VAM 173 | Interview with Lisa Ortiz, Part 2
Welcome to episode 173 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with voice actress and voice director, Lisa Ortiz! Lisa has worked on such seminal anime series as Record of Lodoss War, The Slayers, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the Irresponsible Captain Tylor. She’s also played many characters in Pokemon in addition to voice directing over 150 episodes of the show! Lisa and I started voice acting in anime in the late 1990’s, but whereas I moved to Los Angeles in late 2001, Lisa has only recently moved to LA in late 2019 after having spent the previous years pursuing voice acting and voice directing in New York City! I’ve been eager to get Lisa on the podcast to share her East Coast perspective on voice acting for those of my listeners who may reside closer to the Big Apple than to Southern California!
As we dive deeper into our discussion, I ask what inspired Lisa to become a performer in the first place. It turns out we both got into acting for very similar reasons! Lisa’s primary motivation for pursuing acting was to understand people better. She was shy when she was young and found acting to be a useful way to help her understand other people’s psychologies and motivations. I too was an incredibly shy person who didn’t always understand the emotional physics of how people related to each other. Role playing as different characters in different situations gave me a safe space to explore both my own psyche, as well as the psychology of other people so I could relate to them more effectively.
Another huge influence on Lisa was the public library system. Her family lived on Long Island in NY when she was young and they didn’t have a large budget for entertainment. Lisa’s mother would often take her daughter to the library where Lisa was able to explore not only literature, but all the audio and video resources in the library as well, including recordings of famous Broadway shows! The public library was an invaluable resource to Lisa. It allowed her to learn about storytelling in ways that never would’ve been available to her without it. Access to such a wealth of literature, plays, and music, whetted Lisa’s appetite for more and inspired her to apply her knowledge of story to performing on stage.
As our conversation comes to a close, Lisa shares with me her advice for the aspiring voice actor, including how important it is to develop good vocal technique in order to avoid damaging the very fragile instrument that is your voice! She also stresses the importance of finding a physicality for your character. Rooting your performance in your body will always help your acting sound more authentic and less pre-meditated. Lisa’s got some great insight into the actor’s process in this episode, and I’m eager to share her wisdom with you!
Also, it turns out that the 10th anniversary of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast is rapidly approaching! I released my first episode way back on July 1st, 2011, and it has always been my goal to provide the most concise and useful content when it comes to this topic that we all love.
In honor of the podcast’s 10th anniversary, I would so appreciate it if any of my listeners would be willing to call in and leave a message about how Voice Acting Mastery has influenced your own acting journey or any other part of your life. I’d like to feature some of these messages and respond to them in the 10th anniversary episode in July.
You can leave a voicemail by calling 323-696-2655. Please remember to state your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from before leaving your message. Thanks again for listening and as always, I wish you all the best in your voice acting endeavors. Take care!