the job is just a stepping stone for Tiga. They don’t want to work there forever and have aspirations to go on to do something militant that will help protect their part of society.
That’s an exciting role! And what can you share about how you landed it?
It started with the usual email from my rep regarding a self-tape appointment, but I didn’t know much about World Beyond at the time. I recorded the self-tape audition with my friend, who’s also an actor, and her delivery as the reader really helped me give a performance that I felt good about. So let me go ahead and shout out Jessica Woehler for her work reading with me in the audition that landed me the role. And in general, the part seemed like a good fit because the character is super snarky. Sass is kind of my default mode so playing Tiga felt a lot like just being me.
It sounds like you were the person for the job. How did it feel to book a project that’s a spin-off of a series as popular as The Walking Dead?
Pretty soon after we submitted my audition, I was at home and got a call from my manager. He told me there was something we needed to discuss, and then he looped my agent into the call. “You know it’s either really good or really bad when both of us call together,” are usually his exact words when that happens. [Laughs] It’s only ever been good news, but I love his whole delivery. Anyways, they shared that I was one of the final choices for the role, and right as they were saying that it was pretty much guaranteed I’d booked it, the fire alarms went off in my apartment. So I was still on the call while trying to maneuver outside to check on things. And there was this little metal bar at the bottom of the door that was a little jagged. When I pulled open the door to peek outside, it caught my foot, creating a gash that I was then trying to stop from bleeding while listening to the rest of the details from my team. All that to say, my memory of how it felt to hear I’d booked the show is a little painful. [Laughs] But now I have a scar to remind me of the moment so I’ll never forget it.
Before we wrapped, Chase shared that booking the recurring, on-camera role had made it easier for their team to pitch them for similar projects. Those who want to follow along with their continued career journey can find Chase on Instagram and on Twitter as @VoiceOfRYeason, where they share some insights into the life of a voice and on-camera actor.
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This interview has been edited and condensed.
