When
you hear anime dub studios say they're always looking for new talent,
Caitlin Glass is an example of the actors they seek. Glass said she got
her break at Funimation when she went on a tour of the company's Fort
Worth studios. When one of Funimation's directors heard that Glass had
been a theater major at the University of Texas at Arlington, she was
asked to go into a booth and read a line. That's how her dub acting
career started, which led to her first anime convention panel
appearance at AnimeFEST. "A half hour ago I signed my first autograph,"
Glass said. "I was so excited I almost peed my pants." Starting as a
voice actors hasn't been easy for Glass, who remembered a session where
she kept missing her cues to begin her lines; a sympathetic director
calmed her by saying that everyone makes the same mistake. Then there
was a Full Metal Alchemist session where she had to scream and cry.
"One part would be good and another would be terrible." Eventually,
Glass got so frustrated that, not acting this time, "I screamed and
bawled in the booth - but that turned out to be good because I
had to cry and scream through the rest of the episode."
Brianne
Siddall worked hard to establish herself as the fun-loving troublemaker
of the acting contingent. She chased off one actor at a Saturday panel
by spraying water on him when he tried to speak, and another actor had
to play out scenes with Siddall to keep her under control. That's not
surprising for a person who owns a parrot, even if that bird helped
lead to one of her best performances. Siddall dubbed Fifi, the cute
robot in the Metropolis movie based on Osama Tezuka's works, and the
robot's odd noises came from imitating her parrot. The bird who
inspired Fifi is Siddall's second parrot; the first, now-departed pet
helped her develop her acting by giving her voices and noises to
imitate. The bird- inspired training paid off when "I was going to
college and I was actually sick and I had a 102-degree temperature, and
a guy said `You have to come out and audition, you do all of these
crazy voices.' As for the rest of the "foley" sound effects that dub
actors must make, "I have two older brothers who used to beat the crap
out of when when I was a kid, so I did a lot of screaming."
Johnny
Yong Bosch, whose walk-around personality is as quiet as his Vash and
Kaneda performances are loud, stays busy with live-action film projects
such as the independent, low-budget Bloody Boy, a movie that was
written by an woman who played one of the Power Rangers while Bosch was
working on that series. "I'm the type of person who always has to be
doing something," Bosch said. "If I'm not doing something, I don't feel
productive." This understated gentleman actor had to be coaxed into
admitting a recording booth quirk: "I prefer to stand. I prefer to have
my thumbs in my belt loops - it's kind of stupid" usually after i say
my line and they've got it, I keep repeating it and they say `We got
it, Johnny.' "
Jamie
McGonnigal was the top representative of the New York dub acting
community at the convention. Here, McGonnigal is seen signing autographs
along with Vic Mignogna, Monica Rial and Kyle Hebert. Later in the
weekend, McGonnigal appeared with Bosch and others on a panel discussing
censorship in anime. The discussion immediately turned to sex and
violence; McGonnigal said he thinks viewing choices should be a personal
decision, although he wonders about the male-fantasy nature of much
adult anime. McGonnigal also noted that much of that adult anime is
dubbed in the New York area (and no one will ever admit to dubbing it).
When it comes to anime dubbing where people want to be credited,
McGonnigal said at another panel that he got his start from his musical
theater work in New York. another theatrical actor started his own
dubbing studio and started recruiting actors that he knew, and
McGonnigal's name was thrown into the mix, thanks to actor Lisa Ortiz.
McGonnigal said he still has a warm spot in his heart for the Barbarian
Moron online animation in which he acted, but that parody was normal
when compared to his role in Gokusen, the anime where a yazuka princess
becomes a high school teacher. (Maybe Gokusen really was Brianne
Siddall, who kept splashing Jamie at one panel.)
Mike
McFarland, actor and director in Funimation dubs, is shown on the left
(too bad you can't see he's wearing a Charlie Brown shirt). Funimation
was the home team for AnimeFEST, and McFarland was part of a big
collection of company representatives who told how things get done at
the Fort Worth anime importing company. Before his acting career,
McFarland kept busy with radio advertisements, but anime dubs are more
fun. "I loved it from the getgo," McFarland said about his dub career.
"It was easy to get used to the lead-in and the timing. I thought it
was adding a challenge on top of something that's already challenging.
I had a great time with it - as long as we've had anime in Dallas I've
been doing it and I love it." That radio work led to McFarland's anime
work; he was part of a touring troupe that grew out of a kids' TV show
in the Fort Worth area, and Funimation noticed the show and got him to
work for them.
When
you hear anime dub studios say they're always looking for new talent,
Caitlin Glass is an example of the actors they seek. Glass said she got
her break at Funimation when she went on a tour of the company's Fort
Worth studios. When one of Funimation's directors heard that Glass had
been a theater major at the University of Texas at Arlington, she was
asked to go into a booth and read a line. That's how her dub acting
career started, which led to her first anime convention panel
appearance at AnimeFEST. "A half hour ago I signed my first autograph,"
Glass said. "I was so excited I almost peed my pants." Starting as a
voice actors hasn't been easy for Glass, who remembered a session where
she kept missing her cues to begin her lines; a sympathetic director
calmed her by saying that everyone makes the same mistake. Then there
was a Full Metal Alchemist session where she had to scream and cry.
"One part would be good and another would be terrible." Eventually,
Glass got so frustrated that, not acting this time, "I screamed and
bawled in the booth - but that turned out to be good because I
had to cry and scream through the rest of the episode."
Brianne
Siddall worked hard to establish herself as the fun-loving troublemaker
of the acting contingent. She chased off one actor at a Saturday panel
by spraying water on him when he tried to speak, and another actor had
to play out scenes with Siddall to keep her under control. That's not
surprising for a person who owns a parrot, even if that bird helped
lead to one of her best performances. Siddall dubbed Fifi, the cute
robot in the Metropolis movie based on Osama Tezuka's works, and the
robot's odd noises came from imitating her parrot. The bird who
inspired Fifi is Siddall's second parrot; the first, now-departed pet
helped her develop her acting by giving her voices and noises to
imitate. The bird- inspired training paid off when "I was going to
college and I was actually sick and I had a 102-degree temperature, and
a guy said `You have to come out and audition, you do all of these
crazy voices.' As for the rest of the "foley" sound effects that dub
actors must make, "I have two older brothers who used to beat the crap
out of when when I was a kid, so I did a lot of screaming."
Johnny
Yong Bosch, whose walk-around personality is as quiet as his Vash and
Kaneda performances are loud, stays busy with live-action film projects
such as the independent, low-budget Bloody Boy, a movie that was
written by an woman who played one of the Power Rangers while Bosch was
working on that series. "I'm the type of person who always has to be
doing something," Bosch said. "If I'm not doing something, I don't feel
productive." This understated gentleman actor had to be coaxed into
admitting a recording booth quirk: "I prefer to stand. I prefer to have
my thumbs in my belt loops - it's kind of stupid" usually after i say
my line and they've got it, I keep repeating it and they say `We got
it, Johnny.' "
Jamie
McGonnigal was the top representative of the New York dub acting
community at the convention. Here, McGonnigal is seen signing autographs
along with Vic Mignogna, Monica Rial and Kyle Hebert. Later in the
weekend, McGonnigal appeared with Bosch and others on a panel discussing
censorship in anime. The discussion immediately turned to sex and
violence; McGonnigal said he thinks viewing choices should be a personal
decision, although he wonders about the male-fantasy nature of much
adult anime. McGonnigal also noted that much of that adult anime is
dubbed in the New York area (and no one will ever admit to dubbing it).
When it comes to anime dubbing where people want to be credited,
McGonnigal said at another panel that he got his start from his musical
theater work in New York. another theatrical actor started his own
dubbing studio and started recruiting actors that he knew, and
McGonnigal's name was thrown into the mix, thanks to actor Lisa Ortiz.
McGonnigal said he still has a warm spot in his heart for the Barbarian
Moron online animation in which he acted, but that parody was normal
when compared to his role in Gokusen, the anime where a yazuka princess
becomes a high school teacher. (Maybe Gokusen really was Brianne
Siddall, who kept splashing Jamie at one panel.) 
Mike
McFarland, actor and director in Funimation dubs, is shown on the left
(too bad you can't see he's wearing a Charlie Brown shirt). Funimation
was the home team for AnimeFEST, and McFarland was part of a big
collection of company representatives who told how things get done at
the Fort Worth anime importing company. Before his acting career,
McFarland kept busy with radio advertisements, but anime dubs are more
fun. "I loved it from the getgo," McFarland said about his dub career.
"It was easy to get used to the lead-in and the timing. I thought it
was adding a challenge on top of something that's already challenging.
I had a great time with it - as long as we've had anime in Dallas I've
been doing it and I love it." That radio work led to McFarland's anime
work; he was part of a touring troupe that grew out of a kids' TV show
in the Fort Worth area, and Funimation noticed the show and got him to
work for them. 
