By: Paul Medina
Veteran voice actress Rebecca Davis got East Los Angeles College Theater Arts students and guests to speak in various characters.
The workshop, in collaboration with Professor Vanessa Mizzone Pelligrini’s advanced voice class, presented Rebecca Davis, a veteran voice actress whose career spans decades.
Davis’ past filmography includes credits on “The Incredibles 2,” “Lego Friends” and “How I Met Your Mother.”
“Voice over is so much more than a voice, it all comes from acting,” Davis said.
“A lot of people think of animation and commercials, although commercial television versus radio is totally different there are promos for shows versus trailers for movies, different, but still in the same category,” she said.
A mock voiceover session occurred between Davis and student Rei Zhu. Davis stressed the importance of bringing the script to life by adding character choices which make the character more realistic.
Davis gave vocal advice to the students. “Warming up is key, you have to be ready, articulate and with your throat ready,” Davis said.
Keeping up with commercials is important. “Don’t skip on your DVR watch every single commercial, because trends change, now it’s very laid back as opposed to how it was seven years ago,” Davis said.
Davis said when someone is booked for a session, they can voice several characters, not just one. “I love playing multiple roles,” Davis said.
Davis talked about Nickelodeon’s animated comedy, “The Casagrandes,” where every character in the series is played and voiced by a Latino.
“If the character is a person of color, they want it to be authentic,” Davis said. She said that more ethnic representation is slowly increasing in voiceover acting.
For more information on voice acting courses contact Vanessa Mizzone Pelligrini at vmizzone@gmail.com or department chair Lisa Hashimoto Stone at stonelh@elac.edu.