hooligans_host: She's here!!!
hooligans_host: Tara is here!
tara_strong_live: Hello all you Yahooligans!

rachel_luvs_horror: hi, do you yourself like the rugrats?
tara_strong_live: I love the Rugrats, I started in animation in Canada when I was 13,
tara_strong_live: and when I moved to LA I saw them for the first time and really wanted to be a part of that show because it was so great.

Yahooligan_Jackie: how long has RugRats been on tv?
tara_strong_live: 10 years.

Yahooligan_sara: What do you like best about Baby Dil?
tara_strong_live: What I like best is that I get to be extremely creative, because all of Baby Dil's lines are in the stage directions,
tara_strong_live: and for example,
tara_strong_live: the line will say, "Baby Dil throws up on Grandpa Lou",
tara_strong_live: and then the director sits back and lets me play.
tara_strong_live: I have to think what a baby would do when throwing up, maybe I'll laugh after it, I have a lot of freedom to improvise with baby sounds.

Yahooligan_cindee: Is it hard to sound like a baby when you're really a grown-up?
tara_strong_live: LOL! Not really. I like to listen to babies a lot. If you are on an airplane and there is a baby next to you for a few hours, or in a shopping mall, I like to pick up on that.
tara_strong_live: I really listen to funny little noises they make and I try to incorporate them into Baby Dil.

beaglez_2001: are you friends with the other character "voices"?
tara_strong_live: Yes. We are all actually good friends. That's one nice thing about voiceovers - everyone is really nice.
tara_strong_live: The girl who plays Tommy, her name is E.G., she's also on the Power Puff Girls with me.
tara_strong_live: We're very good friends.
tara_strong_live: When you doing a lot of cartoons, you see the same people a lot everywhere you go,
tara_strong_live: so it's the best job in the world, you get to hang out with your friends in the studio.

Pokemon_NF: Tara, how did you get to be Bubbles on the Powerpuff girls?
tara_strong_live: I had to go to the audition,
tara_strong_live: and a voiceover audition is different than an oncomera acting audition.
tara_strong_live: They'll give you a drawing of the character, as well as a description of the character, and a small portion of the script.
tara_strong_live: Then you sort of play around with the director and come up with different voices.
tara_strong_live: I'm actually going to be teaching how I do it on an upcoming website, http://www.voicestarz.com/
tara_strong_live: And they'll be a separate class for kids as well, since I started when I was 13.

Yahooligan_Steve: How did you lean how to do voice-overs?
tara_strong_live: Definitely check out the site Steve!
tara_strong_live: Also when you've been doing it for maybe 15 years already, the thing that's nice is that it becomes second nature, of how you do a session,
tara_strong_live: all the people I work with usually get the lines right within the first three takes,
tara_strong_live: and if you feel like you have a voice talent, put together a tape for yourself,
tara_strong_live: it can be just for fun and done cheaply,
tara_strong_live: and just play around with the different voices you do and experiment.
tara_strong_live: The most important thing is that you're not afraid to look silly, and have fun.

Yahooligan_Dana: What does you voice normally sound like?
tara_strong_live: LOL! What do you guys think? I think I sound like an 18 year old, I guess!
tara_strong_live: Luckily my voice does sound normal, I have friends in the business who sound like a 4 or 5 year old all the time!
tara_strong_live: But at least I can sound like someone close to my own age.
tara_strong_live: You can hear some of my voices on my website, which is http://www.tarastrong.com/

Yahooligan_Alicia: Do you work in any other shows or movies?
tara_strong_live: I do Powerpuff Girls, and I'm Timmy on the Fairly Odd Parents. I was Melody in the Little Mermaid Part 2.
tara_strong_live: Spot on 101 Damalatians. Bat Girl on Batman.
tara_strong_live: Shareena on Detention. And I do a role of a British witch on Sabrina: The Teenage Witch on camera. My character's name is Gwen.

purplechel: If you weren't a voice actor, what would you be instead?
tara_strong_live: Hmm. Definitely something creative.
tara_strong_live: I've known since I was 3 years old that I wanted to do singing, acting and dancing. But my other interests are in history, and I used to think I wanted to be an archeologist.
tara_strong_live: I also like writing. My husband and I got married last year, and Craig and I write together and we've actually got three cartoon scripts that are actually being optioned right now.

kawaiibubblespuff: Do you like doing the voice of Bubbles or Baby Dil more?
tara_strong_live: OOO, that's such a tough question!
tara_strong_live: I really couldn't chose one or the other, they are both really great jobs and I am so lucky!
tara_strong_live: To be on those shows.

ashangel76707: Who did you play on Party Of Five?
tara_strong_live: In the very first season, Neve's character wanted to be with the cool girls, and I was one of those girls. It was one episode.

Yahooligan_Taryn: What are your hobbies???
tara_strong_live: My hobbies are let's see, writing, hanging out with my husband and our dog in our new house, we go to the gym every day.
tara_strong_live: Gosh, that's so busy for hobbies, I'm usually doing two jobs a day at least, sometimes four, at least three days a week!
tara_strong_live: Plus my job is my hobby, I'm so lucky I get paid for something that's fun and that I really enjoy.

mojo_jojo_ojo: So how long does it take to finish the voice over for one episode of Rugrats or PpG?
tara_strong_live: Rugrats I do by myself, primarily because we don't need to put the other actors through listening to me scream for 45 minutes! And that normally takes me from between 2 minutes and 30 minutes.
tara_strong_live: Powerpuff Girls we tape with a full cast, and that normally takes about four hours.

daddyslittleangel35: Do you have to do any warmups before you change your voice?
tara_strong_live: I like to do warmups that I've learned thru my singing lessons....
tara_strong_live: Any kind of lessons that you take will help you within the acting field. I've taken singing lessons my whole life.
tara_strong_live: So if I know a character has to sing, like Melody from Mermaid, I'd warm up before just to make sure I sounded sweet.
tara_strong_live: As opposed to Rugrats where I really don't have to warm up. It's a personal preference thing, some people do, some don't.'

Yahooligan_Beth: Is it hard to do the voices without the action or do you get to watch the cartoon while you do the voices?
tara_strong_live: We do the voices first.
tara_strong_live: That allows everyone to be a lot more creative.
tara_strong_live: I always use the example of if Robin WIlliams had to watch the Genie in Alladin, you'd get half the creativity, because the actor will pronounce a word funny or give a giggle or a laugh,
tara_strong_live: and then the illustrator can use what the actor has given them to make the character more animated.
tara_strong_live: Sometimes if there is a cartoon that's been done overseas, like Digimon or Pokemon, an actor will have to watch the animation to dub it into English.
tara_strong_live: But most of what I do is original voice work.

Yahooligan_glitterfox5: What is it like to hear yourself in a different body?
tara_strong_live: LOL! It's a lot of fun. Sometimes my husband will pick them out and say, that's you! That's you! And sometimes he'll say that sounded nothing like you! It's fun.

sissy_15112: hi what is your all time fav cartoon
tara_strong_live: He always does silly voices too - we trick each other on the phone!
tara_strong_live: Doing the Mermaid's daughter in Mermaid 2 was a dream come true job, because I grew up loving, and impersonating, the first one.
tara_strong_live: And getting the opportunity to sing with Jody Benson was really thrilling.

joshman480: When is the PPG movie due out?
tara_strong_live: July 2002.

Yahooligan_ariel: what was your favorite scene
tara_strong_live: In the sequel?......Probably when the Rugrats have taken over the giant Reptar,
tara_strong_live: and running thru the streets of Paris.

joshman480: Have you ever lost your voice during or before a recording?
tara_strong_live: Certainly when you get sick that stops your work for a little bit...
tara_strong_live: I've been sore after a couple of episodes of Rugrats that were all screaming.
tara_strong_live: But that's it!

Yahooligan_Sue: how old were you when you started doing this?
tara_strong_live: 13

Yahooligan_Star: What are four words to describe you?
tara_strong_live: I'd say compassionate, conscientious, silly, nutty (my husband says!) and cute.
tara_strong_live: (that's my husband too)

Yahooligan_Sara: Do you like saying, "POOOPY"?
tara_strong_live: Of course I do! I've had to say about 800 times for the first movie!

Yahooligan_rugratlover: how many voices can you do?
tara_strong_live: Hmm. That's a tough question. When you are successful in the voiceover industry, you have a bunch of characters you use, and then you have variations on those characters,
tara_strong_live: and then you have accents on all the variations,
tara_strong_live: So if you keep your voice options infinite, I think that helps you stay creative.

timnymph2001: do you ever make up any of your own characters?
tara_strong_live: Yes, sometimes they'll be something called Group Walla,
tara_strong_live: that means the director needs an extra kid in the scene participating with the other kids, and you get to improvise and create a new voice,
tara_strong_live: and obviously when my husband and I are writing we create characters all the time.

Yahooligan_Star: If you have any nieces, nephews, daughters, sons, etc., do you do your voices for them? Do they like them?
tara_strong_live: I didn't till I get married, and when I got married I got a niece and a nephew, Jake and Elizabeth,
tara_strong_live: and they could not be happier that Uncle Craig married a Rugrat and a PPG,
tara_strong_live: and for Elizabeth's birthday this past year, she's 9, she had about six girls, I called as Bubbles, and all her friends got to talk to Bubbles, and she was extremely popular!
tara_strong_live: All her little friends at school said, "I got to talk to Bubbles!"

sailorgoon43: Do the voice actors have any say on what a character looks like when they take on a role?
tara_strong_live: Not what they look like. Just their personalities, how they sound and sometimes what they say.
tara_strong_live: Like sometimes the actor might have the freedom to say I don't think Bubbles would say something like that.
tara_strong_live: And then the director and producer might change something.

stripeshot: Tara, how are you like the character Bubbles?
tara_strong_live: I like pretty things, I'm very much a girly-girl, and I'm silly like Bubbles, and try to have fun a lot.
tara_strong_live: It's fun, when the three of us do interviews together - Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom - we all say we're very similar to our characters,
tara_strong_live: because EG who is Buttercup often comes late and makes fun of me, and then we make fun of each other, so she's tough.

cheerin_chiquita: Did you get all the leads in your high school plays and what was your favorite role/play?
tara_strong_live: I went to Independent Study for two years while I was doing a sitcom in Canada.
tara_strong_live: From there I jumped around to different high schools, as it's difficult to do acting and school at the same time.
tara_strong_live: Finally I graduated from a school called Forest Hill that had a nice program, and yes, I starred in all our plays!
tara_strong_live: I got to do Maria in West Side Story, that was probably my favorite.

timnymph2001: do you think you will ever have your own series?
tara_strong_live: I DO have my own series!!
tara_strong_live: That's what we're working on right now.

penguin_dj_ofpenguinland: Who thought of the name Dill? I mean that is such a good play with words!
tara_strong_live: I assume the producers and directors and the creators of the Rugrats.
tara_strong_live: Had a few names. I was not involved in the selection, but I'm sure they agreed that Dil Pickles was a fun play on words.

Yahooligan_Alicia: How is it like working in a studio

babyhoku_00_2000: tara do you really like what you do. and if so are you comited to it?
tara_strong_live: Are you the cartoon cops?!? I LOVE what I do, and being committed to it makes you good at whatever you do. Because I commit to every character, and really care about how they'll sound.
tara_strong_live: I think that's one of the reasons why I'm successful at it.

frogstar_robot_class_d: Have you ever ad-libbed lines?
tara_strong_live: Yes, sometimes, most of the time you have to stick to the script, except for Group Walla.
tara_strong_live: In fact the biggest ad libber I know is Tom Kenny, who is the narrator on the PPG.
tara_strong_live: And they give him a lot of creative freedom, he's a very talented comedic actor.

Yahooligan_beeccaa: which ppg is your favorite????.......tara hi!!!!.........
tara_strong_live: Of course Bubbles is my favorite!
tara_strong_live: Bubblevicious.
tara_strong_live: And also we had a musical episode where Bubbles got to sing about coloring...Did you see that one by any chance? It was so funny, that has got to be my favorite.

Yahooligan_princess_for_a_day: Tara is it hard to make time for your family when you are always practicing your lines?
tara_strong_live: It is hard to make time for my family, because my mom, dad and sister are in Toronto, Canada and we are very close.
tara_strong_live: My mother in law and her family are in New York, my niece and nephew are in Florida with my Grandma, so getting away is hard, and I'm always working.
tara_strong_live: And my father in law is in Long Island, New York.
hooligans_host: Sorry everyone, but that's all we have time for today.
hooligans_host: Thank you so much Tara for joining us today!
tara_strong_live: Thanks for having me!
tara_strong_live: I hope everybody had a good time, and if you have any other questions, you can always drop them at the email at http://www.voicestarz.com/