I am voice actress Grey DeLisle-Griffin - you might know me as Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Daphne from Scooby Doo, Vicky from The Fairly OddParents, Lois Lane / Wonder Woman, and most recently, "Setsu Oiwa" in Studio Ghibli's When Marni...

Hello Grey, I absolutely adore your voice work for Mandy on Grim Adventures. My question is, do you use your voices in every day life such as to tell your kids or husband what to do? i.e. something like Azula: You are failing in your marital duties, do not disappoint me again!

HAHAHA!

I don't do it to my family, because they're so "over" me?

Sometimes I go out in life- there's a guy who works at my Coffee Bean, and he's a big Avatar fan, and I'll order my drink in my Azula voice!

Sometimes if I hear people talking about the show - I was in a line at Best Buy, and I heard people talking about AVATAR, and I spoke in the voice then too! Sometimes it's fun to freak people out, now and then.

How does it feel to know that your voicework has impacted so many childhoods? As a kid I watched all of these and still revisit them now, and it started my love of arts and entertainment

Awwww. It's an honor. It can make you feel somewhat old if someone says "Oh, you're my childhood!" and they're like 24 year old adults. But it's totally flattering. And I feel like I did a pretty good job, because most of the people that I've met who say that I'm their childhood are really great people.

I've also ruined some people's childhoods - when I meet them, and say something gross or inappropriate, and people say "Oh my god! You just ruined my childhood!"

I was Emily Elizabeth on CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG and when you hear her swear for the first time online - it kind of messes with some people.

Hey Grey, thanks for doing this IAMA

Three questions, all Avatar related:

1. If you could voice anyone in Avatar or The Legend of Korra besides Azula and Ming-Hua, who would it be?
2. Do you have any memorable or funny moments to share from the Avatar set?
3. How far along would Azula get in the game of thrones?

1.) I really love the Katara character. I actually got to play the actress playing Katara in the series - they did a play within the series, and they had me play that role -but Mae Whitman really does such an incredible job. But if anything ever happened to Mae, I'd steal that role in a heartbeat.

2.) Well, a lot of people don't know that when I did that Agni Kai last fight, I did it completely by myself. I was in the booth completely alone, and I got completely decimated, but I was in tears, in the booth, by myself, acting all alone! A lot of people don't know that. It was a very emotional scene and I had nobody to play off of.

3.) She'd be sitting on that damn throne by the end. EVERYBODY knows that. There's a great photo that an artist did on Tumblr of that - I tweeted it a long time ago - it says "I win!" So if you want to see that, you can look it up!

I watched the documentary "I Know That Voice" and learned a lot from it, so thanks for doing that!

1. If you could voice any character, who would it be?
2. Personally, I can't stand listening to my own voice (e.g. on a recording). With all the voices you've done, is this a problem for you? Are there any voices that you personally dislike hearing?
3. One of the things mentioned in the documentary was the competitiveness of the voice acting industry. So, I'm wondering how do you "practice" voice acting; how do you improve so that you can stay on top of your game? For example, do you look back at an old show and think, "Hm, my voice sounded kind of subpar there, maybe I'll go home and practice on it for the next take or next show."?

Thanks for doing this AMA!

1.) I always wanted to do Snow White! Snow White's my favorite Disney movie, and my favorite Disney character, and I got really close on the soundalike for it, but I ultimately didn't make it, but that was a total dream for me to be Snow White.

2.) My own voice. My absolute OWN voice. I think everybody has that same syndrome - where you hear yourself and you're like "Who's that horrible person reading a message!" And then you find out it's you. When they ask me to do my own voice, I don't even know what that is! Sometimes they've asked me that - "just talk like yourself" - and then I have to pause to think about what I sound like. But yea, that's the one I can't stand the most, is my own voice!

3.) I never practice. I feel like I'm a really bad example, because I don't do voice exercises, I don't avoid certain foods before I record... I just kinda go in there and do it! And I don't usually need a voice reference, it's just all somewhere catalogued in my head. I do try to watch as much popular shows so that when they throw out a reference at an audition, I know what they're talking about. I tend to get lost in old movies and stuff, so a lot of times my references aren't what other people's are, so I have to force myself to watch things like Keeping Up with the Kardashians - because I did an episode of THE BOONDOCKS recently where they wanted me to sound like a Kardashian cousin. And that was the most sacrifice I've done for my art, was to be miserable for 30 minutes.

Hi Grey,

What made you come voice the Red Lotus member Ming Hua in The Legend of Korra?

I think the creators just really liked what I did with Azula? I did audition for it, but I was afraid of sounding like Azula, so I went in a completey different direction. I loved that she was as tough as anybody, even though she had no arms, and kept kicking ass!

Whatever happened to Azula after being chained to the floor? It seemed kinda open-ended.

Also, how do you feel about the Legend of Korra?

Well, I don't know what happened to Azula - I have my own little Azula theory - but I LOVED LEGEND OF KORRA, and the girl who plays Korra is one of my best friends, so it was fun working with her!

First of, Mrs. DeLisle (or do you prefer Mrs. Griffin?), thank you for taking the time to stop by!

My question is this:

What were the circumstances by which you come to be cast on Avatar: The Last Airbender, how was it that Andrea Romano picked you to play the part of Azula?

Well, I know that they were looking - they did a first round of auditions, with a bunch of celebrities. They were looking at celebrity voices - a lot of celebrities do voices on Avatar & Korra - and I don't think they were finding what they were looking for. And a lot of people were yelling and screaming, but I did the voice from the perspective that she doesn't have to yell or scream, because she's so powerful, she doesn't have to. So I think I was one of the only people to take it in a completely different direction than everybody else was - which is, a lot of times, key to getting a role. And I want to add that sometimes when an audition starts, they'll give a character reference - like "We want it to sound like Fran Drescher" - so then I think Everybody's going to be doing a weird laugh, and have a nasal quality, so I want to do something that fits this character that isn't a soundalike - so that when I read, it's refreshing and it fits the character.

They wanted Azula to sound like Fran Drescher?

No, that was just an example of an audition prompt. For Azula, I just took it in a different direction than the other actors - instead of screaming & yelling, I kept her voice restrained and powerful. But my point with Fran Drescher was that a lot of times they'll give you an example of somebody that they want the character to sound like, and if you do an impression of that actor, they'll hear that over and over again and you won't stand out.

They did not ask for Azula to sound like Fran Drescher.

Although I kind of love that idea! Hahaha!

Who would win in an Agni Kai: you or Dante Basco?

Oh, me, obviously. He's a pretty boy. Pretty boys don't kick any ass!

Thanks for doing this! You've worked in an absolute ton of projects (seriously) but if you had to pick a favorite, which would it be so far? Any favorite lines from any of your roles?

Well, I know we talk about Azula all the time, but she's the star of the show! One of the best written female characters in all of animation history, I think. And so I was just so honored I was able to play her - she's so complex, so deep, she breaks a lot of female stereotypes, and she's a total badass.

I would say "Azula has huge balls" but I don't want to get in trouble with the tumblr-people.

I love Vicky's ^{"GOTOBED,TWERP!"}

I like to yell at that my son sometimes. He doesn't know what I'm talking about, but I do.

What was the most stressful voice acting job you've ever had, and what made it so stressful?

Gosh.

I did the voice of Olive Oyl for Dreamworks. Tom Kenney (who voices Spongebob) was the voice of Popeye, and I was Olive Oyl, and it was for a test thing - they were probably going to use celebrities later on - but it was really vocally stressful. I was pregnant at the time, and I was just thinking How do I keep the baby in and do a good job at this voice and don't insult the voice of Popeye!

We ended up being the actual only people that are ever going to play that, because Dreamworks scrapped the project, but they released an online teaser with Tom & me as the voices - so I'm the part!

Hey Grey! Thanks for doing an AMA!

I asked this question in Tara Strong's AMA a year ago, but I also wanted to ask you. All of your characters have to fight in an arena until one is left standing. Who would win and why?

Well, it would be a toss-up between Azula and Mandy. I have a lot of faith in Mandy, though, because when she tried to smile, the world fell off of its axis!

Hi Grey! awesome seeing you here! Do people sometimes recognize you when you're just doing your daily things, like shopping?

That happened yesterday! I'm in Las Vegas, and I was in the Nine West outlet at the Premium Outlet Mall, and this girl - I later met her, her name's Valerie - she was working for the store, but standing outside - and her eyes just got really wide when she saw me, and I was thinking Did something fall behind me, like a box? and I asked her "Do I know you?" and she said "Kind of" and then she said "What's your name?" and I said "Grey" and she went "Oh my god!" So we took a selfie together, and it's on my instagram.

Hey Grey! When did you realize you wanted to voice act and do it for a living? Also how did you get into the industry?

I've been doing voices since I could talk.

I was always doing impressions of any adults I ran into, or doing impressions of weird laughs - I didn't realize it wasn't appropriate to be imitating everyone!

And then I found out it paid really well in high school. It kinda got derailed by my standup career and acting and stuff, but when somebody mentioned I should do cartoons during my stand-up I was like "Oh YEAH! I've wanted to do this forever."

I went and got an agent, and started taking classes everywhere I could, and made a demo - my agent said "You probably won't book anything for the first year, so don't worry, keep at it," and I booked 7 jobs the first month I was there.

So I thought Okay, this is my calling, I think I'm in the right place!

Because I literally have never been that good at anything - i tried to work at the Olive Garden, and I screwed THAT up - they said "You can be a door opener, because you're nice and can open doors, but that's all you can do."

So pretty much my options are Olive Garden Door Opener or voiceovers.

My daughter Alexsandra wants to know who your favorite voice is that you do?

Well, Azula.

And I also love doing Sanjay & Craig for Nickelodeon - I play a TON of parts on there - I play Sanjay's mom, and I play a punk-rock band, and I play a pageant mom, and Hector's Mexican grandmother -every time I get to go in there, I get to play 10 different things!

Hi Grey! Much love and appreciation from the gang at /r/thelastairbender!

Question: Besides Azula, who is your favorite Avatar character that was either played by you or someone else?

Bonus question: How was it playing Catwoman again for the upcoming Arkham Knight game?

They're trying to trick me!

And I answered that earlier, about Katara.

Nice try on trying to get me to talk about the new ARKHAM game.

evil laugh

You've done quite a bit of voice acting and worked with a ton of people I'm sure, but have you ever been star struck while doing voice acting?

Well, for WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE, I got to meet Kathy Bates and we got to do a scene together, and I was totally starstruck. Because all through high school, when MISERY came out, it was really big, and people were always making me do the "Kathy Bates" voice - so I kept thinking of that one line from MISERY, "He didn't get out of the COCKADOODIE CAR!!!"

And also, John C. Reilly (who's also in the movie, who played my character's husband) is a dad at my child's school, and I always see him there, but I don't want to bother him being all like "I love STEPBROTHERS!" so I pretty much ignore him, but now when I see him I feel like I can yell out "I'm your wife!" but that seems even creepier than just talking to him.

Hey Grey, thank you for doing this! Did you ever read the avatar comics? And if so what would be your guess on what Azula is going to do with the rest of her life after the story with her mother?

I started to - somebody gave it to me at a 'Con, and I got to the part when Azula was friends with everybody - i'm not sure how I feel about that! I have my own story, where she and Ty Lee retire on an island somewhere and live happily ever after.

Do you prefer anime/cartoon voice over or video game voice over? If there's a preference, why?

I love cartoons the most. Because I just recently got into anime stuff - I went to an anime convention, and didn't know what anything was - but I started from a cartoon background, and I just think you love where you start out from. And I like to be really broad characters, and you don't find those as much in games as you do in cartoons.

I knew you as the voice of Carmelita Fox in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. I always thought it was funny that in each of the four Sly Cooper games, Carmelita has had a different voice actor! If they make a new Sly Cooper game, would you want to return, or keep the tradition up and have them get someone new?

By the way I saw you at MegaCon and that panel with everyone reading Back to the Future with different voices was amazing!

Awww!

I totally would want to be Carmelita Fox again. I want to hog all the parts in Hollywood! ^HeeHeeHee! And also my son is a huge fan of that game, and he loves saying that his mom is Carmelita Fox, and he'd be devastated if they replaced me!

do you feel like you need to play Daphne the same as Heather North?

Oh, she used to go to my church, Heather North! So it was weird - our church had these 2 Daphnes in it! So I've met her before.

And at the time, I'd think Oh my gosh, she's the real Daphne, she's been doing it for the longest but now I've been doing the Daphne voice for longer than any other actress has ever done it, so I finally feel confident in my Daphne-ness.

I used to feel like an imposter.

Hi Grey! I was wondering, with all your voice acting talent, you must be capable of making amazing prank calls. Have you ever made any prank calls as voices from your work, or just funny prank calls in general? Are there any that stand out to you? Have you ever answered phone calls as your characters?

Well, I haven't answered the phone that way since I'm an adult, but when I was little, I would call the office in my mother's voice, and I would call the school office and tell them I couldn't come to school that day and ditch!

I KNOW!

And I also think I ruined several marriages, because i was a latchkey kid and I would go through the phone book and find people - like Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson - and I would call up and say "Hi, is John there?" in a super-sexy voice... and then the woman would get really angry, and go "Who is this?!? Who is this?!?!" and then I'd say "I don't know... why don't you ask John?"

and as an adult - I didn't think about that for like 20 years and as an adult, now I feel HORRIBLE for all those guys who came home to a really angry wife.

I was really bored.

I just always did something completely catastrophic. I did it so often, too! i probably made like 20 of those calls a day, until I ran out of couples in the phone book. I didn't even talk to my mom about it, I was all by myself. And then later on, to remember that, and think of the devastation that I must've caused!

I also loved the Go-Gos when I was 8, and I would call up the radio station and keep requesting "We Got the Beat" and I would call SO often I would have to change my voice every single time.

If you had a shrink ray who would you shrink and what would you do with them?

I would shrink Steve Blum to see what his voice would sound like all tiny, instead of giant & booming like it always is.

It would be refreshing to hear him sound like a pipsqueak instead of a giant man all the time!

And then I would swallow him and steal his vocal chords so I could do way more video game jobs.

I think he's in the Guinness Book of World Records for doing the most video game jobs.

Hey Grey:) Who would you rather be, Ice Queen or the Fire Lord?

Oh my god. The Fire Lord. Easy.

As a female interested in being a voice actress, how would you suggest a successful start? What would you tell your younger self now that you know now?

Well, I interned at a casting company, Kalmenson & Kalmenson, and even though you make no money and you get coffee (I was pretty much a glorified bug-killer, since I'm not scared of bugs, and one time I was in there with a giant spider and a newspaper, and thinking what am I doing?)... but I absorbed so much information from that experience. I definitely learned - my policy about not doing EXACTLY what they ask for every single time? If they give you a character reference, don't do an exact impression of that person, so their ears don't shut off. I learned what casting places are looking for, what not to do - be funny but don't add too much time to your read, because the business is about timing, and you don't want it to drag on too long, but if it's short & funny go for it!

So try to get experience and try to take as many classes as you can - but NOT with casting directors starting out, because if you do that, you're just showing them how inexperienced you are. Take classes from actors first, and then when you're really good, and you have a demo with you to hand them, then meet as many casting directors as you possibly can.

Hi Grey! thanks for taking the time to do this. My question is, would you ever consider doing a complete read through of The Search Avatar comics?

Yeah, I would do that, if everybody else was in on it! It would be fun to have the cast back together. It would be a fun thing to do for charity!

Hi Grey! First, I wanted to thank you for sending me a message with Lor's voice for Christmas last year (with my sister's help through Ebay's charity auction for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital). You are by far my favorite voice actress, I particularly loved your work on ATLA and The Weekenders. As for The Weekenders, is there any fun behind the scene fact you remember fondly that you'd be happy to share with us? It was such an awesome cast! PS: No one else does the 'granny' voice better than you! :) Viva Anita Sanchez!

Awww!

(does Granny voice)

"Well, thank yew very much! Ah love doing granny voices!"

I feel like I'm an 80 year old woman inside of a 41 year old's body. I can't wait to get old.

Well, the guy that created THE WEEKENDERS created the PUSS-IN-BOOTS series on Netflix that I'm doing, and I get to see him every week - he's one of the most wonderful, talented writers! He also wrote a lot of THE BOOK OF LIFE, his name is Doug Landale. And he's a dear friend!

Ms. Griffin, my daughter Aika adores Aya from the Green Lantern. What do you adore most about her character?

Oh gosh! That was such a heartbreaking love story, and one of my favorite character arcs of my career. I love Aya's vulnerability, and sweetness. She's the only non-human character on the show, but in a lot of ways, she reacts the most human of anyone.

Are you ever returning to the music world? Love all of the records you made (though I lost "bootlegger" in a divorce).

Oh no! I've got like 1,000 copies of that in my garage - I'd be happy to send you one!

Tweet @ me on Twitter and I will follow you and you can DM me and I'lll send you a copy!

And I don't know if I'll do music again. I like doing guest spots on other people's records, because making my OWN records - I've got a little 9 month old baby, and that's kind of my production right now. But I love making music with other people, and my husband produces hip-hop and pop music, so sometimes he'll ask me to sing a little bit on what he's doing. So maybe I'll make it on the radio sometime!

Hi Grey! What characters or franchises would you like to work on that you haven't yet?

I was so sad that I never got to do anything Spongebob!

I auditioned to be Pearl, but I didn't get that. But I remember reading on it, and thinking That's going to be a really cute show, I hope I get something on that. And then it ended up being something huge!

And I would love do something with BOB'S BURGERS. And the guy who did SANJAY & CRAIG, he designed the BOB'S BURGERS characters, so I feel like by proxy I am... so close to BOB'S BURGERS and yet so far away!

When I was pregnant, when I was doing the voice of Daphne, I would want to make the weird food that Scooby and Shaggy were talking about! I was so suggestible, I was always on my lunch hour searching out these strange sandwiches with everything on them.

Back when avatar was running you played my favorite villain ever. Demented twisted and cruel. What kinda hair products do you use? Just kidding, my real question is when it comes to voice acting, how much do you invest in the performance at the microphone? Do you move? Are you active and excited to read your lines or just do the voices without much outward movement?

HAHAHAHA!

Um... peasant's blood. It makes my bangs extra sweaty.

Well, you can't move too much, or the mic will hear it, so I have a very rich interior life - so I feel like I can do some pretty-duty scenes without moving much. But that's the problem with a lot of on-camera people doing voiceover - because they rely so much on their body to convey things that when they have to rely JUST on their voice, they can sound flat. Whereas a lot of voice actors have to learn to perform broad characters without much physical movement.

What other voice actors have been your favourite to work with?

Well, I love Tara, because when she plays Harley Quinn and I play Catwoman for the Batman video games , it's kinda fun being "bad girls" together.

And Tom Kenny and his wife - we all hang out together outside of work!

I love Phil Lamarr... and everyone is amazing. There are no jerks in animation voiceover. I haven't met one. I really do love everybody I work with. That sounds like a cheap answer, but it's totally true! It's not like on-camera work - there are a lot of nice people that do voiceovers.

Jennifer Hale I love... Kari Wahlgren...

Did you enjoy portraying Brianna the Handmaiden in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords? Did you like the character? Do you believe the way you voiced her added some more personality that she did not possess in the written script? And finally, what's your favorite Brianna line, if any?

Oh gosh! I LOVED being part of the STAR WARS universe. I loved being Brianna. I loved being part of CLONE WARS on the Cartoon Network, because I got to play Padme Amidala and Asajj Ventress... and I think I might have played all the female characters on that show? I don't have a favorite Brianna line, but I've been doing the female bounty hunter voice for all the interactive STAR WARS games online - I remember when I got the contract, I had to sign it and state that I wouldn't move for 10 years. Yeah! And it's been almost 10 years that I've been working on it. She's kinda a Clint Eastwood character - so it's easy on my voice, and I love the guys who've been doing it, and I've seen them get married and have kids since we got started working gone the show.

Hi Grey, thanks for doing this AMA! I love your work in Avatar.

Just one question: Do you like voicing a hero or a villian better, and why?

I love being the villain. Because I'm kind of a bubbly, happy, nice person in real life - I feel like my inner bitch is constantly dying to get out! And I'm always happy when I get to unleash her behind the microphone.

whats your favorite color?

GREEN!

It's always been my favorite color!

I love like an emerald green. I've got green velvet curtains. It's the color of envy. It's Azula's true color.

Hi Grey! Thanks for taking the time and doing this. What voice do you think in?

sighs

I think in all kinds of different voices, because - you know those voices that are in your head that says when you're being an idiot? The anxiety committee that lives in my head? Or the positive support team in my head? There are SO Many voices in my head!

So there's a whole committee of voices that are telling me I'm doing okay or terribly at any given moment.

Hi Grey, thanks for doing this AMA! Your work is an inspiration!

Do you remember your very first VA gig? How do you feel you've grown as a voice actor since then?

Well, I got in a car accident on my way to my very first voiceover gig, which was to do a very small bit part on RUGRATS... and I got in a car accident, and my car was on the side of the road, smoking, the other person got away - it was a hit & run situation - but I was so focused on getting to my job, I didn't care! I left my car by the side of the road and hitchhiked to Klasky-Csupo.

I was about 15 minutes late (and I'm STILL always about 15 minutes late, with no excuse whatsoever).

And...I have more money now? I feel like I have the same bag of tricks that I always did, but I have more success and more gratitude, because I can't believe it's lasted so long! When you start out, you're thinking Oh my god, i can't believe I got another job! I'm still worried they are going to find out I'm full of it, and ask me to mail back all the money they gave me!

What's with you playing redheads all the time?

You know? I tried to be a real-life redhead, but I couldn't hack it. I feel like you have to have the right personality.

I think it's an animation thing - redheads are fun to draw, it pops off the page, it looks good in animation to use red hair, and it's hard to do it for guys, so a lot of female characters end up as redheads.

Hello! A question I've always wanted to know is, why is Azula's fire blue, but not even Ozai's isn't? Does that mean that she's an even better firebender than her father? (And only at 14 years old!)

I think so.

I think that blue is the color of royalty, and she secretly should be on the throne.

Hey big fan I grew up on Scooby doo do you ever get bored of voicing Daphne? And any more projects in the works?

Oh gosh, I have tons of projects coming up! You should go to the theater and watch When Marnie Was There!

And I feel like I've brought my own snark to the character of Daphne, and i don't think I'll ever get tired of playing her.

Who was your favorite director to work with? And if there were a Grey Delisle-Griffin cocktail, what would be in it?

Oh gosh, that's a tossup too, because there are so many incredible directors, and I'm friends with all of them! I'm really good friends with all of them - like Colette Sunderman, she's been directing Scooby-Doo for almost 17 years, so we have a secret language... and Ginny McSlaine, she's one of my neighbors, and she'll come over and drink wine, and we've been working on FAIRLY ODDPARENTS forever, and Andrea Romano is an icon and super-talented and wonderful... and Lisa Schaeffer and i started out as friends, she used to sign people in at Disney, and now she directs everything, so it goes to show - be nice to the person signing you in, because in 10 years they could be one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood..there are just so many more.

I love Moscato wine, haha! And I found out recently that I'm a tequila lover, but you can't mix wine and tequila. But tequila and Hawaiian punch.

hi! big fan! Which element would you want to bend? :)

Fire, of course!

Hi Grey! I've been following your work for the longest time. You and many other actors have been in my childhood for as long as I've been watching cartoons. I was wondering, will you be attending any conventions this Summer? Perhaps SDCC? I'd love to meet you!

I'm gonna try to go to Comic-Con! But I'm on a few shows that have said that they might go, so I'm not positive or not. But it's been mentioned by 3 different shows - because Scooby-Doo is doing the new KISS movie, so they're trying to get a panel together.

Hi Grey, what was your favorite part of voicing Mandy in Grim Adventures? Also, what TV shows are you currently watching, if any?

Well, I love Mandy because she was totally NOT a bubbly, happy person all the time - she was totally flat, she hardly gives any emotion, she resonates at a very low frequency.

And my favorite shows that i watch - I love Game of Thrones, I love Mad Men, I started watching THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, I love it...

Hey Grey, thanks for answering our questions! Do you ever work with indie animators on projects and if so, do you prefer them over mainstream work?

Well, gosh! It's fun for different reasons. It's fun to work with new people, because they're so excited about what they're doing, finally getting to do their art. And that's inspiring, and it re-ignites your own excitement about what you're doing. But I also love working with seasoned people like Bruce Timm, who did 9 seasons of GREEN LANTERN, just because they've been around forever, know what they want, and have such a strong vision about what they're creating.

I also love working with a guy named Spike Brandt, because he and I both share a love of old Warner Bros. movies and characters, and he's put me in almost all of his throwback cartoons. And he's been around a long time, and is very clear about what he wants and what he doesn't want.

what were some of your favorite shows growing up?

Oh gosh! Well, the funny thing is, being a latchkey kid, i remember getting home from school, putting on my pajama pants and going to get some ice cream and going to watch Scooby-Doo!

I never dreamed that I would be Daphne.

Seriously, it's true! And I loved the Lon Chaney guest episodes. And I loved when Don Knotts would guest-star, too. And I remember that kung fu would come on right after that, and I wanted to be a kung fu master for a few months. I would lie to people and tell them I was a black belt.

What's it like working with Tara Strong? Is she really nice as seems in her interviews?

She's horrible. ^HeeHeeHee!

(We have a fake feud that people enjoy).

She was one of the first people I ever worked with on RUGRATS, and is still super-nice to me. I only ever see her on FAIRLY ODDPARENTS, and we're doing a new show together, but I can't talk about it yet. It's a secret.

Country, or western?

(my kids and I are huge fans!)

Well, I really love Hank Williams, and the Carter Family, and Johnny Cash, I grew up on all that stuff. So I feel like it's in the "country AND Western pile."

What's your favorite Scooby doo moment?

Well, everybody loves to be the one that gets to say "I would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!!!"

And everybody who guest-stars gets so excited when they get to play that line. I didn't think that I would've gotten to do it, but if they can't find the right person to play the part, I have gotten to say the "meddling kids" line about 3 times and it's great.