A daily chronicle of creativity in film, TV, music, arts, and entertainment, produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from November 2014 – March 2020. Host John Horn leads the conversation, accompanied by the nation's most plugged-in cultural journalists.
You probably wouldn't recognize most voice actors walking down the street, but you almost certainly recognize their voices. From cartoons to video games, voice actors carry a cast of characters inside their heads. This week we hear from two veterans: Rob Paulsen and Tress MacNeille.
Paulsen and MacNeille worked together on the 1990s WB series "Animaniacs" and several other shows. They're back together on the Netflix series, "VeggieTales in the House," in which they play every single character other than the two leads.
MacNeille says her family played a big role in shaping her career: "I came from a very large family, everybody is a comedian. So it was just very verbal. My background and my psychosis all kind of combined to make a very good voice actor."
You may find her voice strange familiar if you're a fan of the "Simpsons." McNeille played several residents of the fictional town of Springfield. But before she was the neurotic mother of Principal Skinner, MacNeille was Daisy Duck, Chip in "Chip 'n' Dale," and a baby giant in "The Smurfs."
Recently, MacNeille has taken on more roles in video games. "You have to die in so many different voices," she says. "Short, medium, long." Fortunately, MacNeille doesn't do screaming roles anymore. "I do acting!"
Click on the media player above to hear the full story. Tomorrow: part 2 of this series with Rob Paulsen.