A few years ago, Colleen Clinkenbeard was looking for that big acting break after graduating from college. Since she made the connection with Funimation, Clinkenbeard has moved from acting to directing, and was one of the two voice directors on the ultra-successful Fullmetal Alchemist series. Now, she'd like to make a few changes in her career. "At the moment, my goal is weaning myself off directing and concentrating on producing and acting," she said. "I'm doing a lot more voice acting - I'm so madly in love in with the acting part that i don't mind the auditions. I don't consider directing my forte. I think that acting is where I'm more solid, and producing keeps my hands in the mix. With the directing, it's a micromanaging style. With artists, I get stressed out and I end up living at Funimation and making my actors crazy." Not that Clinkenbeard hasn't been successful as a director, especially with the Alchemist series, which she described as "seamless and so cohesive and beautiful...we're looking for the next Alchemist."

That series might be Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, the Clamp which Clinkenbeard is directing (and which she takes the role of Yuko). Both the Japanese and English versions of Tsubasa have all-star voice casts - Miyu Irino and Maaya Sakamoto in the Japanese cast, Carrie Savage and Taliesin Jaffe in the English cast. Clinkenbeard was especially pleased with Savage's high-pitched, chatty performance as Mokona in Tsubasa. In turn, one of Clinkenbeard's previous directing jobs, on the Moon Phase series, led to some casting decisions on Tsubasa, because she recalled the Moon Phase performances and all but used them as auditions for Tsubasa. As with Mama in Kodocha, took the Yuko role because "They're the only two women I couldn't actually explain to an actor in the booth. Mama was not normal, and its very difficult to direct that. There have been other characters where I end up finding people who can do that," such as Monica Rial or Laura Bailey, both who are part of the Tsubasa cast.