Nancy Cartwright.

Tress MacNeille provides voices for many popular and classic animated series and features, radio and television commercials, narrations, video and computer games, trailers and promos. She is Babs Bunny, Dot Warner, Daisy Duck, Merriwether, The Queen of Hearts, Chip (of… and Dale), many other Disney classic voices, Wilma Flintstone, Rosie The Robot, Agnes Skinner, The Cat Lady, Dolph, Brandine, Cookie Kwan( among many others) in The Simpsons, Mom(and many others) in Futurama, Charlotte Pickles (Rugrats).Tress is a California native, a UC Berkeley grad and a proud member of a large, happy and supportive family.

Nancy Cartwright: Tell me about your early years. Did you always want to do voice-overs?

Tress McNeille: I wanted to do cartoon voices from about the age of eight, I'd say. Among the many shows that inspired me were Gerald McBoing-Boing, Beanie and Cecil, Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, the Warner Bros. classic cartoons, anything Disney and the wonderful Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. I also wanted to be an artist, wear a smock and live in an atelier. Then I moved on to the more "practical" ambitions -- baker, disc jockey, doctor and, of course, lawyer. Even as a child I thought I could never get into show business. I had no connections and nobody else I knew did either! So -- it was on to the fifth grade and on with my life. Meanwhile, my Boo Boo Bear impression was getting better and better.

After college I did finally get to broadcasting school and became a deejay. Then I discovered voice over!

NC: Your first part back 1979 was Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo. Tell me how you got that first job. Did you make any decisions because of it?

TM: My first animation job came after I'd been doing radio spots, some TV, demos, sound-alikes, industrial narrations -- anything that came my way for about two years. It would be almost four more years before I was ever a true series regular. Bob Lloyd (The Voicecaster) and Rita Vennari at SBV [Talent Agency] were my true champions and got me the job. Gordon Hunt directed Scooby Doo, and all the other shows it seemed, at Hanna Barbera. It was a blast and I just had to do more! Adding cartoon voices to the quiver gave me great confidence and helped me believe that I might be able to do voice-over professionally. I was still working at night, taking workshops, joined The Groundlings and was a casting assistant for Bob Lloyd. Working for Bob was The University of Voice-over. I thank him every day.

NC: You have one of the largest libraries of voice-over work of anyone in the industry with 227 series' credits to your name. What is your technique aka "secret" for creating so many different characters? Are they based on friends, relatives, the guy who lives down the street?

TM: Creating characters and doing impressions is an ability that may have to come naturally, I think. Kind of a predisposition, perhaps. The characters that I do all come from people in my own life -- as well as the material I've stolen from my friends!

NC: You have had the opportunity to work with some of the pioneers in the v.o. industry, including Joanie Gerber, Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, etc. Who are your v.o." heroes"?

TM: There are so many fabulous people that I've had the honor of working with and ripping off that it's almost impossible for me to list them! I love them all!