A San Diego City College student once asked Marc Biagi in class if the professor voiced any characters in the Sony video game, Sonic Adventure 2.

“Do you voice (Vector the Crocodile and Professor Gerald Robotnikin)?” Biagi recalled being asked. “I am a very big fan.”

The professor’s response was an emphatic yes.

Biagi recounts this as a memorable time when a student had asked him about his work outside of school, which most of his students are unaware of. 

In addition to acting in games like Sonic, Biagi has voice acted in other media such as podcasts, audiobooks and commercials.

Chair, program director and professor of the IT department at City, David Kennemer has worked alongside Biagi for around eight years and says Biagi’s background in voice acting shines through in his personality.

“Mark is a voiceover actor, and he’s got a really great voice. He’s one of those people that have a great voice, like those radio voices,” Kennemer said. “(He) stands out when you think about who he is and what he does, and extends so much beyond the classroom.”

Before Biagi started teaching at City College, he worked as an information technology director and programmer for more than 30 years. He got his start at Bank of America, where he later became an assistant vice president of technology integration.

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“Rather than the academic end,” Biagi said, “I come more from the professional side, and I’m bringing that sort of career technical education.”

Biagi has been a teacher at City College since 2020, but taught for many years prior to that in a corporate environment.

“My husband happens to teach here at City, and I had met the dean for our school that deals with IT,” Biagi said. “She knew me, and she said, ‘Why don’t you come work for us?’”

His prior experience made him a great candidate for teaching.

Voice acting is among the topics that will be covered in a panel during the TwitchCon held at the San Diego Convention Center, Oct. 17-19.

City Times Media will bring you the best of the event here and on social media, @sdcitytimes.

“He has a real passion for helping students and really just making the whole experience that we do here resonate with them and improve their experience,” Kennemer said.

Marc really hangs around and spends time. He’s doing several out-of-classroom projects, and is still really involved with City College and the community here, which is refreshing and unique for a part-time teacher.”

Biagi co-teaches Fundamentals of Computer Game Programming (CISC 220) and Intermediate Game Programming (CISC 221) with Behnam Salemi, a Computer and Information Science professor. 

The courses are 10-week classes that start on Oct. 20,  covering programs Unity and C Sharp.

“Our class is partially a programming class, and it’s partially about game theory,” Biagi said. 

While getting into the technology industry, he also continued his acting career, which began at a young age and led to voice acting.

“I took acting as an elective during the summer in elementary school,” Biagi said. “I’ve been acting since I was a kid, not professionally though.”

Biagi moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting while still working at Bank of America, but it didn’t work out for him. He decided to move to San Diego years later and found a passion for voice acting.

Being in this business, he attended many workshops that allowed him to truly understand the talent he has.

“I actually am special,” Biagi said. “I am good at this type of stuff. I have a gift that I’m blessed with, that some people have to learn how to do. I just seem to have a natural talent for it.”

Throughout Biagi’s childhood, he always had an interest in voice acting.

 “I loved cartoons, and I would make voices and try to sound like things,” Biagi said. “I’ve always done accents and dialects. I’ve always done character work, and it’s always been part of what I do.”

His career has allowed him to play a variety of voice roles. Some of the video games he has worked on include the Runaway series, Torchlight, and Ready or Not.

“I’m a multi-voice guy,” Biagi said. “If you have an ear for music, in accents and dialects, there’s a different rhythm, there’s a different sound to them, and a different music to the way that people speak.”

Biagi suggests that those who want to pursue voice acting should seek other acting fields to enhance their skills. 

“Get some background in improvisation,” he said. “Improv is used a lot if you want to get into the character side of things. Musical background is helpful too.”

Drawing from his own experience, Biagi shared advice for those interested in pursuing voice acting.

“Don’t be afraid to look stupid and do stupid things to make cool things happen with your voice, because nobody can see you,” Biagi said. “When we’re doing voice acting, that’s kind of special.”