Elliot voices the first autistic character in Thomas & Friends

Thomas and Friends introduced a new engine into the show, a brake car called Bruno. This character was voiced by a child with autism in the US version, so Mattel were very adamant about being as authentic as possible when it came to bringing in the character in the UK version. We helped them find the perfect voiceover artist, casting Elliot Garcia for the role.

Bruno’s characteristics

Detail-oriented, pun-making, human-loving Brake Car
Can be quiet, is super smart and LOVES schedules and routine
Has a vivid imagination and loves to pretend
Bruno gives his friends a lot of love and support, and in return gets their affection, friendship and enthusiastic inclusion

How we cast Elliot?

It was really important to us from day one to find the right people to work with, to ensure we got the casting right. We worked closely with NAS (National Autistic Society) and their schools to find the right child for the role. Their approach was to send the brief out to their schools, which we received lots of applications. We then went through various rounds of auditions from submission of audio clips to having an in person audition in our studio, to ensure the chosen actor would be comfortable recording in the studio.

We narrowed it down to three candidates, Elliott became an obvious choice given his talented performance but also his unwavering enthusiasm to play the role. His family also has great involvement with the NAS so it felt a natural choice.

The client, Mattel, has said Elliott is a ‘superstar’ and we couldn’t agree more.

Our approach to working with a child with neural diversity

The key to working with Elliott was preparation, he had pictures and names of everyone he would be working with. Any changes made were discussed ahead of time with him and his Mother, Tracey. He was sent scripts in advance so that he could learn them before the session. Before he was interviewed for publicity, he had a tour of the studios where the interview was taking place with both Erin and Joe were in attendance. Communication remained really clear with Elliott and Tracey throughout the process.

Joe remained the consistent engineer throughout. When there were times he had to work with Cat, we made sure that he knew exactly who she was first. The same studio was always used, which was set up in a way that meant Tracey could sit with him. This was for comfort but she also tapped him on the shoulder, to help him with the rhythm and speech patterns in the script. All of this made for a comfortable, calm and safe working environment for him.

“He loves working with the Voiceover Gallery, they treat him so respectfully and accommodate him so gracefully. This makes all the difference to his successes. Also he is magnificently awesome and we are so proud of him.”

Tracey, Elliot’s mum

The future for Bruno and Elliot

The introduction of Bruno and Elliot has been a huge success. So much so that we hear Bruno will feature more heavily in future episodes as he has become a well deserved favourite within the show.