In Shape Island Season 2, Scott Adsit returns as the energetic and quirky Triangle. Triangle has the biggest personality in the Apple TV+ show, which makes him an interesting character to play. He’s almost larger than life, but can’t be bigger than his friends Circle and Square. So how does this experienced voice actor approach the role?

TVBrittanyF.com spoke to Scott about how he sees Triangle and what continues to attract him to Shape Island. He also discussed how his experience creating animated series, including the cult classic Moral Orel, informs his work as a voice actor. Get to know Scott and what he brings to Shape Island in our interview!

Brittany Frederick: With all the animated series that you’ve done across your career, what makes Shape Island stand out to you?

Scott Adsit: I just think it’s funny, and I think it’s beautifully animated. I love looking at it, and I think the scripts are—while being primarily lessons for life and suggestions of how to be happier—it’s also just really funny.

Triangle is such a fun character to play because of how huge his personality is. But performance-wise, where’s the balance between bringing all that energy, and making sure he doesn’t become too over the top?

The script is helpful with that, because they know that Triangle is not just one emotion. And so he would be chaotic and manic and selfish, but then the more he interacts with his friends, the more he becomes gentler or sweeter or more like them. The more time you spend with friends, the more you become like them. You pick up little traits. And certainly, he has picked up little traits from Circle and Square that have made them happier. So I think there’s a little lesson in the idea that, listen to your friends and you might become happier.

Animation is very much in your wheelhouse, not just as a voice actor, but also as a writer and creator. How much does that experience crafting a story inform your work on Shape Island?

I just know that I have a lot of leeway and freedom in the booth when I’m recording—that I don’t have to hold back. It takes you a little while as an actor to realize that you’ve got this amazing instrument and opportunity to use it, and if you hold back at all, then you’re cheating yourself and possibly the project.

And so I found that having done things like Moral Orel and Frankenhole and Teenage Euthanasia, these things where it’s all about kind of being edgy and weird and sometimes very emotional, that I have the freedom to do whatever I need to do and go as big as I need to go. And then if the director wants, she can pull me back. I’d rather give them too much and have them pull me back than not have brought enough. That’s what my experience has taught me.

What have you found the most rewarding about coming back for Shape Island Season 2, and getting to dig that next level deeper into the character of Triangle?

Just beginning to display that part of my own personality that is kind of manic and loud and chaotic and and remembering that side of me. And then getting paid for it, that’s very nice, too. [Laughs.]

Do you catch yourself looking at actual triangles any differently now that you’ve voiced one for two seasons?

If I look at the Pyramid of Giza, I will sometimes see eyes on the side.

Is there anything that you want viewers to know about Shape Island or about voice acting in general that they might not pick up just from watching the show?

Just the idea that what you don’t see is a full-blown performance in the in the booth, where it gets so big and crazy could ruin the mic, and you can knock things over. So that’s what’s fun. And if you look at behind the scenes things, you’ll often see the actors trying to stay on mic while doing all these amazing things with their bodies, to get the right music to come out of that line.

Shape Island Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.