Matt Bennett Talks Playing the Voice of ‘Pity’ in New Gloomy Bear Series

Matt Bennett has plenty of quotes that serve as mantras as he has various adventures in entertainment. Some are inspirational and others ground him, which he thinks is important as an actor, especially in an industry where you’re often only seen as good as your last project and there’s a constant grind to keep finding work.

A few wise sayings he particularly likes include “It’s life and life only,” (which is on his social media accounts), and “Today you, tomorrow me.”  He also once ran across a sticky note with the phrase “He didn’t win them all,” which struck him as particularly insightful, showing that even great people aren’t successful all the time.

He started acting professionally in movies and theater as early as age 13. By age 17, he appeared in the film “The Virginity Hit” and a role in the Nick teen sitcom “Victorious,” which aired for three years and featured Ariana Grande. He has had all sorts of eclectic roles, from “The Stanford Prison Experiment” to “Bridesmaids.”

This year, he’s taking on an entirely new role as Pity, a boy who tries to adopt a cute baby bear in “Gloomy Bear,” a clever new anime series created by Japanese graphic designer Mori Chack. Far from a “friendly pet” story, Gloomy Bear shows how Pity always sees the best in his bear, even while being repeatedly mauled by a now-grown-up and angry bear that doesn’t want to be anyone’s pet or owned at all.

Matt Bennett sees Pity as a perfect optimist and only sees the good in what he hopes is the bond with his animal companion, no matter how many Band-Aids it takes.

In addition to the “GloomyBear” project, Matt Bennett just started streaming on Twitch where he’ll share interesting observations, music and game play.

He’s excited to travel now that restrictions are lifted, and plans to go out and meet people – “to be normal again.”  Make sure you follow him on all social media platforms.

Tell me a bit about how you got started. I started acting professionally at 13, primarily doing commercials and voice overs. I was living in New York at the time (where I’m from) so I also was taking a lot of acting classes and loved immersing myself in movies and live theater.

When I turned 17 I booked two projects simultaneously, a movie called The Virginity Hit and a tv show called Victorious. Having both happen at the same time really helped jump start my career and gave me a good reason to move to LA, where I’ve been living a bohemian actor lifestyle ever since!

You will soon play the voice of Pity in the Gloomy Bear series which is pretty exciting! In what ways do you relate to Pity? I most relate to Pity in that I’m a serial optimist. He sees the bright side of every situation, even when he’s being mauled by a bear. My Twitter and Instagram bio is “It’s life and life only,” which is a Bob Dylan quote I’ve adopted as my mantra, I repeat it to myself whenever I start taking things too seriously.

Looking back at your career so far, what would you say is the one thing that has set you apart from others? I’m bad at complimenting myself but recently I’ve started accepting that I’m likable. It would always weird me out when people wanted to be my friend but now that I’m nearing 30 I’m rolling with it more and accepting that I must be cool after all. If only I could tell myself that 10 years ago!

Gloomy Bear and ONCH recently teamed up on a collection which is why we created such a fun cover with you! Tell me what you think of the collection! It’s great! I’ve been a fan of Onch and his creative vision since I met him almost 8 years ago. I have a few pieces of his and I’m very happy to add my new Gloomy pendant to the collection.

What’s your philosophy in life? Where to begin… I have a lot of quotes and mottos in my head, but I constantly come back to “It’s life and life only,” and  “Today you, tomorrow me.” As an actor you book far fewer roles than you go out for. One way I maintain my sanity is letting go after each audition and thinking “I’ll get the next one.” Do I usually get the next one? No. Does this make me insane? Yes, probably.

On a similar note I once found a post-it note with the words “He didn’t win them all” on it. I don’t know who wrote it but I love that post-it. When I think about it it helps keeps me grounded and reminds me that even the most successful people don’t succeed all of the time.

What’s next for you? I recently started streaming at Twitch, that’s been occupying most of my time and mental bandwith. I’ll be voicing Pity in the Gloomy Bear cartoon. Mostly I’m just excited to travel and get back to meeting people on the dating apps. I just want to be normal again!

The definition of Contrast is ‘to be strikingly different.’ What makes you strikingly different? It used to be my Jewfro but now I’d say its my jawline. It’s au naturale and really seems to elicit compliments 🙂 no but really it’s my natural curiosity and interest in obscure topics.