Governor Marrow on Xombie Dead Ahead by James Farr
Voicing animated characters is something that has been in my blood since childhood, so it’s only natural that when I started working as a voice actor in voiceover, one of my very favourite things to do was to work on animation projects.
I grew up as an only child spending a lot of time alone, so I learned very early that I had to find ways to amuse myself. I was never bored or lonely! I read lots of books, had imaginary friends with whom I put on plays in my room, and my dog Twinkie a very compliant poodle, was co-opted into playing many parts, costumes and all! I would also sit on the floor in my room colouring, but not silently. Oh no! I would make all kinds of weird vocal noises: mimicking trains, buses, sirens, barnyard animals, and make up character conversations using different accents and voices that I imitated from TV shows and movies I’d seen. My mother’s tolerance for these vocal gymnastics was very limited, and somewhat disparagingly, she would call me Geraldine McBoingBoing, after a popular cartoon character, Gerald. Gerald McBoingBoing was the subject of an Oscar-winning, short animated film made before I was born, about a little boy who spoke through sound effects instead of words. The film was adapted from a story by Dr. Seuss, and as it happens, Dr. Seuss books were, and remain, among my very favourite children’s books of all time. Dr. Seuss was my first literary hero and his stories gave me fantastic opportunities to make up zany voices to match his characters. I can still remember the ones I developed for the Sneetches “with stars upon thars” (one of which sounded like Kermit the Frog long before he was even a tadpole) and Mrs. McCabe “who had 21 sons and she named them all Dave” ! Thinking of those stories always makes me smile. :-) Who knew that my quirky vocal pass-time was actually inspired by my literary hero and would end up being something I could use in my professional life as a voice actor in animation projects! Just goes to show you, there is no experience in life that is wasted! Of course where I’ve ended up wasn’t ALL due to childhood fantasies…I did take classes in NYC, such as acting with William Esper, speech/dialects with Timothy Monich, and voice with Albert Hague, then improv at Second City in Toronto…all training that was able to corral and tame my instincts with sold technique and discipline!
Recently, I happily completed work on episode two of an animated series on YouTube called Xombie Dead Ahead, conceived, written and drawn by James Farr. It’s a SciFi adventure, and I play a very severe commander of a colony, called Governor Marrow, with a “veddy propah” English accent! And I AM MEAN! So much fun to play a meanie!! Although the episodes are short, they’re very well drawn and the series has attracted a legion of dedicated fans breathlessly waiting for each new episode! I love playing this character because it harkens back to my days as Geraldine McBoingBoing when I made up voices and characters to amuse myself! You can check out the episode here: https://youtu.be/mA5R0QFQL1k?t=98. Thanks to James Farr for casting me and for allowing me to use a piece of his art as an illustration for this post!