Nancy Cartwright.

Dear Fans,

For the past several months, I have been branching out and asking my industry friends to give me their insider takes. I have been focusing on subjects that professionals need to have some knowledge of, and have been getting opinions from a wide range of specialties and hats in the business.

Twice Annie Award-nominated Candi Milo is just about the hottest female voice talent in Hollywood, with 20 shows either on air or in development. Some of her well-known roles include Madame Foster, Cheese and Coco in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; Maya and Tito in Maya & Miguel; Gabby and Melba on Pet Alien; and the title character in the American series version of Astro Boy. Feature roles include twelve characters' voices in Ralph Bakshi's 1992 Cool World.

Nancy Cartwright: You began your career as a singer. Tell me about your early years as a "young professional."

Candy Milo: I began as a singer when I was three. There's a story: My mom says that my dad was performing in San Francisco at Turk Murphy's in 1964 and went to introduce his family from the stage. When he got to me, I was gone. I was behind him. I had walked up through the audience and into the wings, and a stagehand let me walk onto the stage. I assumed he was introducing me for my big number and told him so. Apparently, that brought down the house, as did our duet Me and My Shadow. From there, starting as young as 11, I did lead roles in children's musical theater, always trying to find an outlet for a burning desire to be on stage in San Jose, CA. When they opened Great America, a theme park, I was right there in line, ready to sing my heart out. I was their youngest performer ever hired and performed six live shows a day, six days a week. Unbelievable training. Same thing with Disney Florida, where I began as an All-American College Player. My roommate was actress Vicky Lewis. Again, unbelievable training. Zero income! Hah!

From there I moved rapidly forward in singing: Princess Cruises (again youngest performer ever hired); first national tour of Tony Award-winning musical Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holiday and directed by Michael Bennett; a recording deal with Jimmie J.J. Walker; several musicals in LA -- including the backers' performance of To Sir With Love starring Stephanie Mills and directed by the legendary Ken Page.

The whole business changed with the onset of MTV and Madonna. The only gigs open to "big-voiced singers" were as backups on tour, and I just wasn't the nomadic type -- okay, and I can't sing harmony. So I moved into TV and film and then stand-up and the commercials.

Candi Milo.

NC: I checked your listing in imdb.com and was so amazed that you have created more than 200 cartoon characters! What is your technique for creating so many vastly different characters? Do you base them on friends? Family? The quirky neighbors who live down the street?

CM: When I see the artist's rendering of any character, it speaks to me and tells me what it should sound like. And because no two drawings are ever alike, no two of my characters are ever alike. I pride myself on creating a full life for each person I voice. And yes... as a matter of fact, many of the zanies I do are based on people I have had the honor of knowing. You know that my parents ran one of California's first board and care homes for the mentally and emotionally challenged -- and many of those people are still with me today! I think this is why I grin when a director says, "Uh, Candi? Can you make him/her a little less cartoon-y? A little more real?" Everyone I do is real. My reality is just a tad different than theirs! Ha ha!

NC: Who gave you your "big break" in the voice-over industry?

CM: Steven Spielberg gave me my first big break. The story is -- yes, another one -- I didn't want to audition for Tiny Toon Adventures. I didn't want to do voices. I wanted to sing. So when William Morris spotted me at a nightclub doing my act in 1985 (singing and stand-up) and said they wanted to represent me -- I thought, "Woo Hoo! I have arrived! When do we record the album?!" When I looked at the business card and it said "Voiceover Department" I tossed it out and laid on the floor of my apartment in the crucifix position crying for three days. Needless to say, I got over it. In 1988 I went to the Tiny Toons audition. Read a children's fable, The Three Little Pigs, but made the wolf kosher and the three pigs suicidal, and booked the job.

When I left the booth, I spotted Steven Spielberg in the back of the control room. He came out and kissed my hand and told me I was born for cartoons. I decided to take it as a compliment!

I originally booked three lead characters on the show -- a bird, a duck and a skunk -- but ended up just voicing the bird, Sweetie. I had a ball. And the recording sessions proved Mr. Spielberg correct, I was born to be in that room. Loved it. It was like singing, mixing voice work and comedy and acting.