Cool Careers
Tara Strong is an established voice actor with many impressive credits to her name. Among her signature characters are "Dil Pickles" from Rugrats, "Bubbles" from the Powerpuff Girls and "Timmy Turner" from the Fairly Odd Parents. 

Her newest character, "Dannan O'Mallard", stars in the PBS KIDS' critically acclaimed series Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks™.  Jakers! follows the adventures of Piggley Winks™, a spunky eight-year-old Irish pig, and his best friends Ferny the Bull and Dannan the Duck on Raloo Farm in the rural village of Tara, Ireland in the 1950s. While the intrepid trio are enjoying their escapades, American transplant Wiley the Sheep (voiced by Mel Brooks) is busy offering wild and woolly advice to his all-too-sheepish flock. Tara took time out of her busy schedule in the recording studio for the following Q&A. Read below...

How did you get involved with doing voiceovers? Is there any special requirements or skills needed?
I started doing animation when I was thirteen in Toronto. My first job was the voice of "Hello Kitty". You need to have a strong ear and strong acting skills. The ability to manipulate your voice is a great asset.

You voice many animated characters, do you have a favorite?
I have several favorites. "Melody" in the sequel to The Little Mermaid, "Spot" from 101 Dalmatians," "Timmy" on The Fairly Odd Parents and of course; little "Dannan"!!

Is doing voiceovers usually a one-time job or can you stay with voicing one character for a long period of time?
That's really on a show to show basis. Rugrats has been going on for over ten years and sometimes you just do a guest star on an existing show that never returns.

You also do live action acting in movies and television, which one do you prefer more: acting or doing voice-overs?
I really love my life. I get to play a million different characters, be totally carefree and silly and hang out with my friends. On-camera offers exciting places to travel and is a completely different art. I love them both, but lately it's been hard to schedule time for on-camera.

Voice-over is acting in a sense because you still need to show emotion through your voice, do you feel this makes it harder than live action acting?
It's definitely harder in some respects and easier in others. They are extremely different and just because you can do one doesn't mean you can do the other.

How much money can you make from doing voice-overs? Is this your full-time career?
It is my full time career and can be very lucrative if you work consistently.

You are also a mother, does this kind of work make it easier or harder to spend time with your child?
My job is very baby friendly; I bring him to the studios a lot.

How long does it usually take to do a voice-over for an animated character: in a movie? Video game? Television show?
A cartoon show can take twenty minutes or four hours. A movie can take a few days and a game can be over a few days depending on how large your role is.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to get started in this field?
Take as many acting lessons, improv classes and singing lessons you can. Practice doing all kinds of voices and experiment. Then check out our website! at www.voicestarz.com!

Being a rock star is probably one of the coolest careers, but I also think being an animated character is too? How cool is it to see your voice be the life to an animated character?
I think it's the coolest job in the world.

We always ask this question to our interviewees: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger?
That candy has a lot of calories.