Why Reggie From Julie And The Phantoms Seems So Familiar
Julie and the Phantoms, with its catchy songs and likable characters, has captured Netflix viewers' hearts. The show debuted on the streaming platform on September 10th, 2020, and it follows the escapades of Julie Molina, a high school student who struggles to make music after her mother's death. Luckily, though, she doesn't go through this journey alone, as she has plenty of friends to back her up — namely, her bandmates, the Phantoms, a group of three ghostly musicians who are continually right by her side to play music — and be her shoulders to cry on — whenever she needs it.
There is a lot of musical talent on display in the Phantoms, but one band member, in particular, really steals the show: Reggie. He's the bassist of the band, and it turns out the actor who plays Reggie, Jeremy Shada, has a history of playing characters who sing all the time... just not in the way you probably expect. Reggie may not necessarily look familiar, per se, but if you thought he sounded like someone you'd heard the voice of before, you're definitely on the right track.
Jeremy Shada was the voice of Finn on Adventure Time
Jeremy Shada got his start in voice acting at a young age. When he was only seven years old, he did some voice acting for the 2004 film Team America: World Police. While he was still a kid, he appeared in various other movies and TV shows, both animated and live action — including playing a young version of Charlie Pace, in Lost, for a flashback scene — before landing on the role of a lifetime: voicing Finn the Human on the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time.
Finn was the protagonist of the series, being a human boy who traveled across the land of Ooo with his best friend, Jake the Dog. The show lasted for 10 seasons, so this was definitely Shada's biggest role, to date. However, the actor's involvement with Adventure Time wasn't just limited to the series: He also provided the voice of Finn for the various video games based on the property, which have come out over the years, including the 2018 game Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion. More recently, Shada has also returned to the franchise in the revival series Adventure Time: Distant Lands on HBO Max. The revival picks up where the Cartoon Network series left off, with Finn and Jake continuing to go on adventures in their post-apocalyptic world, as they encounter all of their usual friends like Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen.
Jeremy Shada's also part of an indie rock band
Over the years, Jeremy Shada has lent his voice to many other high-profile projects, including Zero in Wreck-It Ralph Breaks the Internet, as well as Lance on the Netflix series Voltron: Legendary Defender from 2016 to 2018. However, if you were thinking that Shada seemed like an absolute natural playing a musician in Julie and the Phantoms, it's not just because he got so much singing experience during his Adventure Time days: as it happens, he took that musical prowess to the next level, becoming part of an actual indie rock band.
When he's not acting, Jeremy Shada is the bassist and secondary vocalist for the pop punk outfit Make Out Monday. The band announced themselves to the world with the 2014 EP Kicking Cars, and the band's first album, Visions of Hollywood, came out in 2018. The album contained 11 songs, including the singles "Bullet for Your Sweetheart," and "Kissaphobic."
One thing's for sure: now that he's finally in front of the camera, Shada's career — both in acting, and music — looks like it has a bright future. For now, though, you can now binge-watch the entire first season of Julie and the Phantoms on Netflix.