Anime
Expo had several Japanese actors as guests of the convention and of the
anime industry groups who attended, but there also were some English-language
actors on hand, and they met fans on Friday. From left to right they're
Jason Lee and Amanda Winn Lee (Amanda said she planned to start directing
the dubbing sessions for the Neon Genesis Evangelion movies immediately
following this convention); Sue Ulu, actor in AD Vision films who was making
her convention debut; Taliesin Jaffee of New Generation Pictures, Mariette
Studer, who was the English-language voice of Lime in Saber Marionette
J, and Jonathan Osborne, who has progressed from bit parts to featured
roles.
Ulu
said she got her start at AD Vision in 1996 when she got a chance to audition
for producer Matt Greenfield. "I had not a clue what I was doing," she
joked. "I was doing on-camera work at the time. Voice-over is better because
you don't have to wear makeup." Ulu has gone on to have roles in many ADV
films, with one of the best known being her part in the new Dirty Pair
series. With the large number of new titles that ADV announced at Anime
Expo, along with plans to construct a second dubbing studio in the Houston
area to join their current Houston, Texas facility and the ADV studio in
Austin, Texas, Ulu could have dozens of additional roles in the next few
years.
Studer
is an English-language actor, but she was the only person in this group
who was from Canada, specifically from Calgary, Alberta. In one of the
rare appearances of a voice dubbing company in her part of western Canada
(most Canadian voice work is handled in Toronto or Vancouver), she auditioned
for a role and got the part. Studer noted that actors have to warm up for
their dubbing sessions in the way an athlete warms up for a ball game,
especially for a loud role that requires a lot of shouting. And Canadian
actors face an additional challenge; they usually have to sound like Americans
(usually the Midwestern U.S. accent, considered a "neutral" accent to most
Americans). However, Canadians have a slightly different way of speaking
English, especially the drawn-out "oo" in words like "out," and Studer
has to be careful she gets that pronunciation to match what Americans expect.
When
fans asked how they could become voice actors, Amanda Winn Lee recommended
acting lessons, but emphasized that the lessons should be part of a wide-ranging
liberal arts college education. That background is necessary to prepare
actors for the largest number of situations and roles they may face, she
said. Jaffe tells a fascinating story about acting lessons and how they
led to a new, unknown actor getting the lead role in one of his dub productions.
He was preparing to dub the Amazing Nurse Nanako series and was trying
to find an actor who could handle the two sides of the role, from ditzy
on one hand to calm and loving on the other. Jaffee was perplexed about
finding the actor for that role, and just happened to take the Nanako script
with him to an acting class he teaches. He gave the script to a young student
to read, and that student gave a perfect rendering of the role, sight unseen.
Jaffee then cast that student, Mariah Martin, as Nanako - who got a lead
role in her first anime dub production.
Anime
Expo had several Japanese actors as guests of the convention and of the
anime industry groups who attended, but there also were some English-language
actors on hand, and they met fans on Friday. From left to right they're
Jason Lee and Amanda Winn Lee (Amanda said she planned to start directing
the dubbing sessions for the Neon Genesis Evangelion movies immediately
following this convention); Sue Ulu, actor in AD Vision films who was making
her convention debut; Taliesin Jaffee of New Generation Pictures, Mariette
Studer, who was the English-language voice of Lime in Saber Marionette
J, and Jonathan Osborne, who has progressed from bit parts to featured
roles.
Ulu
said she got her start at AD Vision in 1996 when she got a chance to audition
for producer Matt Greenfield. "I had not a clue what I was doing," she
joked. "I was doing on-camera work at the time. Voice-over is better because
you don't have to wear makeup." Ulu has gone on to have roles in many ADV
films, with one of the best known being her part in the new Dirty Pair
series. With the large number of new titles that ADV announced at Anime
Expo, along with plans to construct a second dubbing studio in the Houston
area to join their current Houston, Texas facility and the ADV studio in
Austin, Texas, Ulu could have dozens of additional roles in the next few
years.
Studer
is an English-language actor, but she was the only person in this group
who was from Canada, specifically from Calgary, Alberta. In one of the
rare appearances of a voice dubbing company in her part of western Canada
(most Canadian voice work is handled in Toronto or Vancouver), she auditioned
for a role and got the part. Studer noted that actors have to warm up for
their dubbing sessions in the way an athlete warms up for a ball game,
especially for a loud role that requires a lot of shouting. And Canadian
actors face an additional challenge; they usually have to sound like Americans
(usually the Midwestern U.S. accent, considered a "neutral" accent to most
Americans). However, Canadians have a slightly different way of speaking
English, especially the drawn-out "oo" in words like "out," and Studer
has to be careful she gets that pronunciation to match what Americans expect.
When
fans asked how they could become voice actors, Amanda Winn Lee recommended
acting lessons, but emphasized that the lessons should be part of a wide-ranging
liberal arts college education. That background is necessary to prepare
actors for the largest number of situations and roles they may face, she
said. Jaffe tells a fascinating story about acting lessons and how they
led to a new, unknown actor getting the lead role in one of his dub productions.
He was preparing to dub the Amazing Nurse Nanako series and was trying
to find an actor who could handle the two sides of the role, from ditzy
on one hand to calm and loving on the other. Jaffee was perplexed about
finding the actor for that role, and just happened to take the Nanako script
with him to an acting class he teaches. He gave the script to a young student
to read, and that student gave a perfect rendering of the role, sight unseen.
Jaffee then cast that student, Mariah Martin, as Nanako - who got a lead
role in her first anime dub production.
