User blog:Lemursrule/Bleach Wiki Exclusive: An interview with Erin Fitzgerald

Hey Bleach fans, I know I am late on my dub review, I will get to it later. In the meantime, I have a very special treat for everyone. Here is an exclusive interview I conducted with Erin Fitzgerald, who is perhaps best known by Bleach fans as the English voice of Mila Rose.

Lemursrule: How did you get into voice acting?

Erin: I was always an actor, even since birth, I had been doing characters since the age of 3. I studied acting all throughout my childhood and continued to study theater in University. After graduating I worked in theater and TV but found that they weren't quite the right fit. I could do them and work but I didn't get as much bliss performing like I did doing wild characters with my friends.

It never occured to me that Voice acting was a job... I watched cartoons as a kid but always thought they were real. So when on a job one day and Michael Dobson turned to me and said "why aren't you working in cartoons?" it blew my mind. "what do you mean?" i asked,  he replied, "you should be doing voices for cartoons" and from there my career was born.

Once I put my attention on that area of performing all of my training seemed to have had a real purpose. It was an easy and perfect fit. My first audition was for Ed, Edd and Eddy and 6 months later in that auditioning process I booked May Kanker. The rest is history.

Lemursrule: How did you get cast in Bleach, and were you aware of the popularity of the series?

Erin: I knew of the series because my boyfriend was a HUGE fan. He watched it religiously and educated me on all the season's I missed. Luckily a friend of mine was directing the series at the time. Miss Wendy Lee. I had auditioned for the Bleach video game and booked a part and from there she was able to cast me in the series since she knew my range and ability quite well from doing other jobs together.

Lemursrule: You originally started your career in Canada. How similar or different is the voice acting industry in Canada from the United States.

Erin: Same stuff, different unions.

Lemursrule: For those who may be unfamiliar with the process, generally what is the average voice over session like?

Erin: It depends on the type of job. For anime, you are usually booked for 2hrs at a time and you are by yourself in the booth with a director on the other side of the glass. This is similar to recording video games as well. For original cartoons aka Pre-lay you get to sit with the entire cast and those sessions usually go for 4 hrs.

Lemursrule: What do you find more challenging to do original animation (per-lay) or ADR, and which do you find more enjoyable as an actor?

Erin: ADR is the hardest form of voice over there is. I love all of it. There is waaaay more freedom in Pre-lay so that is fun because you can really create. But the challenge of ADR to get a creative performance plus trying to nail all the technical aspects are amazing and satisfying....if only the ADR paychecks covered more than my gas bill, it would be my favorite.

Lemursrule: I know choosing a favorite character to voice is like choosing a favorite child, but which Bleach character have you had the most fun voicing?

Erin: OOOOhhhh not fair. Well, voicing Mizuho got me the most laughs and being that comedic acting is my strength i might pick her. But doing Shota I actually cried in the session, he broke my heart and that isn't usually the type of acting I get hired for. so maybe him. But then Mila Rose was such a fierce warrior!!! I looooved kicking butt with her  ooooh, and the sogyo twins were ridiculous fun, and the Katens were such brilliant coolness with fight! aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! I can't pick.

Lemursrule: Of all the characters you have voiced in Bleach, which do you wish appeared more often in the series?

Erin: I wish Mizuho, Mila Rose and the Katens had more presence for sure.

Lemursrule: Have you ever had "interesting" run-ins with fans and would you like to share one of those stories?

Erin: Not yet, I was invited to my first anime con this year. The Nar2u con in Ottawa, Canada. I hope that I start getting invited to more anime cons. I really want to meet the fans in person and gather fun stories like all my friends.

Lemursrule: Do you have anything new(that you can say without N.D.A assassins coming after you ) coming out that you would like to promote?

Erin: Mostly I'm just hoping for a second season on an original animated series i'm on called Wild Grinders that airs on Nicktoons fridays at 7pm  It's aimed for younger kids but I love it so much, and I think it's hilarious I hope others catch on to it too. There's a character in it who is a tribute to anime fans named Emo Crys... He's definitely one of my fave characters on the show. I play the evil nemesis Stubford and the main character's sister and mom Denise and Patti. Please watch it if you like comedy cartoons. It's straight up silliness with skateboards.

I've auditioned for a lot of anime this year but no one has called yet to book me. I did get cast in the role of Chie Satonaka in the Persona 4 series for the Arena game and some other P4 game stuff we are recording right now, so I'm very excited about that. I will be replacing the original actress but hopefully the fans will respond positively to my take on this super fun character.

Lemursrule: If fans what to see what you are working on, how can they stay in the loop?

Erin: Follow me on Twitter ErinFitzgerald or on my facebook fanpage  www.facebook.com/ErinFitzFanPage

A big thanks to Erin for taking the time to do this interview. -- 02:03, June 2, 2012 (UTC)