Charlie Adler, who provided both title characters' voices in Cow and Chicken and is a voice director in demand, finds that voice actor work challenges every acting skill he has. Courtesy of Cartoon Network.

Charlie Adler
Starring in the primetime Emmy nominated series and international hit Cow and Chicken as the voice of Cow, Chicken and The Red Guy, Charlie has over 100 regular characters in over 80 animated series, features and specials to his credit. He can be heard an average of 20 times a day all over the world. Most notably as Buster Bunny in Steven Spielberg's Tiny Toon Adventures, Ickis in AAAHH!!! Real Monsters and Ed and Bev Bighead in Rocko’s Modern Life. Adler's vast experience in the voice over industry has led him to direct the voices for both the Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys series, as well as their respective motion pictures.

The initial thing that really struck me on my first animation job was, "Wow! I really belong here!"

I am completely lying...I was terrified! I was in a room full of the most versatile, skilled, free falling, improvisational and technically adept actors that I had ever worked with. I shook for the first season of The Smurfs, and every day that we recorded, I became more of a fan of the medium. Frankly, coming from the starring role of a hit Broadway show and the National Tour, made me feel in my arrogant ignorance, that cartoons were beneath me, and that, except for the income, they would be a cakewalk! What an idiot I was! The theatre training and background I came from helped enormously, but it was rounded out by the improv company I was in for a year in New York and the character repertoire that I had evolved over the years.

Animation, is an actor's medium, and what surprised me and still does, is the skill, the fearlessness, the energy, the commitment to character, the imagination, the willingness to free fall and take chances, the ability to listen to other actors and respond quickly, the ability to turn on a dime and shape shift and an overall willingness to appear foolish.

Now that I also direct, it is evident every day the actors who are right for this medium and who are not. And don't let any arrogant jerk in any interview pass this medium off as anything less than amazing! What surprised me the most, was how much of my energy and talent this medium uses, and how it pulls the best of my skills as an actor, not just a voice or noise maker, but ACTOR!

Voice recognition surprised Kyla Pratt of The Proud Family. Photo credit: Cliff Lipson; The Proud Family © Disney.

Kyla Pratt
Kyla Pratt lends her voice to Penny Proud, a 14 year-old embarking on the trials and tribulations of bad hair blunders and fashion faux pas in Disney Channel's The Proud Family.

I have been in the business for a while and what still surprises me is the fact that people actually recognize your voice from a character you play on a cartoon. What I realized by doing The Proud Family was that doing voice over is very difficult. You have to create the character’s personality with your voice. You can no longer rely on what you are doing physically, i.e. facial expressions and body language.