“Avatar: The Last Airbender” Turns 20: Jack De Sena On The Magic That Made Sokka Unforgettable

Jack: If I remember correctly, I think it was a very typical audition process where I just got the sides and sent in a tape. At that point, I only started doing voice-over a year or two earlier. My then voiceover agent, Melissa Berger Brennan, had a little booth in Century City, and I would just go and record auditions there. 

When you read for something like that, you have no idea — you don’t know the scope of what it’s gonna be. You’re in the flow of reading sides, sending in tapes, and auditioning for this and that. 

There were a few rounds of callbacks, and, if memory serves, I feel like they locked in Mae Whitman [voice of Katara] and me fairly early on. They were using us for a little while to read with the “Aangs.” That was a very cool part of the process, getting extra time to feel out the characters. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years!