Tell us about growing up in the 80’s and 90’s and what pop culture you were influenced by?

For what little time I spent being alive in the 80s, I loved The Silver Hawks, She-Ra, Popples, and Rainbow Bright.  In the 90s, my interests shifted to Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers.  That was my favorite cartoon theme song ever.  I still bust out with it sometimes.  I also loved Rocko’s Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, Doug (also a great theme song), and Hey Arnold (that one had great music overall).

We all know the infamous story of you having a boyfriend who was into DBZ, was that your first exposure to Anime?

I guess The Silver Hawks would technically have been my first exposure to it.  It wasn’t until Toonami, though, that I knew the difference.  I preferred Gundam Wing.  It wasn’t until a cute boy told me to watch DBZ that I did.  It never appealed to me before that.

What was going through your mind during the open audition at Funimation? What were you asked to do? Did you have any inkling it would turn into a career?

My first audition was actually for Case Closed.  I was called in to voice Conan, and I thought, ‘Wow, I made it’.  However, I was in music school at the time, and my instrument was voice.  Becuase of that I couldn’t yell or do anything else too taxing on my voice, so they gave to part to Alison instead - who was fabulous!  After that I did bit parts for about a year before landing the part of Nina tucker in FMA and Elsa in Gunslinger Girl.  Then another year passed and I thought, ‘Huh, I guess I’m just not cut out for voice acting.’  Then I got Yue in Negima right when I was ready to throw in the towel.  The rest is history, I guess.  Honestly, I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I graduated and I could scream again!

For your age you have moved quickly into the rising ranks of the anime world. What do you credit this speedy trajectory to?

I guess I don’t feel like it was that fast since I was just waiting around for 2 years.  Then again I think I was the youngest director at Funimation when I first started.  I guess it was just a matter of being humble and really listening to people.  There are a lot of newer voice actors that tend to come in with an attitude of entitlement because they know a lot about anime or they’ve done a lot of film/stage acting.  If you come in with an arrogant attitude like that, you’ll never make it.  As a director, if there’s a role I need to cast, and it’s between someone who is amazingly talented but annoying to work with and someone who’s not quite as good but a pleasure to work with, I will always choose the second person.  It’s not worth the headache to cast the other person.

How do you prepare for a new voice acting job? Is it up to you to interpret what the voice will sound like?

Usually you just do whatever voice you auditioned with.  It’s up to the director to tweak it to their preference.  Always listen to your director!

Can you describe how you act when you are recording in the studio? Jumping around? Gesticulating? Etc. Do you dress a certain way? Bring any props?

I’ve *never* brought props to a recording session.  I usually just bring a water bottle.  I typically dress however I would normally dress.  If you’ve ever seen me at a convention, that’s usually how I look at work, too.  My attitude in the booth usually depends on the character.  Strangely enough, I’m more calm in between takes if it’s a high energy character and more energetic in between takes if it’s a quiet character.  The reasoning is, if it’s a character that requires a lot of energy, I want to preserve my energy so as not to get fatigued to easily.  If it’s a quiet character, I try to pump myself up between takes so the character doesn’t slowly become more and more dead.

Have you done work in front of the camera as an actress?

I’ve recently been cast in an industrial and a short film, so the answer will be yes in 2 months.

Who are some of your good friends in the Anime industry?

I’m getting married in September and Leah Clark is my Maid of Honor; Colleen Clinkenbeard, Trina Nishimura, and Kristi Bingham (she’s done a lot of bit acting at Funimation recently) are all bridesmaids; Jamie Marchi and Stephanie Young threw me a bridal shower, and probably half of my guest list is from Funimation.  I’m pretty tight with a lot of folks there.  There’s too many to name.

Has the recession impacted your work load?

It has, primarily in the commercial part of my voice acting.  There’s very little commercial work going on these days.

Have you ever rejected offers to lend your voice to a character due to a moral issue?

No.  I did refuse to say a line in Shin Chan because I thought it was too offensive, but Zach Bolton (the director) didn’t want me to say it either so there wasn’t a conflict.

And now for our bonus round of questions. Pick an answer and feel free to embellish.

*Anime or Manga*

Anime, because it pays me, duh.

*Rock or Rap*

Rock, though I like rap, too.

*Pancakes or Waffles*

Waffles because they have those little pockets that soak up the syrup, yum!

*Blackberry or Iphone*

iPhone, I’m a Mac girl.

*Dog or Cat*

Cat, I’m way too irresponsible for a dog right now.

*Myspace or Facebook*

Facebook, it has a better iPhone app.

*Horror or Sci-Fi*

A combination of both!

*Vanilla or Chocolate*

Chocolate, it is my drug of choice.

*Cnn or Fox News*

CNN, though I get most of my news from the New York Times.  Fox News can be entertaining when I feel like laughing at the ultra-religious, right-winged conservatives.