Just in time for the theatrical release of the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick, we are joined by actor and voiceover artist Charles Parnell who chats with us about working on the film that’s four years in the making, how actors like Sidney Poitier was a huge influence on him growing up, and how his younger self would react to hearing that he’d star in the sequel to one of the biggest films of the 80s.  

Parnell said that the younger cast members portraying the Top Gun pilots, including Miles Teller, Glenn Powell, Monica Babaro and Lewis Pullman, underwent an intense flight training program that star Tom Cruise designed, sharing “I tell all the young actors how happy I am for them, how I proud I am of them and how impressed I am that they went through and survived this ‘Tom Cruise training camp’ and have done what they’ve done in this film. I can’t wait to see their careers blow up. It’s a joy to see their rise just beginning.”