Jennifer Hale (Cinderella, Star Wars, X-Men, Mass Effect, Overwatch)

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<v Speaker 2>How you doing out there?
<v Speaker 1>It's me Tiger, I am Duc Wayne Duck. It's me
<v Speaker 1>Bunker's Deep Bobcat.
<v Speaker 3>All right, y'all, did.
<v Speaker 1>It rate your favorite firefly you desire?
<v Speaker 2>Hold old knock guy.
<v Speaker 1>My name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In.
<v Speaker 1>Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Tuned In
<v Speaker 1>with Jim Cummings. Today we have a very very special guest.
<v Speaker 1>It's a gal that I go way back with. She's
<v Speaker 1>been one of my favorite partners in crime over the years.
<v Speaker 1>She is the one and the only Mss Jennifer Hale.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you, Jim, Thank you everybody. It is such a
<v Speaker 3>joy to be here.
<v Speaker 1>And Jennifer say hello to producer Chris.
<v Speaker 2>Have we done that?
<v Speaker 1>And Brendon our friend from de Land Day unda brendand
<v Speaker 1>that was very bad Australian accent. And meanwhile, back to
<v Speaker 1>the ranch here we are welcome, welcome.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you.
<v Speaker 1>I dare say your adoring fans will be looking forward
<v Speaker 1>to this, and I'm sure we shan't disappoint. And you know,
<v Speaker 1>I was as usual. I always, you know, like to
<v Speaker 1>refresh myself, even if I know somebody, know them well.
<v Speaker 2>Work with them.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, forever I know, I know, And.
<v Speaker 1>Yet I find myself surprised to hear that you were
<v Speaker 1>a Disney princess.
<v Speaker 3>I still am, I know and still are. We live
<v Speaker 3>in together. We live in Disney together, although our universe
<v Speaker 3>is s don't cross. I for a long time, I
<v Speaker 3>was both Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, until the chips got
<v Speaker 3>so good you could tell the same person was You're like,
<v Speaker 3>wait a minute, is that the same voice print? Because
<v Speaker 3>they're in personality, those princesses aren't necessarily they're quite different,
<v Speaker 3>but you'd have to know how so. But now I
<v Speaker 3>remained Cinderella since nineteen ninety five.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, that's pretty dark.
<v Speaker 3>Cool, Yeah, it's pretty great.
<v Speaker 4>Cinderella is the one riot when you think of Disney princesses. Cinderella.
<v Speaker 3>That's so kind of you to say I would agree
<v Speaker 3>with you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I'm trying to think now she wasn't let's see
<v Speaker 1>snow White.
<v Speaker 2>I think was the very very first. But was she
<v Speaker 2>a princess? I mean, I guess she.
<v Speaker 3>Was in the hand I think, you know, in Disney's
<v Speaker 3>eye back then, everyone every girl like that was a princess, right,
<v Speaker 3>see what they believed was aspired to except Maleficent, right,
<v Speaker 3>I'm sure she used to be. She You know that
<v Speaker 3>Grace got to her.
<v Speaker 2>That's true, that's true.
<v Speaker 1>Huh.
<v Speaker 3>She a fallen princess. She does not like it.
<v Speaker 1>And I did not know that you were Dory in
<v Speaker 1>various projects. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.
<v Speaker 3>I'm what I call the stunt Dory, which is I
<v Speaker 3>do everything that's not the films. Ellen is brilliant in
<v Speaker 3>that role, and it is the most intimidating job I
<v Speaker 3>have is whenever I'm asked to come in and do Dory,
<v Speaker 3>because I mean, number one heard dialect alone is really
<v Speaker 3>this crazy combination of different geographic places, and it's the
<v Speaker 3>only role I do. Sitting down and Ben Hoppy voice
<v Speaker 3>director character voices. He and I figured that out after
<v Speaker 3>a few years of doing it, we realized that, like
<v Speaker 3>when I would do that voice, I have to to
<v Speaker 3>really get it right. I have to blow all the
<v Speaker 3>air out of my body and then I go into it,
<v Speaker 3>you know, and then I start dorying, you know, and
<v Speaker 3>a boat, you know, that whole thing.
<v Speaker 5>And so yeah's it's so subtle, but hig you know, yeah, it's.
<v Speaker 3>Very subtle, but it's there. You know. Just keep swimming,
<v Speaker 3>don't keep swimming. Oh, I love that role so much.
<v Speaker 3>But yes, Ellen does the films and then I come
<v Speaker 3>in for the theme park stuff for games or commercials
<v Speaker 3>or whatever a junk stuff there is. Because she's quite busy,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm honored to be stunt dory.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. How cool is that? And you don't have to swim?
<v Speaker 3>I don't even though I do, know how I don't
<v Speaker 3>not here?
<v Speaker 1>Well, yeah we were. We were just playing around with
<v Speaker 1>Chody Benson the other day. And she's a pretty I
<v Speaker 1>gotta believe she's a pretty good swimmer.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, right, she's got to be.
<v Speaker 1>Just keep swimming.
<v Speaker 3>She should just say she isn't it either way? Yes,
<v Speaker 3>either way, because it's a whole new world.
<v Speaker 1>Right. But seriously, wait a minute, somebody else did that?
<v Speaker 1>That's from Aladdin?
<v Speaker 3>Is it the world?
<v Speaker 2>That's right?
<v Speaker 3>Thank you, thank you.
<v Speaker 1>Everybody does that?
<v Speaker 3>You know, everybody does that makes me just like everyone else.
<v Speaker 2>But it's it must be I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I guess it's got that that foreign sounding who knows
<v Speaker 1>what and I can't figure it out. But I'm glad
<v Speaker 1>you're here and you let me played dry but one
<v Speaker 1>of my because I was going over see, I'm taking notes,
<v Speaker 1>I'm doing doing my job.
<v Speaker 3>You've always been a professor.
<v Speaker 1>That's exactly right. But before we get into this incredible
<v Speaker 1>question here when it says that you played Electra, now
<v Speaker 1>is that the bad ass female daredevil, That.
<v Speaker 3>Is actually Electra o v Roa from Cowboy Bebop the
<v Speaker 3>movie Knocking on Heaven's.
<v Speaker 1>Storm movie is me.
<v Speaker 3>She is a bad you know, can I say that phrase? Yes,
<v Speaker 3>she's a bad ass. I went up against Steve Bloom
<v Speaker 3>in that one. We went toe to toe in that one,
<v Speaker 3>and it was so much fun. That's one of my
<v Speaker 3>first and one of my very few anime jobs that
<v Speaker 3>I'm so grateful to have. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn gave me
<v Speaker 3>that opportunity. You read for her for that, and I
<v Speaker 3>was really excited because she's a genius of a director
<v Speaker 3>and just a genius of healings.
<v Speaker 1>She's a doll anyway, she's Increa Arnold Schwartzenegger.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, she doesn't anything anything. That woman can do no wrong,
<v Speaker 3>especially when she's doing wrong. Yes, she's amazing. She's amazing.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, you and Steve a like Guinness World Records buddies,
<v Speaker 4>aren't you?
<v Speaker 3>We are? We are. Indeed, I have to constantly correct
<v Speaker 3>people who are like you have the Guinness Record for
<v Speaker 3>video game voices. I'm like for women, Steve Bloom has
<v Speaker 3>it for men?
<v Speaker 4>Well, who has more? You will stay who?
<v Speaker 3>Well? I mean, you know, no, not to make anyone uncomfortable,
<v Speaker 3>but it's very much was a man's world for a
<v Speaker 3>long time. So I'm excited to be in the running
<v Speaker 3>in that in that zone.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, when did you say? The shift?
<v Speaker 2>Pretty darn cool.
<v Speaker 3>The shift is still happening. The shift kicked into high gear.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, mass effect was one of the first things
<v Speaker 3>that kicked that door down. And really, I sort of
<v Speaker 3>joke my my career is really just an excuse to
<v Speaker 3>down doors and things because I just love breaking barriers.
<v Speaker 3>When I came to LA and started doing commercials. I
<v Speaker 3>remember my agents would give me copy and I'd been
<v Speaker 3>doing commercials for gosh eight years in Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta,
<v Speaker 3>Georgia before I moved to LA and I knew enough
<v Speaker 3>to know when I saw a script and it said,
<v Speaker 3>you know, Testimonial four and woman number two, that there
<v Speaker 3>was an announcer and the announcers where the repeat businesses
<v Speaker 3>and where the money is. And so I said to
<v Speaker 3>my agents can I read for announcer? And they'd say
<v Speaker 3>they want a man. I said, I know, can I
<v Speaker 3>read anyway? They're like okay, and I just kept doing
<v Speaker 3>it over and over and over. And this was the
<v Speaker 3>mid nineties, and by two thousand and two thousand and two,
<v Speaker 3>I could not turn on the TV or radio without
<v Speaker 3>hearing myself.
<v Speaker 1>I was like, that's cool, next door, give me.
<v Speaker 3>The next one. So yeah, So in games it was cool.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Mass Effect was the game where one of the first
<v Speaker 3>where the male and female player character lines were identical,
<v Speaker 3>almost entire almost completely identical, and they didn't change it
<v Speaker 3>for a gender or anything. And I understand that, I
<v Speaker 3>believe I could be wrong because I wasn't in the room,
<v Speaker 3>but that character, Commander Shepherd was originally written as a woman,
<v Speaker 3>and they didn't change anything. And so just that was
<v Speaker 3>another one. I'm like, goodbye door, goodbye barrier. Yeah, give
<v Speaker 3>me the next one. So yeah, it was really fun.
<v Speaker 3>It's still shifting, it's still changing, It's changed a lot.
<v Speaker 3>Now we're into representation. I went to this CBC talk
<v Speaker 3>the other night here on the island where I live
<v Speaker 3>about who can say what and communication, and the topic
<v Speaker 3>that night was who can say what and who can
<v Speaker 3>speak for whom? And one of the questions afterward was like, Hey,
<v Speaker 3>I'm a Mayo sis white male, and I have characters
<v Speaker 3>in my head that are not white. You know, when
<v Speaker 3>do I get to write? Is it okay for me
<v Speaker 3>to write what's in my head too? Because I have
<v Speaker 3>this creativity too, And the author said, the speaker said
<v Speaker 3>the greatest thing. He said, yes, just not right now.
<v Speaker 3>We're just gonna pause because everybody who was left out
<v Speaker 3>of the conversation for so many years needs to catch up.
<v Speaker 3>Then we can all see about proceeding for we just
<v Speaker 3>need to make space right now for everybody to catch up.
<v Speaker 3>And I was like, that's a great way to put it.
<v Speaker 3>So I'm I'm seeing that in the industry to answer
<v Speaker 3>your question about it, is it changing.
<v Speaker 1>And who is doing the best catching up? I mean,
<v Speaker 1>who who's got the farthest, biggest road to hoe? Do
<v Speaker 1>you think it's just women in general?
<v Speaker 3>What's happenings Native Americans?
<v Speaker 1>Uh?
<v Speaker 3>Huh, they're completely left out of the conversation. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>you know, like none of that's happening.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure you remember our buddy Michael Horse, Yes, I
<v Speaker 1>did from uh and he would have a lot to
<v Speaker 1>say about that one.
<v Speaker 2>You are, Michael, God.
<v Speaker 1>Bless you, bless you.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I am up here with it. In Canada, we
<v Speaker 3>call it First Nations and I am I'm a member
<v Speaker 3>of a First nation's nation and then or two of it.
<v Speaker 3>And my father was was an elder, was a behaved
<v Speaker 3>in the capacity of an elder in our community and
<v Speaker 3>was a leader of our getting us our rights and
<v Speaker 3>stuff and protecting our land and stuff like that. So yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's a it's a long road of ho. But what
<v Speaker 3>I like is everybody gets to come to the party. Now,
<v Speaker 3>everybody gets to play, and we're opening the doors and
<v Speaker 3>we're aware of it. And and to me that includes
<v Speaker 3>you know, like the patriarchy gets turned into like you know.
<v Speaker 3>Oh it's those all white guys, you know, but everyone
<v Speaker 3>gets to come to the party because not everyone did
<v Speaker 3>that to everybody. Like, let's all be in the party together,
<v Speaker 3>let's all go in together, let's all learn about each other,
<v Speaker 3>let's all go forward together.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's all ingredients for the gumbo exactly.
<v Speaker 3>And you know gumbo, don't you?
<v Speaker 1>I do.
<v Speaker 4>When do you get the best gumbo?
<v Speaker 1>Jim, I'll make you some damn good red bean like that.
<v Speaker 1>And then that Bayou down Louisiana.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, gosh, have you driven You ever driven through the Bayou?
<v Speaker 3>I drove out to Lafite's landing out there restaurant about
<v Speaker 3>forty five minutes outside of New Orleans. You've been out there?
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I have.
<v Speaker 3>That is something.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I've been to everywhere in Louisiana.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, New Orleans.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a great place to be from
<v Speaker 1>the boy oh boy. Yeah, you know, living there will
<v Speaker 1>kill you just keeping up, just keeping up with with
<v Speaker 1>the you know, the mailman. It's like, oh man, it's
<v Speaker 1>too much. Yeah, but I digress. You know, I was
<v Speaker 1>reading about you because there are still some things I
<v Speaker 1>don't know, and I was really pleasantly surprised, and you
<v Speaker 1>are in ladies in general. I think I should bring
<v Speaker 1>a drum in here in it.
<v Speaker 3>I'm afraid I won't remember this now. I don't know
<v Speaker 3>he's about.
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's okay, it's uh.
<v Speaker 1>It's something to do with the Guinness Book of World Records.
<v Speaker 5>Yes, yeah, do I tell everybody to turn to page
<v Speaker 5>ninety nine in your ymnoals and you will see that
<v Speaker 5>our Jennifer is quote unquote the most prolific video game
<v Speaker 5>actress on this particular planet.
<v Speaker 3>On this one, on this one.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so that's gotta be fun.
<v Speaker 3>It is fun. I remember back when you remember when
<v Speaker 3>games first started, there were a couple of people who
<v Speaker 3>just wouldn't do them because they were like, that's just
<v Speaker 3>a lot of work, because you know, our sessions are
<v Speaker 3>it's a four hour radio play and animation. We're all
<v Speaker 3>sharing the load. But in games, it's a four hour
<v Speaker 3>one person show with a couple of quick potty breaks,
<v Speaker 3>and it's exhausting. But I really wanted to buy a house.
<v Speaker 3>That's I just joked that I have again this record
<v Speaker 3>because I like real estate, you know. But yeah, I
<v Speaker 3>fell into I fell in love with with games though,
<v Speaker 3>and with those universes and with the producers and the creators,
<v Speaker 3>and it's just the most incredible community of people, like
<v Speaker 3>like animation, like all of it, like this whole area
<v Speaker 3>of the industry, voice acting and voiceover, of all the flavors.
<v Speaker 3>It's just a beautiful, brilliant, really talented group of people.
<v Speaker 3>And I love, I love being in the rooms.
<v Speaker 1>Are Yeah, I agree, Yeah, it's it's and it's nice
<v Speaker 1>because you don't run into a lot of ego. No,
<v Speaker 1>so don't that's nice.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I think part of that, I think is because
<v Speaker 3>everybody's so incredibly brilliant and everybody knows it, like nobody
<v Speaker 3>knows like we're not special. We're in the most special
<v Speaker 3>crowd of special people ever. And I remember being in
<v Speaker 3>the room with you and with everybody, and like every
<v Speaker 3>single time, I am blown away by the genius that
<v Speaker 3>surrounds me. I'm like, what this is crazy? When it
<v Speaker 3>drives me crazy when the film and TV people inevitably
<v Speaker 3>get a hold of an animation property or a game
<v Speaker 3>property and they go out and can't cast it with
<v Speaker 3>the fancy people, the on camera people. Oh yeah, and
<v Speaker 3>there's a lot of wonderful on camera people. But I
<v Speaker 3>just shake my head because I'm like, you guys just
<v Speaker 3>left gold and diamonds and uranium on the floor, that's
<v Speaker 3>for sure. Oh my gosh. Yes, But the voice acting
<v Speaker 3>community is that's what's nuts. It is, so I those
<v Speaker 3>rooms are They're amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I couldn't agree more.
<v Speaker 4>Can you guys take us back? Both of you, Jim
<v Speaker 4>Jennifer the original boulders Gate. That's something that Jim gets
<v Speaker 4>asked about all the time. You both work.
<v Speaker 2>Tell that.
<v Speaker 4>So let's go back to Bolders Kate, what do you
<v Speaker 4>remember that the recording sessions for that one.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I remember it's a long time ago, and
<v Speaker 3>I think by the balders Gate was one of my
<v Speaker 3>first games. But there's a thing that happens when you
<v Speaker 3>recording a game, like you know, Jim, and we're doing animation,
<v Speaker 3>it's we do it in sequence, right, We're like this
<v Speaker 3>page of the script, that page of the script, then
<v Speaker 3>that page. But when you do a game, like if
<v Speaker 3>this is this storyline, you know, the story arc of
<v Speaker 3>a game, you might do a scene from this piece,
<v Speaker 3>then one from this piece, then back over here on
<v Speaker 3>the timeline, then over there on the timeline, and you're
<v Speaker 3>you're time hopping you don't know.
<v Speaker 2>What's wucking around, right.
<v Speaker 3>And you don't often have context, especially back then, because
<v Speaker 3>the thing the unsung heroes to me in game production
<v Speaker 3>are voice directors, and their roles really important. They're the
<v Speaker 3>ones who say, hey, you're in this part of the story. Now,
<v Speaker 3>oh no, we've skipped over to this and this just happened,
<v Speaker 3>and you're talking to this person but they haven't killed
<v Speaker 3>your best friend yet. They're about you know, and they
<v Speaker 3>give you all those details that are important for a performance.
<v Speaker 3>And back in those early days, I remember, we didn't
<v Speaker 3>have as much context, and it was it was very interesting.
<v Speaker 3>It was a process to learn to let go of
<v Speaker 3>all those details and just make them up for yourself
<v Speaker 3>and hope they were right, you know.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, Well, can you remember any memories of recording the game, Jim,
<v Speaker 4>Because you say it, people always ask you about Minsk,
<v Speaker 4>But you also played the Master as well.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I played a few different things, and I remembered
<v Speaker 1>the Master. That was an interesting one because it was
<v Speaker 1>sort of a disembodied head and then it was treated
<v Speaker 1>with all this sort of weird effect and there was
<v Speaker 1>a woman's voice that popped in, Hello, look out over there,
<v Speaker 1>there there yeh, and it was like three different people,
<v Speaker 1>Wait what just happened? So I, you know, I don't
<v Speaker 1>pretend to understand it, but it was fun to do. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know where that leaves me, you know, but yeah,
<v Speaker 1>I mean that's the thing about games is you know
<v Speaker 1>you can you don't always have a storyboard. You don't
<v Speaker 1>I don't know where you are, what's happening. And they're
<v Speaker 1>kind of not hard for me, but there's not a
<v Speaker 1>little confusing, you know. I haven't done one in a while.
<v Speaker 1>But and there are people out there that just go
<v Speaker 1>nuts and and they're so successful at like conventions, so
<v Speaker 1>to speak. And I say more power to them because
<v Speaker 1>I think they're they're really earning their stripes, you know,
<v Speaker 1>because some of those scripts, you know, you get them
<v Speaker 1>in there, they're like that. So yeah, okay, well.
<v Speaker 3>That big yeah, MASSI effect of the first one alone,
<v Speaker 3>I think I had seven thousand lines seven things.
<v Speaker 1>I haven't done seven thousand lines yet.
<v Speaker 3>I know you have, I know you have.
<v Speaker 5>I know, Oh.
<v Speaker 3>You're so prolific. Yeah, No, it was it was a lot.
<v Speaker 3>It's a lot because we had branching. That was the
<v Speaker 3>one of the uniquenesses of that game was the interactivity
<v Speaker 3>with the player, and so we had tons of branching
<v Speaker 3>dialogue and lots of different options that could happen in
<v Speaker 3>any given situation, and your choices that you made, the
<v Speaker 3>consequences of those choices follow you into the next installment
<v Speaker 3>of the game. It's very very interesting. It's brilliant. It
<v Speaker 3>was brilliantly done.
<v Speaker 6>How long does it take to record seven thousand lines?
<v Speaker 3>I think over the course of a year we did that,
<v Speaker 3>you know, because the sessions. I have a whole thing
<v Speaker 3>when I walk into a session, because I really love
<v Speaker 3>the people I work with, so I love to spend
<v Speaker 3>a minute and connect with them. But I'm all about
<v Speaker 3>the workload. And part of that whole like giant script
<v Speaker 3>thing in games and why we pop around on the
<v Speaker 3>timeline is that the tech is first, you know, the
<v Speaker 3>needs of the dev team are first, and the needs
<v Speaker 3>of the actor come you know after, you know, in
<v Speaker 3>the order that needs to come to make everything happen.
<v Speaker 3>And so I'm conscious of the workload, and I'm conscious
<v Speaker 3>of the work day. And if we've got a huge
<v Speaker 3>line load, I'm going to come in say hi, let's
<v Speaker 3>get to work. You know, we've got a little time.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, oh, hey, so have you been. How's your kid?
<v Speaker 3>You know, like, you know, how are you? And I'll
<v Speaker 3>go get a te It's fine. But otherwise I'm like,
<v Speaker 3>let's go. I remember I walked into one of the
<v Speaker 3>mass Effect sessions and I think this might have been
<v Speaker 3>in the second one or or I think it was,
<v Speaker 3>and Caroline Livingstone was living Stone was directing, and uh,
<v Speaker 3>I said, what's our count? She goes, oh, no, no.
<v Speaker 3>I was like maybe, no, no.
<v Speaker 2>She goes, it's a lot.
<v Speaker 3>It's a lot. And I'm like, okay, okay. She goes, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>Steve doesn't think we'll be able to do it. I'm like,
<v Speaker 3>I'm sorry, what we'll be able to do this? So
<v Speaker 3>I was like, let's go. And we did five hundred
<v Speaker 3>and sixty three lines in our session and it was
<v Speaker 3>just like crank, crank, crank, crank, crank, go go.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you recorded a phone book and then after the
<v Speaker 1>phone book was yeah.
<v Speaker 3>And it's cold reading. That's the thing about games, like,
<v Speaker 3>you know, with our animation scripts, we get them ahead
<v Speaker 3>of time, you know, or audiobooks or whatever. We get
<v Speaker 3>them ahead of time. We get to look at them
<v Speaker 3>and digest them. And play with them, and we get
<v Speaker 3>a storyboard and animation. We don't get any of that
<v Speaker 3>in games. We might get a piece of artwork. And
<v Speaker 3>the entirety of Mass Effect was cold reading. And in
<v Speaker 3>the first one, yeah, at least I had it was paper,
<v Speaker 3>so I could kind of flip ahead and go okay,
<v Speaker 3>okay while they were doing something technical. The second one
<v Speaker 3>they had this new system where it was all on
<v Speaker 3>an on a screen and they controlled the screen. I
<v Speaker 3>did not have the ability to look ahead. Oh so
<v Speaker 3>that line popped up, I'd see it, they'd tell me
<v Speaker 3>a little bit of information, and then I just made choices.
<v Speaker 2>You hit the ground, run, made it.
<v Speaker 3>Happen, and within you know, anywhere from two to six takes,
<v Speaker 3>it's gone to market.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Wow. And do you prefer working like that, working
<v Speaker 1>cold as opposed to getting to bone up the night before.
<v Speaker 3>I'm so so trained. I'm trained really heavily for both.
<v Speaker 3>I love both of them. I'm so trained on the
<v Speaker 3>game thing. I don't mind it at all. I'm like,
<v Speaker 3>let's go hand me anything right now, Let's do it.
<v Speaker 3>You know, I'll figure it out. Because I'm also I
<v Speaker 3>think what that's training for is falling on my face
<v Speaker 3>and looking like an idiot. Instantly, I had all the
<v Speaker 3>wrong assumptions in place, like, Okay, that's our job.
<v Speaker 2>And it's not like you're on stage.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, even though everyone's watching. Yeah, everyone's watching. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>all these people I highly respect as watching these plant Hey,
<v Speaker 3>what's up?
<v Speaker 2>Except that it feels exactly like.
<v Speaker 3>That other than yes, exactly. But you know, humility is
<v Speaker 3>the order of the day, right, Yeah, there goes all
<v Speaker 3>your self importance. Anyway, Yez, can.
<v Speaker 4>You recall the first time video games were taken seriously?
<v Speaker 4>In your opinion?
<v Speaker 3>I'm waiting.
<v Speaker 2>No, Yeah, it could be any day now.
<v Speaker 3>Ah man, that's a great question. What do you mean
<v Speaker 3>taken seriously?
<v Speaker 4>Well, it feels like growing up in the nineties, video
<v Speaker 4>games weren't seen as the professional business that they are now.
<v Speaker 4>They were they were still games. Even gaming itself is
<v Speaker 4>now a professional industry. Yeah, when did you realize?
<v Speaker 1>When?
<v Speaker 4>When did you remember the first time you were working
<v Speaker 4>on a video game? And when this is something special
<v Speaker 4>that people are really going to appreciate.
<v Speaker 3>I think of nothing in that context, and I think
<v Speaker 3>of everything in that context. I don't think any game
<v Speaker 3>I've been around long enough, I've been worked on games
<v Speaker 3>where it was motion capture because I love performance capture.
<v Speaker 3>I love PEACAP, I love doing peacap And they flew
<v Speaker 3>us to Vancouver, another city, and put us up in
<v Speaker 3>a hotel Fancy Dinners. Spent a ton on this thing.
<v Speaker 3>We worked, shopped stuff. It was amazing, and then never
<v Speaker 3>went anywhere. And then I've been on titles where it
<v Speaker 3>was just this little sleeper and blew up and is
<v Speaker 3>still a thing. So I don't think of it in
<v Speaker 3>those terms. And I also, for reasons of self preservation,
<v Speaker 3>I don't focus on that because the truth is we
<v Speaker 3>get paid as workaday actors. We fight to get overscale.
<v Speaker 3>First game, one of the early games I ever did,
<v Speaker 3>was Metal Gear Solid. I had two sessions on that.
<v Speaker 3>Union rate was around six hundred at the time, so
<v Speaker 3>I made about twelve hundred bucks and the game made
<v Speaker 3>I think one hundred and seventy six million. If I
<v Speaker 3>was an on camera actor and that happened my quote a,
<v Speaker 3>my fee for my next job would have been through
<v Speaker 3>the roof. But to this day, you know, as voice
<v Speaker 3>actors we fight to get over scale. We have no
<v Speaker 3>residuals on games. I've got a couple, probably a couple
<v Speaker 3>of billion dollars worth of games, no residuals on any
<v Speaker 3>of that, right, and.
<v Speaker 1>No one listened to me. I'm sorry, I don't interrupt you,
<v Speaker 1>but no, you're right way back when yep and everybody
<v Speaker 1>every and they did the same thing with cable. This
<v Speaker 1>was this is what drove me crazy. I said, yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 1>five years ago, I was having this conversation in front
<v Speaker 1>of all of you people when we're down there at
<v Speaker 1>the SAG SAG after and I said.
<v Speaker 2>Nobody Cable.
<v Speaker 1>Come on, yeah, like NBC, ABC and CBS are gonna
<v Speaker 1>where they're gonna go. They're gonna go somewhere. They're not
<v Speaker 1>gonna be there. It's going to be all cable. And
<v Speaker 1>I said, no, they'll still be there, and then it'll
<v Speaker 1>be cable. Plus, this needs to be said to you.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, right now, this needs to be said to you.
<v Speaker 3>You were right, yeah.
<v Speaker 2>No, thank you. And then they did the same thing.
<v Speaker 1>With the when video came out, when uhh, yeah, they're
<v Speaker 1>not gonna oh these games they're not gonna do. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>that's ridiculous, it's not you wonder even sell twelve of them?
<v Speaker 1>How about twelve million? Okay, then would you like a penny,
<v Speaker 1>don't you want anything? And everybody, I mean there were
<v Speaker 1>like six of us, yep, and that was it. And
<v Speaker 1>here we are years later, completely dominated by every video
<v Speaker 1>game and every you know. You know, noh I do.
<v Speaker 3>My financial life would be substantially different. But I am
<v Speaker 3>a happy person and I move my attention to things
<v Speaker 3>that can impact. Oh that's not one of them.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no, I agree, there's no looking back.
<v Speaker 1>But boy, oh boy, you know, hindsight's twenty twenty, but
<v Speaker 1>not when it's in the moment. It's like, no, this
<v Speaker 1>is coming, and here we are lamenting, so to speak,
<v Speaker 1>but with a smile.
<v Speaker 3>With a smile, yes, so you know, it's funny. I
<v Speaker 3>think the industry's taken seriously because it makes a lot
<v Speaker 3>of money. I don't think we as performers are taken
<v Speaker 3>seriously because we are still called replaceable.
<v Speaker 4>Say, do you feel yourself spendable? Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>I know, I'm not. I know the fans don't think that.
<v Speaker 3>But we're in a situation where, I mean, look, we've
<v Speaker 3>watched the consolidation of the economic scene, you know, over
<v Speaker 3>the last couple of decades, where fewer and fewer players
<v Speaker 3>control more and more of the real estate and their
<v Speaker 3>decision makers are deeply disconnected from the process, from the fans,
<v Speaker 3>from everything that to me matters.
<v Speaker 1>So mm hmm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Put down
<v Speaker 1>the Chinese advocates.
<v Speaker 3>And you don't need another bonus. You don't need another yacht,
<v Speaker 3>you don't need you don't need to strangle people and
<v Speaker 3>remove their ability to feed themselves, because that will not
<v Speaker 3>go well for you. Do you remember Bestial Day?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh, there you go. That's not a bad one.
<v Speaker 1>Well I do, And I remember that you were, of
<v Speaker 1>course you did. We did talked about the Old Republic.
<v Speaker 1>But there are a couple of things that we have
<v Speaker 1>in common too. And you were on the Mighty Ducks.
<v Speaker 1>I think I need one. I did, and Mighty Duck
<v Speaker 1>and and what and so that meant you were working
<v Speaker 1>with Pammy Siegel.
<v Speaker 3>I was, and April Winschell, Steve Mackle, Jeff Bennett, Brad Garrett.
<v Speaker 3>It was I stood in that room just in awe,
<v Speaker 3>just like April would go over. Do you remember it
<v Speaker 3>was Scream Music Studios, And remember they had that folly
<v Speaker 3>pit that was right next to where we record. April
<v Speaker 3>Winschell would go over and do like Kitty Litter theater
<v Speaker 3>using the folly pit to make the most hilarious sounds
<v Speaker 3>and jokes. She's genius.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, yeh's so funny.
<v Speaker 3>I was in and Tim Curry he was a regular
<v Speaker 3>on that cast as well, and he could I loved him.
<v Speaker 3>He could never remember my name. I know this because
<v Speaker 3>every week I was either Hello Blossom, you know, hello,
<v Speaker 3>but up. You know he called me like powerfuff girls names.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, hey, Tim said something to me. Tim said
<v Speaker 3>something to me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, those times he was so brilliant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I did not know. And see that's the problem.
<v Speaker 1>There was like three or four Spider Man over the years,
<v Speaker 1>and you were Mary Jane in one of them.
<v Speaker 3>I was Mary Jane in one of them. And then
<v Speaker 3>in the ninety Spider Man cartoon, Mark Hamill was in that.
<v Speaker 3>I think you were in that room a few times.
<v Speaker 2>He was the joker.
<v Speaker 3>He was Hablablin in that one, and probably joker too
<v Speaker 3>because he was He's such a like, you know, he's
<v Speaker 3>one of this crew, a brilliant voice. I know everybody
<v Speaker 3>else is grabbed him back for this on camera thing,
<v Speaker 3>but he's a genius.
<v Speaker 1>He's doing well with that too.
<v Speaker 3>Whatever. Some science fiction movie I don't know what.
<v Speaker 2>Them, yeah, exactly.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but I was Felicia Hardy and the Black Cat.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah and that one, and that was so super super
<v Speaker 3>fun and yes, Mary Jane and a couple of iterations
<v Speaker 3>of Spider Man in the games and stuff, and yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's funny when I look at those roles, like the
<v Speaker 3>Marvel roles, many of us share those roles, like sometimes
<v Speaker 3>I'm that role and sometimes Vanessa Marshall's that role, or
<v Speaker 3>sometimes Laura Bailey's that role. Like we all sort of
<v Speaker 3>share the roles. That's the way it goes around in
<v Speaker 3>the community.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, it does.
<v Speaker 4>We just had Hank zarior On he played Venom in
<v Speaker 4>the original series.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, yep, yeah, we would be there. I would love Hank.
<v Speaker 3>I remember him. I won't talk out of school, but
<v Speaker 3>sharing his experience of our director I remember, okay, okay,
<v Speaker 3>good yeah, yeah, Oh my god, oh my god. That
<v Speaker 3>room was incredible because that was like my I want
<v Speaker 3>to say, Spider Man was my second or third animated series,
<v Speaker 3>and I just got one after the other after the other.
<v Speaker 3>It was like a year or two into my career,
<v Speaker 3>and I was my mind was blown. I was just
<v Speaker 3>book an animated series after animated series. I was like,
<v Speaker 3>what is happening? And but sitting in that lobby for
<v Speaker 3>Spider Man, I mean we had in the cast, we
<v Speaker 3>had Mark Hamill, Hank Azaria, you know, all these incredible people,
<v Speaker 3>and in the as our guest people, we had like
<v Speaker 3>from Zimbalist, Junior and Mark landaut ed Asner all the time,
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god. And I just sit in that lobby
<v Speaker 3>just going this is incredible. And stan would come in
<v Speaker 3>all the time. Stan Lee was a fixture. He would
<v Speaker 3>just always come. And he invited us all to his
<v Speaker 3>home for the big premiere, you know, on Saturday, and
<v Speaker 3>we all went to see him and Joan and you know,
<v Speaker 3>just hang out at the house in Beverly Hills. And
<v Speaker 3>years later, probably ten years later, I'm walking down the
<v Speaker 3>street in Beverly Hills, the thing I don't often do.
<v Speaker 3>And who do I see on the street coming towards
<v Speaker 3>me but stan Lee? And I am prepping myself to go, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>how do I say it? How do I not be annoying?
<v Speaker 3>How do I go? I don't know if you remember me,
<v Speaker 3>stan but and he looks up and he goes Jennifer,
<v Speaker 3>and I was like, oh, remembered me. Yeah, Oh that's great,
<v Speaker 3>such a gift. I was like, give me a big hug.
<v Speaker 3>I'm like, ah, my life is complete.
<v Speaker 2>Stanley knows my name name.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I.
<v Speaker 3>Oh, my god, amazing. I still speak of him in
<v Speaker 3>the present tense because for me, he's still here. He's
<v Speaker 3>just still here. It's yes, Oh god. He was adorable.
<v Speaker 3>It's just a delight. He was always delighted and always
<v Speaker 3>excited about life and about and it was just a
<v Speaker 3>glorious thing to be around.
<v Speaker 1>And it was I always enjoy every time i'd go
<v Speaker 1>and see a movie, Marvel movie, I'd say, Okay, he's
<v Speaker 1>gonna be He's the cameo's coming up. He's coming up.
<v Speaker 1>He's gonna be there. He's gonna be there somewhere.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And I think my favorite was one the one Spider
<v Speaker 1>Man where he was in the library listening to classical
<v Speaker 1>music while Spider Man's having a knockdown, drag out, unbelievable
<v Speaker 1>fight in the background. Yeah, and stands just totally oblivious.
<v Speaker 3>So perfect a good stuff, Yeah, really good stuff.
<v Speaker 2>That is good stuff.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, I would be remiss if if I
<v Speaker 1>didn't bring up that we shared, well, actually, would it
<v Speaker 1>be genealogy.
<v Speaker 2>I don't.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure anyway, I'm talking about Savage Dragon. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>you you were She Dragon, and I thought that was
<v Speaker 1>just the coolest daning thing. And to this day, it's
<v Speaker 1>one of my favorite roles. It's very low oh is
<v Speaker 1>very sort of unsung, shall we.
<v Speaker 3>Say, remember that?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And and I just liked the comic book so much.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that I thought, And it was one of those
<v Speaker 1>things that I said, I gotta get this one.
<v Speaker 2>I got to get this one.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>So I tried and tried and then I lucked out.
<v Speaker 1>I got it and you were She.
<v Speaker 3>Dragon, And I remember being in that room. It's so
<v Speaker 3>funny you said that about being like low key on
<v Speaker 3>that one, because I was. I was like, oh, that's
<v Speaker 3>an option. Listening to you, I was like, oh, I
<v Speaker 3>got to get that good. I gotta get that good.
<v Speaker 3>I got to get there. Yeah, it was really really cool.
<v Speaker 3>It was so it was so cutting edge. I loved it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I really did too. I'm glad to hear that.
<v Speaker 1>And you were in one of my favorite things. I
<v Speaker 1>have to say this the right way. When I was
<v Speaker 1>a little kid, I really liked this one show and
<v Speaker 1>it was put and I don't even know who it was,
<v Speaker 1>but it was who did The production company might have
<v Speaker 1>been somewhere related to Hanna Barbara. It was Clutch Cargo, okay,
<v Speaker 1>and they had it was black and white and they
<v Speaker 1>had animated faces with actual lips.
<v Speaker 3>Oh yes, yes, with human lips. Yes yes.
<v Speaker 1>And they did that with that show. And then the
<v Speaker 1>next one was Johnny Quest. Yes, and you were in
<v Speaker 1>Johnny Quest.
<v Speaker 3>I was Jesse Bannon m hmm, which is.
<v Speaker 1>Like so damn cool. I can't even stand it.
<v Speaker 3>It was super fun. That was directed by the brilliant
<v Speaker 3>Chris Zimmerman Salter yep, yep. And Rob Paulson was in
<v Speaker 3>that one.
<v Speaker 1>It was so logy, I think yep.
<v Speaker 3>And then Frank was in It was just Frank Welker.
<v Speaker 3>It was so Frank was in everything. Yeah, it was
<v Speaker 3>just so much fun. I loved that show. And I
<v Speaker 3>thought you were going to say Chimp Channel for a
<v Speaker 3>second because they did the thing with the chimps moving
<v Speaker 3>and us being their voices. Yeah, that's a whole special nightmare.
<v Speaker 2>That's another nightmare of another, right.
<v Speaker 4>It was such a cool cost of voice actors in
<v Speaker 4>that mid daddies to mid nineties year. It's always the
<v Speaker 4>same name as Frank Rob Jim Jesseanel. Yeah, that trust meknil.
<v Speaker 4>That is they had their call no their favorites, but
<v Speaker 4>clearly there was just that group of voice actors is
<v Speaker 4>better than everybody, and that just did everything.
<v Speaker 3>You could count on them. You can count on them
<v Speaker 3>to have no ego, to show up on time and early,
<v Speaker 3>and to do exactly what you need and to be
<v Speaker 3>prepared and to be brilliant. They have no limits. Like
<v Speaker 3>I came in. My first show was in late nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety three. It was where on Earth is Carmen San Diego?
<v Speaker 3>And I just was like, I immediately jumped into class.
<v Speaker 3>I booked that show. It was the craziest thing. I
<v Speaker 3>had moved to LA for film and TV, and I worked,
<v Speaker 3>but you know, you can't feed yourself off working like
<v Speaker 3>three times a year, you can't do it, and maybe
<v Speaker 3>four and so I made a voiceover tape just to
<v Speaker 3>make some money. I made a commercial tape and within
<v Speaker 3>a month of that, one of my agency said he
<v Speaker 3>was in the shower and he got this idea to
<v Speaker 3>send me the Carmen San Diego callbacks. And I wasn't
<v Speaker 3>allowed to watch cartoons as a kid. I was not
<v Speaker 3>allowed at all.
<v Speaker 4>Oh.
<v Speaker 3>I had no idea what this was.
<v Speaker 2>Oh.
<v Speaker 3>So I went in and I didn't know the IP
<v Speaker 3>at all, and I went into the callback, and I
<v Speaker 3>just followed my instincts and just jumped as strong as
<v Speaker 3>I could jump. I booked this series and I was
<v Speaker 3>waiting tables in Universal City at the time at a
<v Speaker 3>restaurant that had in the cocktail area of a restaurant
<v Speaker 3>that had no cocktail area. I was just scrambling to
<v Speaker 3>make any money.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.
<v Speaker 3>And I booked the show and I was like, wait,
<v Speaker 3>four hundred and seventy eight dollars for four OCCO hours.
<v Speaker 3>I hope they don't take that. I was convinced I
<v Speaker 3>was going to be fired every week because I didn't
<v Speaker 3>I'd never I didn't know what I was doing. So
<v Speaker 3>I jumped into classes as fast as possible and to
<v Speaker 3>learn as much as I possibly could, and learning from
<v Speaker 3>all you guys just watching you. That was in nineteen
<v Speaker 3>ninety three into nineteen ninety four. That was my first
<v Speaker 3>job out there in voice acting. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Well, you know one thing I always liked to ask
<v Speaker 1>people is how old were you when you said Okay,
<v Speaker 1>I'm not going to be an attorney or a doctor, lawyer,
<v Speaker 1>indian chief whatever. You know, when when did you say
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to be an actress?
<v Speaker 2>And however that.
<v Speaker 3>Manifests honestly, never, I was a singer. I started singing
<v Speaker 3>in clubs when I was fifteen.
<v Speaker 1>I well, I had a too, by the way, Yeah
<v Speaker 1>did you maybe?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, okay, yeah. I got brave and jumped in with
<v Speaker 3>a band one night and then joined a band and
<v Speaker 3>started singing. And you know, we were super illegal back then,
<v Speaker 3>but nobody cared, and uh yeah, we played every week
<v Speaker 3>and that was my dream. I went to a fine
<v Speaker 3>Arts high school just because I was not a kid
<v Speaker 3>who would have survived regular school. I was that kid
<v Speaker 3>like everybody made fun of. Literally, it was like a
<v Speaker 3>big bulls eye on me, apparently. And so I went
<v Speaker 3>to the Fine Arts High School and it was great.
<v Speaker 3>And then I got a job at a video production
<v Speaker 3>studio that was next door to an audio studio. And
<v Speaker 3>because I'd gone to the Fine Arts High school, I
<v Speaker 3>could in Birmingham, Alabama. I could speak without an accent,
<v Speaker 3>and I could do a valley girl. And they called
<v Speaker 3>me next door to do a valley girl and they
<v Speaker 3>paid me. I think it was thirty or thirty five
<v Speaker 3>dollars and I was like, wait, what.
<v Speaker 2>What what and so do for free?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I started bugging them to teach me what
<v Speaker 3>they knew, you know. I mean, I've got this site
<v Speaker 3>now that I created with my sister Acting Dot skills Hub,
<v Speaker 3>dot Life, and it's based on this model like people
<v Speaker 3>who know how to do it. You pay them for
<v Speaker 3>their time and they tell you exactly what you need
<v Speaker 3>to know and it's an as needed basis that kind
<v Speaker 3>of thing.
<v Speaker 2>But oh, give us the name again so people.
<v Speaker 3>Can acting dot skills Hub, dot Life. Yeah. It's really
<v Speaker 3>just a breakdown barriers for people. And I originally it
<v Speaker 3>was started because I just get bored with auditioning by
<v Speaker 3>myself and I just wanted ten minutes with a director
<v Speaker 3>I trusted. So now we have our coaches are it's
<v Speaker 3>by the minute. We have classes. We have like I
<v Speaker 3>wrote these step by step guides for like, all right,
<v Speaker 3>you want to do animation first, do your foundations, step one,
<v Speaker 3>step two, all the steps to learn your foundations. Right
<v Speaker 3>now you can go in animation study all these things
<v Speaker 3>with all these different people, not me, but all these
<v Speaker 3>other people who are really good. Because we have working actors,
<v Speaker 3>working voice directors and working casting directors who are our coaches.
<v Speaker 3>Some people can get them by the minute, and they
<v Speaker 3>teach classes too. Anyway, Yeah, it's great, that's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 3>It's cool. It's where most of my time goes right now. Honestly,
<v Speaker 3>I just I'm all about launching other people and how
<v Speaker 3>can I help this cess my joy right now? But anyway,
<v Speaker 3>so I bug these mentors to tell me what they knew,
<v Speaker 3>and I took my demo and went door to door
<v Speaker 3>cold calling ad agencies. And then I went to Atlanta
<v Speaker 3>and had my first film audition and I booked it.
<v Speaker 3>And I kept booking film and TV and I was like, Okay,
<v Speaker 3>this acting makes sense to me. And yeah, I was
<v Speaker 3>never a kid who did a lot of voices. In fact,
<v Speaker 3>I was incredibly shy because of my aforementioned spot on
<v Speaker 3>the social circle. And I remember being in junior high
<v Speaker 3>and they were some you know, the career days. They
<v Speaker 3>were talking about advertising and slogans and things that stick
<v Speaker 3>in people's heads, and they were asking about old campaigns
<v Speaker 3>and does anybody remember this? And do you remember Jan
<v Speaker 3>Valdez the Wan Valdez coffee commercials. They're like, does anybody
<v Speaker 3>remember what he says, and nobody was saying anything, and
<v Speaker 3>I knew it, and out of my incredibly shy mouth
<v Speaker 3>East Mountain Groan and everybody starts howling, laughing and turns
<v Speaker 3>and looks at me, and I'm like, want to die.
<v Speaker 3>Oh this is so embarrasing. So I was not the
<v Speaker 3>kid that performed in front of everybody. I was just like,
<v Speaker 3>don't look at me, which is why voiceover is so perfect.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I can see you.
<v Speaker 1>So I don't want to ruin your day, Chris.
<v Speaker 4>But that getting into the nitty gritty unless you want to,
<v Speaker 4>because you spoke about it in the past. But how
<v Speaker 4>important do you think your childhood was and the struggles
<v Speaker 4>you went through there was to making you such an independent,
<v Speaker 4>positive thinker going forward.
<v Speaker 3>It's everything I mean I had. I'm pretty open about this.
<v Speaker 3>I had a really heinous childhood. I always had a
<v Speaker 3>place to live. But my mom was a real special
<v Speaker 3>cocktail of personality disorders who was super high functioning. So
<v Speaker 3>it looked great from the outside, but it was a
<v Speaker 3>It was pretty much a blender with sharp blades on
<v Speaker 3>the inside, and it made me it's gonna sound really weird.
<v Speaker 3>I love it. I don't. I didn't. I don't always,
<v Speaker 3>but I'm deeply grateful for it because it gave me
<v Speaker 3>an understanding of the human experience that I would not
<v Speaker 3>otherwise have. And I have what I call resting privileged face.
<v Speaker 3>I look like I grew I just have this face,
<v Speaker 3>or I look like I grew up with money and
<v Speaker 3>everything was easy, And so people will prejudge me like
<v Speaker 3>that all the time, and I identify most with our
<v Speaker 3>communities in the world who are the most discarded and traumatized,
<v Speaker 3>because I'm like, I get that, that's how my life,
<v Speaker 3>but I don't look like that. They're always like, why
<v Speaker 3>are you standing next to us? And I'm like, I
<v Speaker 3>feel most comfortable right here, and they're like, go away,
<v Speaker 3>Like okay. But it made me incredibly resilient and strong,
<v Speaker 3>and it also connected me to some pieces of human
<v Speaker 3>behavior that are so useful in my job. I have
<v Speaker 3>this whole run jim. I remember Powerpuff Girls, right, working
<v Speaker 3>on that show, and I have a couple recurring characters
<v Speaker 3>on there who are psychotic.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 3>One of them is like straight out of my mom
<v Speaker 3>you know, no disrespect, but that's just the facts. Mean
<v Speaker 3>as a snake, and but really lovely like to everybody,
<v Speaker 3>she's I'm a good lady. Is her daytime personalities, I'm
<v Speaker 3>a good lady. And then Seduca is like and it
<v Speaker 3>is that kind of thing that's going to change around here,
<v Speaker 3>you know. I'm like, Wow, this is easy for me.
<v Speaker 3>I know this inside out.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know.
<v Speaker 3>It makes a lot of things available. I mean for
<v Speaker 3>me as a person, I have access to a level
<v Speaker 3>of human experience that is pretty vast and pretty intense
<v Speaker 3>and very useful as a performer. I have a lot
<v Speaker 3>of compassion and understanding for difficulties of all kinds. Not
<v Speaker 3>all the flavors, but many of the flavors. And I'm humble,
<v Speaker 3>I know what I don't know. I don't know what
<v Speaker 3>I don't know. I know I don't know a lot
<v Speaker 3>and so but it made me also very resilient. I
<v Speaker 3>am an incredibly resilient person, and I think that is
<v Speaker 3>really important for this career. I teach. There's one class.
<v Speaker 3>We have many many coaches, like we have like ninety
<v Speaker 3>now on Skills Hub who teach, and they're all, like
<v Speaker 3>I said, work in pros. But there's one class that
<v Speaker 3>I will teach and it's my started class and it's
<v Speaker 3>about the head game. It's about getting your thinking right,
<v Speaker 3>it's about getting your routines right and your habit's right
<v Speaker 3>so you can sustain. And one thing that I have
<v Speaker 3>woven into every piece of that curriculum is internal validation.
<v Speaker 3>You can't wait for anybody out there to validate you.
<v Speaker 3>And because I don't think I think there's a lot
<v Speaker 3>of people who come to acting who don't have the
<v Speaker 3>greatest backgrounds, and taking care of yourself internally is important.
<v Speaker 3>So it is built into that class and that curriculum,
<v Speaker 3>like you must learn to self validate. So you walk
<v Speaker 3>into those audition rooms and you're not like do you
<v Speaker 3>like me? Is it okay? Can I stay? You know,
<v Speaker 3>you walk in like, hey, this is my bag of tricks.
<v Speaker 3>Let's play, and thank you so much, and you leave powerfully,
<v Speaker 3>not like thank you, you know, you leave like yeah,
<v Speaker 3>thank you, you know. And I want people to have
<v Speaker 3>that strength within themselves and I want them to know
<v Speaker 3>how to restore themselves. So in that way, it's been
<v Speaker 3>a real gift, it's been a real blessing.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, is that you when you go into auditions, Chrissy
<v Speaker 1>Beach your chase, He'll lover hair, right, and then he
<v Speaker 1>then he tells him when he's available.
<v Speaker 4>You guys were both production assistants, went you will, production
<v Speaker 4>assistants went Chris at one point.
<v Speaker 6>Once upon a time. Yeah, just a few years ago. Yeah,
<v Speaker 6>I guess not, yes, seven years ago. Seven years ago,
<v Speaker 6>I was working at Vancouver.
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, seriously. Yeah, yeah, what's up A Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I can say that because I live up here in
<v Speaker 3>the North. Yeah, I was a PA. I was a PA, Jim, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>I was. I was an on camera PA. And to
<v Speaker 3>tell you what I tell people this, work on the
<v Speaker 3>other side of the camera or the glass, or whatever
<v Speaker 3>profession you want to perform in, work in the tech side,
<v Speaker 3>because I'll never forget. I was on this movie of
<v Speaker 3>the Week. I was playing Rod Steiger's daughter, which was
<v Speaker 3>an acting class in and Novice. Oh my god, it
<v Speaker 3>was an amazing acting class. I got great stories from
<v Speaker 3>that shoot. But in terms of working behind the scenes,
<v Speaker 3>because I'd been a PA in Birmingham, where you did
<v Speaker 3>all all the jobs from like framing shots and being
<v Speaker 3>the hand model to helping your boss tie in by
<v Speaker 3>keeping a rope around him in case he starts to
<v Speaker 3>fry when he's you know, tying into the panel and
<v Speaker 3>you pull him off like all the jobs. And I
<v Speaker 3>knew how to frame shots. I was on this movie
<v Speaker 3>of the Week and they're doing a shoot in a
<v Speaker 3>scene in a hospital and I can hear the director's
<v Speaker 3>frustration talking to the DP and the issue is where
<v Speaker 3>I'm standing, they can see the entire hall and they
<v Speaker 3>haven't dressed the entire hall. They've got gear in the way,
<v Speaker 3>they've got this, they've got that, and I can tell
<v Speaker 3>that's what's messing up their shot. And it's going to
<v Speaker 3>be a long time to set it and we've got
<v Speaker 3>a schedule. It took all the courage I had. I
<v Speaker 3>was like, excuse me, and I was like, louder, come on.
<v Speaker 3>I was like nineteen. I was like, excuse, excuse me.
<v Speaker 3>They're like, what if I just kneel down, because it
<v Speaker 3>would change the angle of the shot and they wouldn't
<v Speaker 3>have to dress the hall and dick lower the director
<v Speaker 3>he goes genius. And it was just because I knew
<v Speaker 3>the demands of the tech side. And once I started
<v Speaker 3>recording myself, you know how, when we were recording and
<v Speaker 3>we'll make a mistake and we'll just continue on. We'll
<v Speaker 3>go pick up or whatever. We do. I used to
<v Speaker 3>do that and I would talk like I'm talking now,
<v Speaker 3>like with no breaks, nightmare. As soon as I started
<v Speaker 3>editing anything, I'd make a mistake and then I then
<v Speaker 3>I'd do the pickup so the engineer can see the
<v Speaker 3>dead space and the wave form and they can find
<v Speaker 3>it easily. And yes, exactly, but this is what like
<v Speaker 3>people out there who are interested in this is a profession,
<v Speaker 3>do this stuff on the other side so that you
<v Speaker 3>become an asset. Because when people when you're in an audition,
<v Speaker 3>they're not just looking at your talent, they're looking at
<v Speaker 3>is this a person I want to work with? Is
<v Speaker 3>this somebody I want to spend four hours or a
<v Speaker 3>year or six years or whatever it's going to be
<v Speaker 3>on a project with? Is and not? And don't be kloying,
<v Speaker 3>don't be like, you know, subservient stuff. Just be a
<v Speaker 3>just be you and be calm and be centered and
<v Speaker 3>take care of your own ego and be good to
<v Speaker 3>work with.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well that's good advice period.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah right, that's common in our whole circle, isn't it.
<v Speaker 3>Like everybody is quirky and brilliant and so easy to
<v Speaker 3>be with.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 4>For the most part.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not gonna speak out of school, but I'm not
<v Speaker 3>gonna say.
<v Speaker 1>No either, except for you know who.
<v Speaker 2>My lips are Field.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>What's funny is do you actually think you know who
<v Speaker 4>Jim's talking about when he said.
<v Speaker 3>I know a couple, I know two people that could
<v Speaker 3>be I know two people, only two?
<v Speaker 2>Yep?
<v Speaker 4>All right, Well you need to be on your way.
<v Speaker 4>So Chris, should we play some voice? What before Jennifer
<v Speaker 4>goes to do her.
<v Speaker 6>Yeah, let's do it.
<v Speaker 4>You explained the game, Chris, Yes, please.
<v Speaker 6>So Jim will do one of his iconic character voices.
<v Speaker 6>He'll do a line of one of the characters, say
<v Speaker 6>one of the Pooh and he'll deliver a line. And
<v Speaker 6>then you'll take that same line and just change the
<v Speaker 6>voice to one of your iconic characters.
<v Speaker 3>Okay, okay, and then vice Okay, okay, okay.
<v Speaker 1>Let's see. Well, how about fat Cat from Chippendale's Rescue Rangers.
<v Speaker 2>We haven't had him on.
<v Speaker 1>Deck for a good long time, fat Cat from Chippendale
<v Speaker 1>Rescue Rangers, didn't you, mother? And they teach you not
<v Speaker 1>too mumble when you're speaking with somebody.
<v Speaker 3>All right, I want to go the opposite way with
<v Speaker 3>this one. This is Bastard Lashan from Night to the
<v Speaker 3>Old Republic. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to
<v Speaker 3>mumble when you're speaking to someone?
<v Speaker 2>You bost you? Actually, fat cat?
<v Speaker 1>Would you use the force?
<v Speaker 3>Yes? Okay, okay, okay, okay, I will do. And I'm
<v Speaker 3>going to gain way down for this princess. More bucks
<v Speaker 3>from Powerpuff Girls. Okay, oh okay, hold your ear drums
<v Speaker 3>because she's just so piercing. Here we go, Here we go.
<v Speaker 2>Boy Naddy with David. I couldn't, did I did it? Dang?
<v Speaker 1>Maybe that should be bonkers deeve Bobcat.
<v Speaker 3>Let's do it.
<v Speaker 1>But Daddy, I want to be a powapuff girl. But
<v Speaker 1>they said I couldn't.
<v Speaker 2>They said, I want to be a.
<v Speaker 1>Girl that's actually perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Love it, love it, love it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well he can squeal and screech like that, so
<v Speaker 1>I think which And there are there are cats and
<v Speaker 1>dogs outside going I'm sorry, did.
<v Speaker 2>Somebody calling me?
<v Speaker 3>My dog's right here right now?
<v Speaker 2>Kidding?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, I'm right here.
<v Speaker 2>Man.
<v Speaker 4>Let's what Boulders Gates characters just for the hod cause
<v Speaker 4>have to remember it.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yes, yeah, that's no fair.
<v Speaker 4>Jim knows the lines Minsk.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I know you do it, and then I'm gonna
<v Speaker 3>surprise you with another character from something. I don't know
<v Speaker 3>what it's gonna be.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, all right, well here, let's let's see. This is
<v Speaker 1>Minsk from the world famous Powerpuff Girls giving instructions to
<v Speaker 1>his attack hamster.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, okay, go for the I boo, go for the ice.
<v Speaker 3>I'm actually going to do this. This is Cinderella perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Oh dear, go for the eye, spoo, go for the eyes.
<v Speaker 3>But but don't hurt him.
<v Speaker 2>All right?
<v Speaker 3>Do you need help? Can I help you?
<v Speaker 1>Oh dear, I'll rip out the eyes.
<v Speaker 2>Got you, no problem?
<v Speaker 3>Rip out the eyes, got you, no problem. This is
<v Speaker 3>a scary kingdom we're.
<v Speaker 1>In, No dear, he sounds very royal and princess.
<v Speaker 3>She is. She's extraordinary.
<v Speaker 2>That's a beautiful thing.
<v Speaker 1>Is there anything now listen before we go, is there
<v Speaker 1>anything we should know coming up? Or any you've got
<v Speaker 1>anything to brag about?
<v Speaker 2>Anything? I mean, I don't know. You're going to a
<v Speaker 2>can you're given us?
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, I've done that, done that.
<v Speaker 2>I'm a parking ticket.
<v Speaker 3>I'm not gonna talk about that, but I've I mean,
<v Speaker 3>of course, X Men ninety seven is on Disney Plus
<v Speaker 3>right now. I'm so excited to be Jean Gray in
<v Speaker 3>that series, which is amazing, and a bunch of stuff
<v Speaker 3>going on, a bunch of stuff coming out, most of
<v Speaker 3>it's under NDA. The place you will find me the
<v Speaker 3>most right now is at acting dot skills Hub dot life.
<v Speaker 3>I am pouring my soul into this platform. We've launched
<v Speaker 3>a YouTube channel, it's skills Hub dot life, and I'm
<v Speaker 3>on there every week or two with some new piece
<v Speaker 3>of information just to support people in this career, help
<v Speaker 3>people on this creative path. And we have. But now
<v Speaker 3>we have like ninety coaches, so they're starting to get
<v Speaker 3>beautiful gems in from them as well. And yeah, that's
<v Speaker 3>where you'll find me. I'm doing a free AMA this
<v Speaker 3>Saturday in the Sight. I mean it's freedom members memberships
<v Speaker 3>twenty bucks a month. It's like you get so much
<v Speaker 3>stuff for free, it's ridiculous. And our classes are super affordable.
<v Speaker 3>But I'm doing an AMA for anybody who's interested in
<v Speaker 3>voice acting. I will do that every couple months on there.
<v Speaker 3>Just AMA, ask me anything, sorry, and ask me anything,
<v Speaker 3>and it's not I don't talk about my career in there.
<v Speaker 3>I talk about you and about like people on this path,
<v Speaker 3>like what do you need? How can I support you?
<v Speaker 3>Where are you stuck? What do you need next? Okay?
<v Speaker 3>And mostly people are just wondering, I don't know what
<v Speaker 3>to do next, and that's we talk about that and
<v Speaker 3>we get their thinking in where they need it to
<v Speaker 3>be to get to the next step.
<v Speaker 1>Uh huh.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>And do you assist like making a demo tape? Because
<v Speaker 1>when I was first coming up, I don't know about you,
<v Speaker 1>but I that was like your calling card.
<v Speaker 2>Well, here's my demo.
<v Speaker 3>Yep, yep. What we have I wrote an entire thing
<v Speaker 3>called the Demo Path. We will not produce demos on
<v Speaker 3>purpose because I think it's a conflict of interest. But
<v Speaker 3>what we have is this demo path is free with
<v Speaker 3>your membership, and it's literally like a set of exercises
<v Speaker 3>to go through practice to do material together coaches to
<v Speaker 3>talk to specific things to do before you invest that
<v Speaker 3>chunk of money. You're essentially doing a practice demo through
<v Speaker 3>this specific instruction that I wrote myself for you to
<v Speaker 3>do over a course of a few weeks to prepare.
<v Speaker 3>And by the time you've done that process, you are
<v Speaker 3>ready and you know where to go. You know what
<v Speaker 3>to do.
<v Speaker 1>Wow one stop shopping.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah really ark Wood.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and just give us the uh the address again,
<v Speaker 1>just to make sure it's in there.
<v Speaker 3>It's acting, dot Skills, Hub, dot Life.
<v Speaker 4>It is a description perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Yay, great. Yeah, that's why you'll find me much of
<v Speaker 3>the time. I'm having so much fun. We have like
<v Speaker 3>you know, we have ninety coaches and I know just
<v Speaker 3>one of our coaches, he's a voice director and casting director.
<v Speaker 3>Five of our members who have coached with him over
<v Speaker 3>a period of time now have LA agents and live
<v Speaker 3>nowhere near LA. One lives in Malaysia. I'm like, let's
<v Speaker 3>open the doors to talent because representation is such a
<v Speaker 3>big thing in the industry now right, and so let's
<v Speaker 3>give everybody. You know, if you want a transperson from
<v Speaker 3>the South Pacific, like, we will help you. Let's find that.
<v Speaker 3>Let's give you the process. Let's give you the option
<v Speaker 3>to get out into.
<v Speaker 1>The Should we mention an agency you're involved with here
<v Speaker 1>or there?
<v Speaker 3>SPB Talent. I've been with them since nineteen ninety three. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that's my that's my home.
<v Speaker 1>It's sutton yep, some of them.
<v Speaker 3>My Instagram is at jay Hail Graham g r A M.
<v Speaker 3>It's mostly sunrises in my life, some kind stuff. And
<v Speaker 3>then I'm still on x Twitter or whatever you want
<v Speaker 3>to call it at Jay Hale tweets. I'm on threads
<v Speaker 3>automatically through Instagram and Facebook is automatic feed from Instagram
<v Speaker 3>and all the things. Yeah, nice, nice, nice, Yeah, And
<v Speaker 3>go outside, everybody, go outside, breathe some air, have some fun. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>That's good advice.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you matter. I want to say that to
<v Speaker 3>everybody out there. You mad her, so don't act like
<v Speaker 3>you don't because you do. So let's get to it.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, Jennifer Hal, ladies and gentlemen, Thank you, thank you,
<v Speaker 3>thank you.
<v Speaker 6>Thanks guys, Thanks everybody for watching. That was another episode
<v Speaker 6>of Tuned In with Jim Commings Today with Jennifer Hale.
<v Speaker 6>Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciated it.
<v Speaker 6>Don't forget to like and subscribe. And you heard Jennifer
<v Speaker 6>go outside, go outside as well. You know, YouTube's not
<v Speaker 6>everything I'll see, but thank you so much for support.
<v Speaker 6>I guess we really appreciate it. Added to the next one.
<v Speaker 6>I'm producer Chris Brenda Dando, Jim Cummings and our guest
<v Speaker 6>Jennifer Hale. We'll see you in the next one.
<v Speaker 2>So fun at the end