How to get Character Reference from Blackboard?

I’ve successfully gotten a character reference saved to the Blackboard as a Blackboard Variable, but i’m not sure how to “turn” it into a Character Object Reference when calling the Variable through here.

I’m trying to connect “Get Blackboard Value as Object” to “Speak”. It is important that it is a Character Object Reference, because I want it to Play an Animation. Essentially, I am setting it up so that an Animation Plays on an actor, but I can’t do that since it won’t let me get the character reference of the Blackboard variable.

The Blackboard Object is successfully set to the Character Object Reference that I want, too, according to printstring, but it seems like the “Get Blackboard Value as Object” node doesn’t care that it’s a Character Reference. I set the Object Type to Character in the Blackboard as well. I’m just not sure how to change it from an Object to a Character Reference.

Did you find an answer? (Im searching for the same.)

I found a CastTo method that works. But Im trying to avoid CastTo, and not sure if it’s the best.

[ #HowTo , How to Get “Character Object Reference” from [Hit Trace] “Actor Object Reference” ]