With a strong talent and a passion for her work, Karen Strassman is the perfect leading lady in Anime and Games. She is also well diverse in the French language. With an impressive resume that showcases her achievements in games and anime, Karen Strassman continues to work hard in voice acting. Recently, she took time from her extremely busy schedule to speak one on one with me in this ultra cool spotlight. Enjoy!
Noreé: Well, let's get started with the interview; what prompted you in life to want to pursue a career in voice acting?
Karen: It actually all happened by accident. I was living in Paris, France pursuing studies in theatre and psychology and working as an actor and dialect coach at the same time. On the side, I was teaching classes for French children to learn or improve their English through learning and performing scenes in English. Some publishers of a new kids magazine called "Hi Kids!" aimed to help French kids learn English in a fun way came to watch my classes.
They came up to me afterwards and asked me if they could hire me to record voices for the cassettes that would accompany the magazine. I worked for them for a few years, recording every type of voice under the sun while I was continuing with my TV, film, and theatre career there. Then, I just kind of
fell into dubbing French films into English and then I started getting hired to do tons of cartoon series, then commercials and video games, and so on... it just sort of happened (even though it still involved
a certain amount of auditioning, footwork and learning), but it was never really my goal or plan. Before all of that, I actually had never even thought about voice acting!
Noreé: How old were you when you first started working in the industry?
Karen: twenty-one.
Noreé: What was your first gig as a Voice Actress?
Karen: The one I described before, for the French/English magazine called "Hi Kids!" Another big job that followed was dubbing the voice of lead actress Sydney Penny into English for Jean Delannoy's beautiful and epic film, La Passion de Bernadette. I worked with a wonderful voice-over director named Ed Marcus, who was incredibly patient in teaching me the art of lip synch. Ed was
responsible for hiring me on many many jobs in France after that, both for live action dubs and many animated series. I will be forever grateful to him for his generosity to me.
Noreé: You have had some big roles in some successful series. What are some of your favorite roles?
Karen: I'd say my favorite role is Nina in Monster, which we are still recording right now. The acting is very real and gritty, not cartoony at all. She is such a beautiful and tragic character with a really
powerful character arc, and I enjoy every second of time spent giving a voice to this moving character, and she teaches me a lot about courage.
My second favorite role would be Queen Delphine from last exile and after that I would say Miyuki from Lucky Star and also Shinonora from Gun Frontier and Zhalia Moon in Huntik.
Noreé: My favorite role of yours is Kallen Standtfield from Code Geass.
Karen: Thank you!
Noreé: What preparations went into doing this role?
Karen: No specific preparations and I didn't even know too much about it. I just dove into it following director Kevin Seymore's lead. He knows this complex show so very well, and I just learned about Kallen's path and conflicted identity little by little as we would uncover her path, show by show.
Noreé: What drew you to this series?
Karen: Kevin Seymore invited me to audition for the role, and cast me in it; It was more because of his vision then mine!
Noreé: Which one of the characters you've done do you think is most like you?
Karen: That's a hard question. Probably, it would be Miyuki from Lucky Star because of her shyness, self consciousness and awkward clumsiness and naiveté. Even though she's smart, she's kind of clueless sometimes, and boy, can I relate to that!
Noreé: Would you consider yourself an anime fan? If so, what is your favorite series and why?
Karen: No, I wouldn't really consider myself an anime fan. As mentioned above, I'm kind of clueless... :) I love all the voice work I get to do on anime series -- that to me is much more fun that watching
them. This is the same for video games. I have more fun than I can say recording all the video games that I do, but I don't think I've ever played one in my life! Clueless, just clueless...
Noreé: Have you ever thought of producing your own series? If so how would the series look? What type of characters would dominate the show?
Karen: Never thought of it. But if I did, I would definitely want to do a very realistic and gritty series like monster. Or maybe something a little esoteric artsy like Haibane Renmei...
Noreé: How do you handle the competition when it comes to getting roles?
Karen: I believe that there is enough work to go around. In my many years in the business, I have always had enough work -- I've always somehow been taken care of in that way. But, I do also like to look at having competition as a way to not get lazy and do everything I can to be the best I can be.
Noreé: Have you ever been passed up on a role that you really wanted?
Karen: I don't think I've ever passed on a role that I really wanted. But, I have certainly not always been cast in every role I ever wanted to do...
Noreé: How do you handle rejection?
Karen: Professional rejection is such an integral part of this business (which must be separated from personal rejection). As actors, we are constantly auditioning, and the percentage of roles we book is very small compared to the number of auditions we do. And so often whether or not we get cast really doesn't have anything to do with our talent (often they just want peach and you are blueberry), and it's really important not to take it personally.
It's just part of our work. You audition for something, put everything you can into it, and then you
have to move on. I will sometimes spend some time thinking about what I wish I could have done better, if I'm not happy with myself, so I can make sure to learn from it and do better next time. But
ultimately, you just have to let it go and keep moving forward and loving the process (I know it sounds cliché, but I think it's true). And then, when you do get the call saying you booked something, it's
icing on the cake!
Noreé: Finally, what's next for Karen Strassman?
Karen: Check out Monster and Huntik -- two great new shows!
Thanks for all your support, and may you all have the opportunity to dive into the things that bring you joy and a sense of vitality...
