Andrea: Nickelodeon had a terrific casting team. When I came onto the show, the main cast had already been chosen, and we recorded the first episode. The original actor for Aang was so good and so charming, but he sounded too young for the character.
We then hired a young actor in New York, but it just wasn’t the right fit. I’d fly to New York every couple of weeks to record episodes, but it just didn’t work out.
Then the casting team, Sarah [Noonan], Maryanne [Dacey], and Shannon [Reed], found Zachary Tyler Eisen. He was brilliant. Once a week his folks would get him to a studio, and we’d record him. Rewatching some of the episodes, I was reminded how fantastic he was. Without the right Aang, the show never would have worked.
One of my favorite things about Avatar is that the character was allowed to age with Zach. As Zach grew up, his voice got deeper, and the animation reflected it. You could see Aang starting to develop muscles and look a little older.
I’ve directed so many shows where kids age out of their roles quickly. I once found an old sign-in sheet from the Tiny Toon Adventures auditions, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Giovanni Ribisi had auditioned as kids for Buster Bunny! They were two of the best auditions, but I’d written next to their names, “Their voices will change before the first season ends.”
