You don't know what he looks like (see below, if you're curious!), but you've heard Hernan Sanchez talk—maybe even on our soundboard. Also known as "the Mortal Kombat voice guy," the vocals behind Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe shared his 10 years of fatalities and how he was almost replaced by a woman. And then, of course, we made him say "Finish Him!"—in Spanish.

So, you must be popular around Halloween.
Halloween generally, but it seems to be throughout the year, honestly. In terms of random people that I meet, it's never limited to a particular season because this MK thing has been so ingrained in people's minds since childhood. They're just happy to hear it anytime. It's weird being a sort of celebrity when people discover what I do.

Have you met a lot of famous people?
I'm quite an active supporter of the electronic music scene. A lot of those people are geeky in nature and seek inspiration from pop culture, and a lot of them have grown up with this game. I meet people on the dance floor throughout the world, they'll introduce me as the "Mortal Kombat voice guy" and you can see their eyes get as big as plates. These are people that I respect within the industry, that I'm a fan of, and they'll look back at me and say, "I'm am so glad to me you!" Then the conversation eventually comes around to, "Hey can you please do 'Finish Him!'" or something like that, and it becomes an exchange of fandom from one world to another.

Hernan Sanchez. Look, he's real!

So, how do kids grow up to be the MK voice guy?
Well… derail from whatever career path you originally planned for yourself because for me, it just ended up happening randomly. I had done some voiceover and commercial work on video and behind the camera. I had always been an artist first and foremost. I ended up working with Midway as a character modeler and designer and it was only through that association that the MK voice thing wound up happening. One of the sound designers overheard my voice in the hallway when I was a designer holed up in this hermit office working late nights and they figured I'd be a good voice to capitalize on. They asked me to come to the studio for an hour to see if it would pan out. Of course, over a decade later, I'm still the Mortal Kombat voice. If you have a good voice, make sure you speak loudly and clearly and things will come to you as a result.

Do you smoke or anything?
Actually I am pretty vice-free, except for the occasional drink. My father also has a very deep voice which terrified us as children. My sister and I would cower when he would get angry. He had a pretty house-filling voice when he wanted to use it as a weapon. I'm just following in the line of my father.

With a new series of characters involved, was Midway aiming for a different kind of voice for this game?
There was a actually consideration of a different voice entirely. We went through some trials with other voiceover artists because of the DC association and the potential rebranding of the series and I was open to it; I'd had my time at the mantle. Ultimately, everyone decided it was a better idea to stick with the tried and true version. It just didn't feel like Mortal Kombat without my voice on it, I was told. We actually had a couple of female voices doing the same narration and emphasis over the fight scenes that I was going to be doing. It just didn't quite work out. So, they yanked me back in and I did the traditional work, except now with "Superman" and "Batman" instead of just MK characters.

Do you ever wake up with an idea for a new phrase?
The phrases are all based on what Ed Boon puts forth. He is the one who essentially decides what is said in the context of the game. But, a lot comes from studio sessions; we'll say some things in Spanish just for kicks. These things never get released, but they're on our hard drives for humor's sake.

How do you say "Finish Him" in Spanish?
Acabalo!

Muchas gracias. How do you prepare to do the voice?
Actually, beyond just going through some dry runs and having a nice warm bottle of water ready, that's all I really need. I've been doing it for so long and it's only a few steps away from my normal voice. I just put a more ominous touch on it, really.

Is there another game voice you think is pretty cool?
There's a game called Portal that Valve makes. There's a woman who did an amazing voice for this computer being called GLaDOS. It's the most soothing, yet simultaneously sinister voice you've heard and it's fantastic. Picture Hal 9000 as a slightly sexier, but slightly more psychopathic tone. It's one of the games that has stuck out in my mind because of the superior voice acting.

If the Mortal Kombat voice, Hernan Sanchez, had a fatality, what would it be?
We'd be at a club, the music would be thunderously loud and two subwoofers would come out and smash you in between them. Then, they'd remove themselves and I'd do a spin move on top of your bleeding corpse.

Something to look forward to in MK vs. DC 2.