Baymax Big Hero 6 Scott Adsit Exposed

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

My kids are obsessed with Big Hero 6. My seven-year-old has taken to asking, completely unprompted, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?” which, as someone who kickboxes, I found painfully relevant the day I sat down to interview Scott Adsit, the voice behind everyone’s favorite inflatable healthcare companion. Hearing him slip into Baymax’s voice live was genuinely surreal. Goosebumps.

Here are some of the highlights from my interview with Scott Adsit:

How did you discover Baymax’s voice?

“I didn’t know going in whether it would be robotic,” Scott told us. “They brought me in for the audition, and the script was the first clue that this wasn’t going to be a typical robot voice. Then I saw the design — just soft and huggable — and I landed on this very benign, bedside-manner quality. I mixed that with what passes for state-of-the-art robotic interaction, which is basically an automated phone system. He speaks with natural flow, but certain elements within a sentence — the variables — sound slightly detached from the rest.”

Did you look to classic movie robots for inspiration?

“I actually looked more at family members,” he said. “People who are soft, huggable, gentle. I didn’t research other robots. I know all the other robots, and if I had researched them, it would only have been to figure out what to avoid — mostly C-3PO.”

How did Baymax evolve over the course of production?

“We found the voice pretty early in the audition process. The big shift came somewhere in the middle, when the filmmakers decided to give Baymax another dimension — the moment he loses power and becomes, for lack of a better word, drunk. They introduced the concept, showed me some scripted bits, and my first question was: how do I take this voice — which is such a straight line — and make it drunk? Do you want a drunk robot? And they said, no, just be drunk. So I played it way over the top, and then they layered in a filter.”

What happened with that filter is one of the more fascinating behind-the-scenes details he shared. John Lasseter, then head of the studio, wanted processing on the voice but also wanted Scott’s natural performance to come through. The sound team kept presenting filter options, and Lasseter kept asking them to dial it back — until eventually, there was almost nothing left.

“What they ended up doing was a combination,” Scott explained. “Early in the film, when you first meet Baymax, the filter is prominent. Then, gradually, they pull it back throughout the movie, so that by the final scene — in the void — there’s no filter at all. It’s just me.”

It’s a subtle, almost subliminal touch: Baymax finding his humanity through the slow disappearance of the machine.

Did you ever bring Baymax home?

“I’d catch myself slipping into the voice,” he laughed. “It’s not that far from my own voice, but I know when it’s on. I’d have to stop myself — because talking like that all the time would really annoy people, especially casting directors.”

How often do you get asked for fist bumps?

“A few times a week, but I’m never forced into it. And not everyone recognizes me — I probably get more 30 Rockrequests just from people seeing my face.”

Did playing such a selfless character affect you personally?

“I see the value in entertaining without feeding my own ego,” he said. “With stage acting, you get immediate feedback — you walk off knowing it went well. With this, it’s bigger than me. I’m a small part of what makes Baymax Baymax. He’s like a diamond, and every facet is a different person. When we talk about Baymax, it’s not me — it’s everyone who decided how he walks, how he blinks, all of it.”memorable moment!

One final highlight: with the help of my Facebook followers, I got to pose questions directly to Baymax himself — and he answered two of them. Hearing that gentle, measured voice respond was the kind of moment that reminds you why this character connected with so many people in the first place.

Scott Adsit is warm, thoughtful, and clearly proud of what the Big Hero 6 team created together. His portrayal of Baymax is one of those rare performances that works on every level – funny, tender, and quietly profound. Whether you’re watching for the first time or the fifteenth, that’s not something you forget.