Interview: Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial
by Chris Fey,
Voice actors Colleen Clinkenbeard and Monica Rial recently made themselves available to panel of press at Sakura-con. This was a group interview, so questions are not individually credited.
Interviewer: How did you get started?
Clinkenbeard : My roommate, Laura Balley from Fruits Basket, told me to do it. So I did
Rial: I just got talked into it by other VAs.
Interviewer: What can you tell us about Eclair (from Kiddy Grade)?
C: After Episode 8 the plot really kicks off in an interesting way. Epsiode 8 slaps you in the face, while Episode 11 kicks you in the groin. After watching this, you are going to want to rewatch from the beginning. The earlier episodes are episodic, but we get to see a lot of Eclair. She's a brat, a mommy, she really has a lot of character.
I: What else do you have in the works?
R: Not sure if I should say, but I am playing Amy in Case Closed.
C: I'm playing Rachel.
R: I like Cased Closed, it has a lot of episodes.
C: Job Security!
R: What we would also really like to do with a lot of episodes is Kodocha.
I: What can you say about dubbing at Funimation and ADV? You worked for both of them now.
R: At ADV we watched the entire anime then go thru the script line by line. At Funimation you get the script and go. It can be difficult without anything to play off of.
C: You get adjusted to it. I found out I was playing Eclair when I got to the booth to start recording for Kiddy Grade.
I: Cased Closed is going to be on television soon. Is this the first thing you have done to go to television?
R: Right now I have some stuff on the Anime Channel, Which is on-demand. Not like Case Closed which will be on Cartoon Network since May.
C: It will be my first televised series too. There's a big difference, it's a different work.
R: It's nice to work with most 24-26 episode series, but this one has 350+ episodes. It's fun and not dark and depressing and—
C: Job Security!
I: Now you both tend to play younger roles, do you get a chance to play roles your own age?
R: I played Nyamo-sensei (Azumanga Daioh), and Haruka (RahXephon). So I have been playing a bit older roles.
C: Never even on stage I played my own age. Eclair can feel quite a bit older though.
I: Monica, you've taken over some roles in Blue Seed, as Momiji, and Evangelion as Maya. What do you think about your roles compare to the previous actresses?
R: Blue Seed was harder. I watched it all in two days. Don't do that! It will hurt your head. People said I sounded just like Amanda when we started. I had to work on it and do my own approach to the character. As for Maya, I was the third Maya and I can't do the same voice. Nothing is the same from the first two Mayas. They were really low and doing that hurt my voice. But it was fun and I got to be in Eva. When they hired me it was either Maya or Pen-Pen.
C: The Penguin?
R: The Penguin.
I: You have both seen the con now, is there anything that really surprises you?
C: I went to Comic-Con. There is nothing offending me so far. Except of course for the people who dislike dubs, and I can understand that.
R: Oh yeah. I can get surprised at each and every con. Anyone that could scare me I have already seen. At a panel, one guy came up and asked "why do you suck so much?" The Japanese are so much better. Then he came up later and ask for an autograph.
I: Is there anything you want to do at the con?
R: Well I am going to Cosplay at a con near Halloween as a character of mine.
I: What is in the future for you two?
R: The Anime Network will eventually have its own programming and I would love to do with me and Dave a show about cons. Other than that, I am content with what is going on now.
C: I am really into and excited by what is going on at Funimation. But I am an actress and because of Conan I really can't do much.
I: Why do you act?
C: I am bad at Math and Science. And I get to be so many things when I act.
R: Yeah, I get to be so much when I do voice acting. Only when I do voice acting I can do so much and experience so many emotions.
C: Emotions are a drug, and acting lets me feel all of them from passion to hate and sadness. It something you never get the range of outside of acting.
Interviewer: How did you get started?
Clinkenbeard : My roommate, Laura Balley from Fruits Basket, told me to do it. So I did
Rial: I just got talked into it by other VAs.
Interviewer: What can you tell us about Eclair (from Kiddy Grade)?
C: After Episode 8 the plot really kicks off in an interesting way. Epsiode 8 slaps you in the face, while Episode 11 kicks you in the groin. After watching this, you are going to want to rewatch from the beginning. The earlier episodes are episodic, but we get to see a lot of Eclair. She's a brat, a mommy, she really has a lot of character.
I: What else do you have in the works?
R: Not sure if I should say, but I am playing Amy in Case Closed.
C: I'm playing Rachel.
R: I like Cased Closed, it has a lot of episodes.
C: Job Security!
R: What we would also really like to do with a lot of episodes is Kodocha.
I: What can you say about dubbing at Funimation and ADV? You worked for both of them now.
R: At ADV we watched the entire anime then go thru the script line by line. At Funimation you get the script and go. It can be difficult without anything to play off of.
C: You get adjusted to it. I found out I was playing Eclair when I got to the booth to start recording for Kiddy Grade.
I: Cased Closed is going to be on television soon. Is this the first thing you have done to go to television?
R: Right now I have some stuff on the Anime Channel, Which is on-demand. Not like Case Closed which will be on Cartoon Network since May.
C: It will be my first televised series too. There's a big difference, it's a different work.
R: It's nice to work with most 24-26 episode series, but this one has 350+ episodes. It's fun and not dark and depressing and—
C: Job Security!
I: Now you both tend to play younger roles, do you get a chance to play roles your own age?
R: I played Nyamo-sensei (Azumanga Daioh), and Haruka (RahXephon). So I have been playing a bit older roles.
C: Never even on stage I played my own age. Eclair can feel quite a bit older though.
I: Monica, you've taken over some roles in Blue Seed, as Momiji, and Evangelion as Maya. What do you think about your roles compare to the previous actresses?
R: Blue Seed was harder. I watched it all in two days. Don't do that! It will hurt your head. People said I sounded just like Amanda when we started. I had to work on it and do my own approach to the character. As for Maya, I was the third Maya and I can't do the same voice. Nothing is the same from the first two Mayas. They were really low and doing that hurt my voice. But it was fun and I got to be in Eva. When they hired me it was either Maya or Pen-Pen.
C: The Penguin?
R: The Penguin.
I: You have both seen the con now, is there anything that really surprises you?
C: I went to Comic-Con. There is nothing offending me so far. Except of course for the people who dislike dubs, and I can understand that.
R: Oh yeah. I can get surprised at each and every con. Anyone that could scare me I have already seen. At a panel, one guy came up and asked "why do you suck so much?" The Japanese are so much better. Then he came up later and ask for an autograph.
I: Is there anything you want to do at the con?
R: Well I am going to Cosplay at a con near Halloween as a character of mine.
I: What is in the future for you two?
R: The Anime Network will eventually have its own programming and I would love to do with me and Dave a show about cons. Other than that, I am content with what is going on now.
C: I am really into and excited by what is going on at Funimation. But I am an actress and because of Conan I really can't do much.
I: Why do you act?
C: I am bad at Math and Science. And I get to be so many things when I act.
R: Yeah, I get to be so much when I do voice acting. Only when I do voice acting I can do so much and experience so many emotions.
C: Emotions are a drug, and acting lets me feel all of them from passion to hate and sadness. It something you never get the range of outside of acting.
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