© Kath Soucie

I am delightedto have the opportunity to brag about what a great job I have. I absolutely love this part of the entertainment industry and, quite frankly, I'm feeling terribly clever for having stumbled across it in the first place. In the last few years, animation and voice-over have become a source of great interest to folks, but for quite some time it was a niche that was enjoyed and appreciated mostly by children. As the field has become more and more sophisticated and `toons are more artfully executed, the entire subject has become far more mainstream.

It's a commonly held notion that there is only a small group of actors who do the great majority of voice-over work and I would like to say that, for the most part, it is true. I have spent the last 12 years of my life voice-over-wise in the company of pretty much the same band of thieves. I am very sincere when I say that they are among the most creative, interesting and hilariously wild artists around. We all agree that we have the absolute best job on Earth. Basically, you get to do all the stuff you got in trouble for in school ... and they pay you buckets of dough to do it. It's perfect!

In terms of the work itself, the variety is infinite. No two days are evenremotely alike. If you are a fan of predictability, trust me, this is not the field for you. The structure of your week will change continuously, sometimes hourly, as your busy and frazzled agent tries to fit as much as possible into your schedule. You need to have a cell phone, pager, voice mail - every possible form of communication available - because that leisurely two-job day that you were mildly looking forward to last night can become a seven-job, three-audition crunch within hours.

In addition to animation, there is an entirely different part to the business centered around advertising. This can include radio and television commercials, promos and narration. Most of us do a little of all these things and it can make for a very interesting mix in our day. In deciding how to go about giving you an idea of how a week really plays out for me, I felt it would be good to find one with the most variety and exciting projects. I settled on the last week of March, 1997.

Getting Started: Monday
This week is of a particular interest because we began work on Rugrats, The Movie. It's been seven years since my first audition for the Rugrats which turned out to be one of those shows which took a while to become really popular. We've done tons of episodes through the years and being apart of this show is a privilege. It's full of all the exact elements...vision, imagination, clarity and sharpness of observation, tenderness and just the right amount of silliness.

The movie script is fine with a lot of fun scenes and plenty of opportunities to ad lib and let loose. And, yes, we are given the opportunity to add our own spin on things, contribute a few lines and alter a "bit" that doesn't seem quite authentic or true to character. This show has always been a completely collaborative effort, with almost zero ego on all fronts, and with the true intention to create something unique and pure.