November 18th, 2019 
Julissa Padilla 
When you think of the name Richie Rich, what comes to mind? The comics, live action film? How about the television show Harvey Street Girls? This kids animated show produced by DreamWorks for Netflix is about a trio of girls who explore wacky adventures in their neighborhood with their friends to discover what it really means to be a kid.
Season 3 brings Richie Rich as a kid who doesn’t quite know what it means to be a kid despite being a rich kid genius. Jack Quaid, who not only is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan but is a highly successful actor in his own right appearing in The Hunger Games and The Boys. Now it’s Quaid’s turn to become a voice actor and become immersed into the animation world. I recently had an opportunity to chat with Quaid and to get his opinions about voicing such an iconic character.
Julissa Padilla: Thank you again for taking the time to doing this interview for Animation Scoop. So to jump in, what inspired you first of all to become an actor?
Jack Quaid: Thank you so much for having me!…I mean my parents did it and I got to see them be successful in what they did… the acting bug never really hit me until I was in middle school and I did a production of midsummer night’s dream first lap on stage. I made friends that I still have to this day and that’s when it really hit me that I want to do this. You know, my parents proved that it was possible, but that was what made me go. And I can probably trace it back to there.
Jack Quaid
Jack: … when you’re acting on camera, so much of our communication is nonverbal. So, you can communicate things with your eyes. You just can’t when you’re behind the booth. You have to communicate all of that, but through your voice. And it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. I’ve always been such a cartoon nerd, like I grew up with, Rugrats and Sponge Bob and transition to The Simpsons and Futurama, Rick and Morty, Big Mouth. I’ve always been such a fan of cartoons and always wanted to be one. And I learned so much doing this, how hard it is. Cause I think some people just think you just go into a room and do a voice, but it’s so much more than that. A lot of credit to Brendan, show runner of Harvey Girls Forever. And Stephanie Lemelen, Kelly McCreary, Lauren Lapkus are the Harvey girls who..really helped me learn the ins and outs of voice acting.
Julissa: How did you get into this or how does somebody approach you to be a voice actor for the show?
Jack: I’ve wanted to do a cartoon for a long time, so I would just audition for various projects. And then when this came along, the audition worked out. You know, it’s a strangely smaller club, a more exclusive club to get into than just being an onscreen actors…But this was my first cartoon and I loved that it was Richie.
Julissa: How do you best prepare yourself for the role of a child who feels like an adult who doesn’t want to be part of the kid’s shenanigans?
Jack: … I think that all of it is in the words… I think the script had done a lot of that work for you. I find a lot of people are young at heart and kids at heart, and you’d be surprised how easy that is to access when you’re asked to…that was a really great part of doing this is you get in touch with your inner child and a lot of ways and I think it’s a great show for kids. It’s super, super fun and funny, but also surprisingly progressive, being able to talk about a lot of issues without talking about them overtly. I just thought it was a really cool show to be a part of, especially for my first cartoon.
Julissa: So you mentioned that you watched Rugrats and Futurama and other shows like that. Do you refer to those to give you a bit of inspiration?
Jack: Oh, for sure. I’m sure all of those are in my performances, like Richie… I’ve taken so many cues from those shows. I fell in love with back then or within me somehow. I’ve gotten to work with a few voiceover industry veterans… Phil Lamar and …Grey Griffin, who have all voiced, every character you’ve ever heard. And then you just hear their voice, then you’re just like, wow, you were my childhood and I was very starstruck when meeting those guys.
Julissa: Is there anything in the Richie Rich character that you see in yourself?
Jack: Yeah, I think so. I think I’m a guy, especially when I was younger, I tended to be almost overly optimistic to the point of unrealistic. I think Richie is a super optimist, always look on the bright side. It’s something that I definitely looking forward to people seeing in him as he gets to discover as a whole spectrum of emotions and learning how to be a kid. He starts super positive about everything, which is great. But then he learns that it’s okay to be sad. It’s OK to be angry. It’s good to have the full spectrum of emotions. That’s something that was really cool to play as an actor as well.
Julissa: Do you see yourself becoming a regular voice actor for the show and other cartoons? Would you like to continue pursuing voice acting?
Jack: Oh my God, yes. Are you kidding me? I never want to stop. It’s the best. Like I said, it has its own challenges…but it’s so rewarding and so fun. Everyone’s so nice and you can … just look however you want and just have a ball. As long as they’ll let me, I’ll keep doing it.
Julissa: If there was any kind of animated show in the past which one would you wish to have voiced if you were alive or had the opportunity?
Jack: If I could be a voice on, I would say Rick and Morty… a show in the past I would say BoJack Horseman definitely cause that’s ending right now. I love BoJack HorseMan and it’s so, it’s so funny, but so dark and such a rich drama. I would do that in a heartbeat.
Julissa: Did you ever get to read the Richie Rich comics, watch the cartoons or watch the Macaulay Culkin movie?
Jack: Actually I avoided that only because I wanted to have my own interpretation of it. And sometimes for me if I watch other takes on the character, part of me subconsciously tries to imitate what I’ve seen and I didn’t want to do any of that. I wanted to have for Richie, I wanted to have a very clean slate in a unique take on them. Considering the character has been around for decades.
Julissa: Do you feel like this show will be an inspiration for future kids to come?
Jack: I think so. If I wasn’t a part of it, I think it would be a show that I would watch or recommend. I have little siblings and I would absolutely recommend it to them…when I first got the audition, I was thinking, okay Richie Rich very much be in this day and age. You have to be careful with that because in a lot of ways he gives me this symbol of privilege… Well, but what we’ve done in the show that I really enjoy is that we’ve made him a self made billionaire and he’s just a genuine curious kid. You just want to learn how to be a kid the best that he can. And he missed out on it because he’s a genius. But he’s very sweet and very nice. And I think what they’ve done with the writing of the character is just amazing and such a great way to update them for a modern audience.
Harvey Girls Forever Season 3 is now on Netflix.
A recent graduate of Woodbury University, and an Academy Gold Intern, Julissa has now entered the motion picture industry, placing an emphasis on her passions for film making and animation.
She is currently working on a screenplay, and doing interviews and writing articles for both Entertainment Scoop and Animation Scoop.
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- INTERVIEW: Jack Quaid on Bringing Richie Rich to “Harvey Street Girls” - November 18, 2019
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