March 27, 2026
Invisible Icons: The Women Voice Actors Who Shape Our Stories + Interview w/ Erica Schroeder & Ryan Bartley
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You know their voices. You don't know their faces. In this powerful episode, Blane and Coco celebrate the women voice actors who bring our favorite games, anime, and audiobooks to life—yet rarely receive recognition for their transformative work. From Ryan Bartley's 1,000+ rejections before landing major roles in Call of Duty and Ghost of Tsushima, to Mary Jane Wells' award-winning audiobook narration that makes listeners forget they're hearing one person, we explore the invisible fame paradox and why voice acting is truly spiritual work.
This conversation tackles the brutal rejection rates in creative industries, the emotional resilience required to succeed, and the unseen labor behind iconic performances. Whether you're an aspiring voice actor, a gaming enthusiast, or someone who loves audiobooks, this episode will forever change how you experience the voices around you. Plus, we're building the ultimate women voice actors hall of fame—and we want your nominations.
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Just Blane (00:00)
It is parallel frequencies with JustBlane and Coco and all of our freqs out there. You can see my energy, you can hear it. It is Freqy Friday, Coco. I am excited. I am ex... Are you? Are you excited? Do you get excited now?
Courtney Pearl (00:11)
Yeah, let's go Friday. Always, always
for Friday, Friday. I know Thursday, I said is usually my favorite day, but Fridays are. Fridays are a second place favorite day.
Just Blane (00:26)
Top tier for sure, top tier day, but Freqy Friday now makes it even that much bigger and more fun and more look forward to me because we get to talk to the freqs. The freqs have been talking to us. We get to jump back in and check out some of their comments, whether they're nice, whether they're mean. We like them all. We like them all. But I do like the good energy that's coming through and I've been seeing a lot of it here lately. So we need to...
Courtney Pearl (00:32)
Mm-hmm.
Take them out.
Good, good. Yeah, come on
to be kind. Why not? Why not be kind? If you can be anything, be kind, right? No, no, no, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Just Blane (01:01)
It's not that hard. Is it really that hard to be nice?
We've had comments about
my looks, my scraggly beard, my long, we've had some comments about that and I'm like, you know what? If you're here for my looks, then you're here for the wrong thing, right? That's right, hey, but you did get a comment that said, damn, she's cute. And I'll say that that's the kind of energy we like. Don't talk about me being scraggly.
Courtney Pearl (01:14)
Sure.
Yeah, come from my looks.
Yeah, I'm
all right with that, but I'm still on the debate whether they were talking about me or they were talking about Uma Thurman and Kill Bill on that one. I feel like that could be it could be taken either way, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Thank you. Thank you for that. And this and the the long hair, the beard, the hat, it's your brand, right? It's your brands. You're just owning it. And I love that.
Just Blane (01:36)
Whoa!
You gotta take, I think it was about you.
It is!
It's recognizable and we'll go through and see what other people out here is saying. But I got some great comments pulled up here and let's start with this one because we were talking about Ted Lasso and how kindness. I think I said something along the lines of, know, we were talking about kindness is is not a weakness and somebody says WTF is this guy talking about kindness?
is weakness. And another one says he's still on the sheep scope. And then I see at practically magic podcast. That's you. You jumped in there and you said, we'll see about that. When all the ladies picked a genuine nice guys to make new generations of humans with. I love that.
Courtney Pearl (02:39)
Sometimes I pull it out. Sometimes I have some eloquent things to say. Sometimes not on the air when I'm actually recording, but that's one I'm proud of. I'm proud of that one.
Just Blane (02:50)
Yeah,
yeah. We put another one out when we talked about Kill Bill and we were talking about the soundtrack and the iconic sounds that were in there. And at Steel Paradox hit us and said, I think more of Young Buck sampling it to be honest. I love this comment because I had forgotten about the rap song, Bang Bang by Young Buck back some years ago. I don't want to start guessing how many, because I bet it was way more than I think it was.
Courtney Pearl (03:13)
Mmm
Just Blane (03:21)
But he used the sample from Kill Bill. Great shout out from Kill Paradox there. ⁓ Here it is. Damn, she's cute. I think they're talking about you, Coco.
Courtney Pearl (03:25)
⁓ yep.
Nice!
Okay, sure, I'll take it. Cute is my name, my first name when you take every other letter out, so.
Just Blane (03:39)
Well, it sure is.
Okay. Okay.
Courtney Pearl (03:47)
dig it.
They were just giving me a hi. They were just like, hi. And I'm like, hi, hi.
Just Blane (03:51)
I'm gonna have to say it was for you. And I like that kind of energy. Don't talk about the looks in a negative way and don't go any further than saying, damn, we're cute. That's all we need. That's it. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing more.
Courtney Pearl (04:02)
Sure, yeah.
Little pick me up, that's nice.
Just Blane (04:06)
We got into our last Wisp of Wednesday, not this Wednesday, but last week. Whew, so many comments on Alien. And I enjoy those kinds of comments because here's one right here from at Donna Fraser, my all time favorite movie even now. Aliens is just something different and Ripley hasn't been beaten by another female action star yet. I totally agree.
Courtney Pearl (04:17)
Of course.
Just Blane (04:36)
1 million percent.
And we got, we'll get to another comment where somebody said a little something different than that. But yeah, I'm with that one right there. And here it is, at Andrew Russell, because we're talking about Ellen Ripley, says, character ever written. Can you actually read? Now I'm gonna have to say, I'm gonna have to say first of all,
Courtney Pearl (04:40)
Yep.
Can you actually breathe?
Just Blane (05:09)
I'm not sure what having, being able to read has to do with any of the Ripley being the greatest tater ever written,
Courtney Pearl (05:15)
Yeah, guess, I guess,
you know, because it's written down. So I guess you would have to read to be able to read all of the other characters that have ever existed. Okay.
Just Blane (05:25)
Yeah, I'm not sure, but I
think that Andrew Russell is mistaken still. I hate to be the one to tell you, but you're wrong.
Courtney Pearl (05:35)
And we're welcoming to all the opinions. Opinions don't have to agree with ours, but yeah, you've got your opinion and that's great. Good for you.
Just Blane (05:40)
Yeah!
Yeah!
At least
Andrew was nice about it. And then here's at permit P E R U T eight alien and all cast is the greatest film I have ever seen, let alone the scariest of master piece. Don't care for any of the other words, others in the franchise. Alien is all I need. Anyway, good review by you both. I love that kind of feedback too, but I do have to say to at permit, please give the other.
Courtney Pearl (06:08)
⁓ Thanks.
Just Blane (06:13)
films and a TV show in the franchise to chance because if you do, my goodness, your universe and your alien world will be opened up so much more and you'll have a whole lot more than just the one film to go with. Sure, they're not all that level, but I don't think they have to be to start filling in some of these gaps and making this universe that Ridley Scott's put together for us. I love that type of comment though right there. Got somebody else.
Courtney Pearl (06:39)
Mm-hmm.
All right, you sold
me. I'll go watch the rest of them.
Just Blane (06:45)
Yeah,
you got somebody else at Sam Han 25. This is some of your people. I'm an Irish man. I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day either. He was agreeing with us talking about St. Patty's Day. Lots more alien comments about HR Geiger and alien was the high bar of horror and sci-fi and still is. I love these comments and we'll get to more of these as time goes on, but we're going to
Courtney Pearl (06:58)
Okay.
Just Blane (07:15)
leave these for now because they're growing and we can't keep up. We're gonna have to do entire Freqy Friday shows where we just go through comments and see what's out there.
Courtney Pearl (07:22)
Yeah.
Yeah,
but I like sorting through, sifting through. get a couple here and there, so keep leaving your comments. And if it's very eloquent or maybe even extremely harsh, we'll take note.
Just Blane (07:41)
Yeah,
yeah, but I do love that the freqs are coming in and saying, hey, you guys are doing a good job on these breakdowns and enjoying what we're doing because that's what we're here for. We're not here for my looks. We're here to break down and deep dive and do film analysis and TV show analysis and basically show you what's going on because it's a mirror, it's reflective. We've talked about that all the time. Parallel frequencies, that's what we're doing.
Courtney Pearl (07:51)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thanks guys for popping in.
Just Blane (08:13)
What kind of comment?
What kind of comments are you looking forward to seeing out there, Coco? You like when people answer our questions and stuff like that?
Courtney Pearl (08:21)
You know,
I like the ones from Ireland, baby, from my motherland, my ancestral motherland, some of which I have never even been able to visit in my lifetime yet. But it's like, I get this chance to reach across the pond and get some connection there. And I love that. So if you're in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, I don't know, everywhere in Northern Europe, you can reach out to me there and
Just Blane (08:33)
⁓
Courtney Pearl (08:50)
⁓ Also, you don't have to be from Northern Europe, you can be from anywhere. I literally am happy from anywhere.
Just Blane (08:58)
I like how you're just picking out regions now though.
Courtney Pearl (09:01)
Yeah, I'm like, wait a minute. I don't want to exclude all of the people in the continent of Africa.
Just Blane (09:07)
Malaysia,
Australia, even like anywhere else.
Courtney Pearl (09:10)
Actually, anywhere and
everywhere. Yeah, I don't even care. Like, I didn't even mean to say just Ireland. Let's just welcome them all, all those comments.
Just Blane (09:19)
Scratch that from the record. She didn't say that
people. didn't freqs. But if you are an Irish freak though, hit up Coco. Start a new fan club there for us. We love that. Bring us over there. Bring us over there.
Courtney Pearl (09:23)
But you know.
Yeah. my gosh.
That would be a dream come true for me. For sure.
Just Blane (09:38)
Let me show you something I
found ⁓ that ties into Feature Friday because now we'll transition from Freqy Friday to Feature Friday and today is a special one. I'm hyped up for it. And we normally do like a movie or a TV show, but this one we're going to highlight women voice actors. And this story right here really got me
interested in this. You had this on the docket already and then I caught this the other day and it's it's an anime cartoon adult Tof and it's going to be voiced by a blind voice actor, Deon Kwan I believe is their name and I thought this was one of the coolest things.
Courtney Pearl (10:25)
And why not?
Just Blane (10:27)
One of the coolest things. then like I said, ties into today's show because we want to highlight voice actors. These are the women who you probably pass by at Target and don't know who the hell they are, but they probably voiced a hundred different things and people and characters and whatever else that you've heard. And they need that recognition. So Coco, this was your idea. And I love it.
Courtney Pearl (10:29)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I'm calling it the voices
of women. That's our focus today. And we've got some really well-known names. I mean, they should be well-known. Most of you have heard their voices in your ears for your entire lives. And then we've got some little treasures, little gemstones that maybe haven't been discovered yet that we're gonna talk about today.
Just Blane (10:58)
Yeah.
I love it. I love it. And let's just set the stage up and talk about why this really matters because voice acting is it's like emotional puppetry. No costume, no camera, just vibration from your vocal cords and intention. And women in this space, they've been carrying entire emotional universes on their vocal cords. Seriously, I didn't realize until we started doing fan eggs and all this other stuff.
Courtney Pearl (11:42)
Yeah.
Just Blane (11:48)
how many voice actors are women and how many roles they've actually played. It's insane. They don't just do one, it's hundreds. And they do stuff from anime to animation to video games. They're shaping how we understand strength, vulnerability, chaos, love, all with their voice. But here's a twist. Historically,
Courtney Pearl (11:57)
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (12:16)
They've also been asked to fit into boxes, make it cute, make it soft, make it less threatening. Meanwhile, they're out here playing warriors, villains, gods, and broken heroes. That didn't really connect, you know? That's some tension, but that's where the real story lives. I just think that the impact that they have made, and I haven't even named one person off yet.
Courtney Pearl (12:32)
Mm-hmm.
You ⁓
Just Blane (12:42)
and we'll get into who it is. But I just want to set the stage and say that this is not an easy thing once again for women to break into or anybody. Voice acting is hard.
Courtney Pearl (12:53)
Yeah, yeah, and much, much credit to all of the anime voice actors in the spectrum of different types of acting doing that kind of work. ⁓ Personally, my list today that I'm going to be noting some that are on my radar, I don't have any anime voice actresses on my radar right here, which means that I need some help from the freqs. If you've got your favorites, ones that really stood out to you, this is where the comments you're to want to
Just Blane (13:14)
Mmm.
Courtney Pearl (13:22)
let us know because we want to give a shout out to some of your favorites and ones that have really stood out to you. Like, whoa, yeah, when you listen to it, it's powerful, it's strong. And like you said, conveying so much emotions just with their voice. I'll tell you, if I was going to now go back in time and pick a career in acting, I think I'd want to be a voice actress. I used to love to play with my voice. I used to love different dialects and different.
Just Blane (13:29)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (13:50)
different tones and different things. now I'm like, sounds like the perfect career. You don't have to get hair and makeup. You don't have to go on location. Just show up in the studio and do your thing. I think it sounds fantastic. Or home.
Just Blane (14:02)
or at home. You can put a voice studio
in your house.
You can do this in your pajamas. can do it in your pajamas. Yeah. You. What a gig, right? I mean, that's that's got to be incredible. Absolutely, and they definitely do. And. I just want to throw out there that we're going to have two powerhouse voice actors on this episode right here for some interviews we did at FANX. We got Erica Schroeder and Ryan Bartley, and I love both of these women. They were.
Courtney Pearl (14:09)
That's what we're doing. Yeah, absolutely. That sounds like a great gig to me.
Not to say that they don't work hard. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (14:38)
incredible to talk to they're incredible at what they do but we're gonna get to that and yeah so so they don't just perform characters they understand them and that's the difference you can feel that every single one of them every character they play got a different feel to it
Courtney Pearl (14:43)
Yep, stay tuned.
Yeah, I think it's even better. mean, I know you can recognize voices as you go along. You can, we're gonna talk about one today I've got it in my back pocket to talk about, but I, ⁓ you have those ones that you're like, I recognize that voice. It's the same as this place that I've heard it. But it's even more amazing when it's kind of ⁓ that Christopher Guest ⁓ phenomenon. I say Christopher Guest because he's one of the actors that I know of that when he's in different films.
Just Blane (15:18)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (15:25)
It took me a long time to realize he was the same person. And that's that's talented right there as well. Like to be able to disguise your voice, to be able to completely change based on the character. I love that. And that is really that's really a lot of talent to be able to do that.
Just Blane (15:28)
Mmm.
It is, the performance itself is an invisible performance. So let's talk about this weird paradox of voice acting because you can scream, cry, break down, but nobody sees your face. So the question for the voice actors has to be, how do you make someone feel something without being seen? I know their characters are seen on screen and the animators do a lot of that, but a lot of this is just acting in the dark.
It's trusting that your voice is enough to light the room up. And that's kind of why when you think about it, no facial expressions to lean on, just tone, breath, timing that they have to get completely accurate and right. So it seems like an easy job. And of course we knew, we know it's not when we were setting it up, talking about, oh, let's just do this from our own. No, no, no, there's a lot of work that goes into this.
Courtney Pearl (16:19)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Absolutely, yeah. Noting all of the beats and pauses, noting the breath, all of these different things. I mean, I think there's a lot more that goes into it than we realize. And much credit to them.
Just Blane (16:42)
End.
Yeah. And I'm gonna talk
about a couple of the names right now. We haven't mentioned anybody yet, but even IMDB has a list and it's June Foray, Joan Gerber, Tress McNeil, Rusty Taylor. You know, it keeps going. Gray, Delisle, Candy Milo, Jennifer Hale. That's just the top eight, seven, eight. And you're, lot of people are probably like, I don't know any of these names and it's okay.
Courtney Pearl (17:16)
All right.
Just Blane (17:20)
Because you know the characters they played. Courtney, you got some names over there. What's one of the biggest names you've got?
Courtney Pearl (17:28)
All right, I'm gonna start with the big ones. We've got the big ones that almost everybody, if you've been into pop culture at all in the last 30 years, play the same characters for 30 years. Nancy Cartwright. You know her as Bart Simpson and Nelson Muntz and Todd Flanders and Ralph Wiggum on The Simpsons. I mean, 30 years of playing a 10-year-old boy.
Just Blane (17:41)
yeah.
Yeah!
Courtney Pearl (17:57)
Can you believe it? And I've seen her on interviews. I've seen her talking about it. I love that she loves to play with that voice. I love that she surprises people when she's out in public and sometimes she just gives them a little Bart Simpson and they're like, it was you? I mean, they're not gonna recognize her by her face, but they know that voice, right?
Just Blane (18:18)
Like I said, you could walk by these voice actors ⁓ anywhere you're out in public and you wouldn't know. I know Nancy Cartwright might be recognized by some, but she's still not recognized as much as an actor who is seen on the screen, like their actual face or whatever. I probably wouldn't recognize Nancy Cartwright. I know what she looks like, but...
Courtney Pearl (18:37)
Mm-hmm.
I probably wouldn't either, even though I've seen
those interviews and I've seen ⁓ pictures of her, I've seen her talking in Bart's voice, I've seen all this over the years, but I think if she was passing me in the grocery line, I probably would just think she was any old average person, just another one of us.
Just Blane (18:59)
Yeah,
another one of us. I'm probably coming up with a normie. A freak, maybe she's a freak. I hope Nancy Cartwright's a freak.
Courtney Pearl (19:03)
You're the one of us, normies.
She would if she listened to the show, she'd be a freak. I know she would. She's fun like that. Yeah. And then we have, of course, Yardley Smith playing Lisa Simpson. She's one of the ones that only plays one character on that show. Her voice is very unique, very specific. You know that voice. But I want to point out she was also the little girl, Cecilia, in the We're Back.
Just Blane (19:13)
Yeah, yeah, I guarantee you. I guarantee you she'd be a freak.
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (19:37)
a dinosaur story from 1992. These are from my nostalgic 90s millennials. You know, we remember that ⁓ movie with John Goodman playing Rex. mean, that was Martin Short, I think was another one. Ray Perlman, she did a voice in that movie. you ⁓ know, big names. And then we have that adorable childlike almost
high in the vocal cords, ⁓ Yardley Smith's voice that she does there. It's absolutely iconic. I love it.
Just Blane (20:12)
incredible performances and that's what really hits hard and it's also
how do I tiptoe around this? Because it's women, it's harder. We've established that. This business and industry and all of that is harder to get into. And that's something that these actors had to navigate. It's almost like a double layer. ⁓ They're doing their own character, yet they're dealing with the real world and still it's like you gotta go into the booth and be emotionally expressive, but not too much.
Courtney Pearl (20:38)
Yeah.
Just Blane (20:51)
Be strong, but still be likable. Be unique, but you still better be marketable. And yet they created some of the most iconic characters ever. Bart Simpson is gonna live forever. And that's Nancy Krueger.
Courtney Pearl (20:54)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's just one of those that
she just keeps right on going with the series I mean there have been others that have come and gone and play the same Character as someone else, but she's been one of the tried-and-true Not going anywhere anytime soon Bart Simpson
Just Blane (21:22)
Yeah,
and these characters that these women have given us over the years, they've taught us how to be brave, how to feel deep, how to survive chaos. And the kicker is a lot of their performances, most of them came from spaces where they weren't even fully seen or sometimes even credited. And that's wild too, you know? How do you, yeah, it's...
Courtney Pearl (21:49)
I would dare
say there was probably a fight ⁓ and there probably still is an ongoing fight to close the pay gap for ⁓ women voice actors versus what men are paid for the same job. And so I want to point out that's probably still something that they deal with in their careers getting started. yeah, I want to shout out to Kristen Shell. She's just an amazing ⁓ actress and comedic actress anyway, but she plays
Just Blane (22:08)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (22:18)
Louise Belcher on Bob's Burgers. This is one of the only times I think it's okay, only because it's so good that we have men playing the parts of females in voice acting. Because you have Dan Mitz who plays ⁓ Tina Belcher and ⁓ John Roberts plays Linda Belcher in that series. so I don't love the idea of men taking the part.
Just Blane (22:31)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (22:45)
taking the job from a woman who could do the parts of the female characters. But in that show, it just works so well. I forgive it. Just have to mention it. Just have to mention it.
Just Blane (22:54)
You have to kind of, right?
Yeah, you have to kinda, kinda forget it because, yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, and it is what it is.
Courtney Pearl (23:03)
It's just too perfect. I mean, Linda,
how many times a day do ⁓ I play the part of Linda Belcher with my own kids and go, aw. Aw. ⁓
Just Blane (23:14)
Now let's get to two of these interviews that we've done with some of these voice actors and ask some of these questions that we've talked about. And you might not recognize the names, Erica Schroeder. I do, I mean I do. And a lot of people at FanX and stuff like that do. And once again, we went to FanX with Promise to Live. We'll get into that after and I'll give you the feedback and what you gotta do for that.
Erica Schroeder, you don't know the name, but she's been in, I mean, I'm tell you like hundreds of things, Pokemon mainly. And we talked to her about that. let's go, Coco, you remember this interview we did with Erica? Yeah. Let's go ahead and play this and get into it and let the freqs out there hear this.
Courtney Pearl (23:58)
I do.
you
She's amazing. I love her advice too.
Just Blane (27:04)
Incredible.
I forgot about her.
Yeah, I forgot about her talking about nature like that. That was the best part in your golf course.
Courtney Pearl (27:12)
Absolutely. I was like, you're
gonna hear my gasp in the interview. Did she just say that? Get out in nature. That is my jam.
Just Blane (27:19)
And that's Eric and Schroeder.
Erica Schroeder, Sonic, she's in the video game, I believe, Blaze the Cat maybe, and Percival, Pokemon, Tokyo Mew Mew, lots of, I'm telling you, like, you see, and every one of these voice actors has those posters up behind them, and there's so many characters, and it's wild.
Courtney Pearl (27:29)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
long way.
I know.
What a fun job. What a great career. I just think that sounds so amazing and maybe doesn't get quite enough of the ⁓ in the starlight or in the spotlight unless they happen to do a little bit of both, which I would like to bring up my back pocket person if I could. The one I've been saving. One of my favorite actresses, ⁓ voice actress and on screen is ⁓ Christine Kavanaugh.
Just Blane (28:03)
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, let's hear it.
Courtney Pearl (28:16)
and we lost her in December 22nd, 2014. did, absolutely, if you look her up, you will recognize her. I promise you will. But one of my favorite things that she did was Chuckie Finster on Rugrats. So for all my people who are my age, you'll all remember watching Rugrats when you were kids on Nickelodeon, but she also did, ah, real monsters on Nickelodeon. She was also in the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series. I'm not sure which part she played, but she was on Darkwing Duck.
Just Blane (28:21)
Yep.
Mmmmm.
Courtney Pearl (28:46)
Dexter's Laboratory and people know her most. One of my favorite movies of all time was The Voice of Babe.
Just Blane (28:54)
yeah, look at that.
Courtney Pearl (28:55)
You remember
her. ⁓ She was in ⁓ X-Files in live action and not voice acting. She was on one of my favorite episodes, Small Potatoes. And she has one of the most iconic voices. She was also on Cheers, Wings. Everybody loves Raymond, ER, a supporting character in Jerry Maguire. This woman's epic. And you know what else? She was born right here in Layton, Utah, and passed away. She was living in Cedar City, Utah. So she's one of our own. One of our own.
Just Blane (29:23)
No way!
That's wild!
Courtney Pearl (29:25)
So I just had to bring her
up and put her out there. She's one of my absolute favorite voice actresses, but also she deserves credit for all of the things that she did. So.
Just Blane (29:35)
I love that.
I love that. Like touched all aspects of, she actually had ⁓ what I would have considered my dream career. It sounds like, like working on all that stuff there. Like you named off cheers and all these sick off. Like that's, yeah, I'd love to do that. Let's go ahead. Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Let's go ahead and talk to one more person, Ryan Bartley. And this is from FanX.
Courtney Pearl (29:46)
Yeah.
amazing. Yeah.
⁓ passed away too young, too.
Just Blane (30:06)
2024 maybe, but I remember talking to her and this one was real special to me. I enjoyed talking to her and let's just go ahead and get into this.
That's the wrong.
trying to share this screen, but it's not.
Courtney Pearl (30:44)
hips.
Just Blane (30:47)
You're getting old. All right, here we
If you
It's like every anime
But you're very good at what you do. play a lot of these characters. Do you really enjoy anime? I do.
growing up.
Mm!
Courtney Pearl (31:43)
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (31:54)
And you're part of
You're in a Kiki something, but that's not the same Kiki from... Oh, you know what? That's a different thing.
Look at that! ⁓
Courtney Pearl (32:07)
.
Just Blane (32:17)
local witch and me and her doing a podcast on that. So when you bring it up, I'm like, oh my gosh, I know this stuff. That's very cool. No, that's awesome. But we were in the same boat. was like, we didn't grow up with anime. It's polarizing. It's either you hate it or love it, which I'm
like, why? I it now. I do too. And I think it got a bad rap for so long that people didn't like it. And it's like, oh, I don't like it either. But you never watched it. Well, there's also like, you know, when I was a kid, it was harder to find. Now it's
We have so many different ways to watch anime and you can find even Disney Plus like Hulu.
It was either Sailor Moon or Pokemon or that's it.
Courtney Pearl (33:07)
Okay.
Just Blane (33:10)
chest tape era. How did you get into this? Is this something you drained of? You know what, I actually have been interested in voiceover since I was a kid. I actually started as a tween. I was working for Radio Disney because they use real kids to do their promos and their commercial spots. So that's kind how I started. But I always really wanted to do cartoons.
And I was, I loved cartoons growing up. was into Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold.
Courtney Pearl (33:44)
Mm.
Just Blane (33:48)
of like doing cartoons and I...
which is very different from other kinds. yeah, that's kind of how it started. I wanted to touch that because a lot of people think, I could do that. I could be a voice actor. But there's a lot that goes into it. Yeah, there is.
doing musical theater and plays all as a kid and then and dance classes and all that kind of thing and so know mean voice actors are actors like that that really has to come first and foremost so and I always tell people like if you can do plays at school or any kind of theater at all is great training to get your feet wet in that world and it is it's just it's acting so take an acting class take an improv
way to get into voiceover. let me ask you something serious because acting does take a toll on the actor themselves. How do you deal with anything like that that might have got you down? Maybe there's a message I hope that you can have for somebody else out there listening. What would it be?
Courtney Pearl (34:44)
You
Just Blane (35:02)
Mm.
We only have such a tiny amount of time on this earth. So I always tell people, chase your dreams. You're never too old to start, first of all. I get people for all ages asking me, could I be a voice actor? you think, how do I break in? ⁓
Too young.
and he's now a massively successful voice actor. does cons all the time. He directed me on a video game recently. And he was in the military. This is his second career. So he books all those Call of Duty, all those kind of...
and he really does sound like he's in that world, know, when he gets those auditions he kills it, you know, but but his second career so I always tell people you're never too old you're never too young you know follow your dreams if you have any sort of interest in this passion you want to explore like I love what I do and I want everyone to be as happy as I am you know but yes it is a lot of rejection
If it's worth it to you, you tune that out and you pick yourself back up. It's hard though. It's definitely hard. You lean on your friends. I do a lot of meditation.
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (36:46)
You
Just Blane (36:47)
One of my coaches.
the hunter hunter Doug. He directs.
and you just keep fighting and you never give up. Realize there's tomorrow. There's always a tomorrow. The sun is always going to come back out. The world's going to keep spinning. It's a hard time to do anything. It's a hard world to live in right now. And it's stressful and there's just so much going on.
You know, I want to get into that because a lot of people here, these are their outcasts. These are the nerds, which used to be a derogatory term. I'll say I'm a nerd, I'll fight anybody to ask you
⁓ It's almost like there's a competition to see who can be the hottest. It happens, it happens. But we're all little weirdos in our own ways.
to the table. Have you ever seen the movie The Craft? Oh yeah. Do you remember when they get off a bus and the guy tells them look out for these weirdos and she looks at him and says we are the weirdos mister. We are the weirdos. That's true. Let me ask you let me get out of my hat. What do you have coming out now? You got a video game? got a what's big? What are you looking forward to? Talk about what can I talk about? That's the.
Courtney Pearl (38:38)
Okay.
Just Blane (38:52)
Yeah
Courtney Pearl (39:15)
Yeah
Just Blane (39:41)
Yeah Yes, in a heartbeat. It was so fun. No, I the little mini pups. They're so cute. No, was, we had a blast working on that. Call them for the next one and I want my agent feed. want a little. you go. Thank you so much. No, thank you guys.
How fun was that?
Courtney Pearl (40:00)
Yeah!
Just Blane (40:02)
I forgot how good that interview was. That was from 2024, like I said once again. So none of that stuff is actually new, it's been out. I do like how she threw Disney under the bus and admitted to their child laboring because she was working as a kid for Radio Disney. And they...
Courtney Pearl (40:22)
They've been doing that's a that's a time-honored tradition.
Just Blane (40:27)
No, but she was
great and answered a lot of those questions that we've already kind of talked about. How hard it is and the struggle, the tip of the iceberg. She's got a thousand roles, not really, but who knows? She might've been rejected for 10,000. That's gotta be hard.
Courtney Pearl (40:36)
Yup.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, but just knowing that means like, hey, if I'm getting rejected, I'm on the right path. I'm getting rejected maybe five, 10 times more than I'm gonna be booking or getting it. And that's just part of the process. It's part of it. So check that box and you're doing great.
Just Blane (40:51)
Absolutely.
⁓ What?
Yeah, so in watching that interview back, made me start thinking, I'm like, you know what? There's something almost spiritual about voice acting. It's like Ryan Bartley or Erica, it's like they're lending out their soul for a few hours to let it live in somebody else or something else. And the audience, don't ever see the actor. We just feel them. That's the difference. It's a different kind of fame. It's invisible, but
Courtney Pearl (41:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (41:33)
unforgettable. I don't know, it's almost like Ryan and Erica and all these other women that we've talked about, it's almost like they are unsung heroes because they're unknown. But if they start talking, it's like, my gosh, everybody's going to come to them. They know, they know that voice and that's wild. I want to throw this out there to the freqs and ask
Courtney Pearl (41:53)
Hmm.
Just Blane (42:00)
What voice out there, give us somebody that we can talk about that has changed your life or is a staple in your life. And let's build a list. Let's build a list of the best women voice actors ever and our favorites. I love that. And I think we could put that up somewhere. What do you think Coco?
Courtney Pearl (42:09)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Don't forget about those that do narration for audio books, things like that. I'm going to give a shout out to Mary Jane Wells, ⁓ narrated a book I loved to listen to on audio books called Anima Rising by Christopher Moore. Christopher Moore is a fantastic author, by the way, if you ever want to read something hilariously funny, he does a great job. But her as a voice actress, ⁓ she won awards for doing that book, narrating it.
Just Blane (42:24)
Mmm.
Courtney Pearl (42:48)
And I took note of her because I've listened to lot of audio books, but as I'm listening, I have never heard anyone switch characters so beautifully because a lot of times they're narrating a book that they have to play every part when they're doing an audio book. So a lot of times, you know, when you're listening to a romance novel and it's like a guy's voice who has to somehow be the girl and you get that and you're like, ew.
Just Blane (43:05)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (43:17)
That ruined it. But not her. She did every character so different that I knew I was listening to the same person, but in my head they became different people. And I thought she was so amazing. I started following her on Instagram. Saw that she won some awards for that book. It's right there in the bottom. 2026 Audi Award that she got for that. So. Yeah.
Just Blane (43:30)
Mmm.
⁓ nice. And this is her right here. At Mary Jane
Wells of Stories.
Courtney Pearl (43:49)
Yes, go follow her, go check her out. I mean, these are like unsung heroes, right? You're not gonna see her name on a lot of things or, you know, up in lights, but she deserves credit for what she did, because she's amazing.
Just Blane (44:01)
I'm gonna hit follow right there. You know what? Well, you should reach out to her. Let's talk to her on the show right here. Let's get her on here.
Courtney Pearl (44:07)
I would be,
see that would be me like fangirling about, cause I really, really did love her work so much.
Just Blane (44:13)
I want to talk to her. Let's reach out. Maybe she'll see this show. If she does, Mary Jane, will you please come on and talk to us? We'd love to talk to you and give you the flowers that you deserve. Metaphorically, of course, because I don't have... But no, I really do want to do that. I love this episode. We went a little longer than I intended, but that's okay.
Because these women, like I said, they do need their flowers. And we do have to put them on the map. I want to build that list and see what the freqs out there, I wanna see who you got and see what we're missing.
Courtney Pearl (44:52)
Yeah.
Yeah. Tell us who to listen for.
Just Blane (44:57)
I love how Ryan Bartley, when I asked her about the projects she was working on, she couldn't tell me. And I knew, I almost got out of her because I kind of knew. And it did come out later and she was in Call of Duty, Black Ops 7, she was in The Ghost of Yote, which is a ⁓ Japanese, like a samurai type game. And these were huge games. And I know she was wanting to, yeah, I knew she wanted to tell me, but couldn't.
Courtney Pearl (45:20)
ooo
Amazing.
Just Blane (45:25)
So I thought that
was kind of cool. I felt like I was almost in the end. I want to talk to Ryan Bartley again. Ryan, if you see this, please come back on and talk to us. I know you got some more stuff going on. Erica too. Great conversations. Coco, thank you for putting this one on the docket. It needed to be done. We need to do it again. We could do this and talk about 50 different women that we didn't even mention today. And that's the crazy.
Courtney Pearl (45:51)
I'm sure.
Yeah.
Just Blane (45:53)
I am JustBling, that is Coco. You are our freqs. This is Parallel Frequencies and we will see you on the other side.
Courtney Pearl (46:03)
See you next week.
It is parallel frequencies with JustBlane and Coco and all of our freqs out there. You can see my energy, you can hear it. It is Freqy Friday, Coco. I am excited. I am ex... Are you? Are you excited? Do you get excited now?
Courtney Pearl (00:11)
Yeah, let's go Friday. Always, always
for Friday, Friday. I know Thursday, I said is usually my favorite day, but Fridays are. Fridays are a second place favorite day.
Just Blane (00:26)
Top tier for sure, top tier day, but Freqy Friday now makes it even that much bigger and more fun and more look forward to me because we get to talk to the freqs. The freqs have been talking to us. We get to jump back in and check out some of their comments, whether they're nice, whether they're mean. We like them all. We like them all. But I do like the good energy that's coming through and I've been seeing a lot of it here lately. So we need to...
Courtney Pearl (00:32)
Mm-hmm.
Take them out.
Good, good. Yeah, come on
to be kind. Why not? Why not be kind? If you can be anything, be kind, right? No, no, no, I don't think so. I don't think so.
Just Blane (01:01)
It's not that hard. Is it really that hard to be nice?
We've had comments about
my looks, my scraggly beard, my long, we've had some comments about that and I'm like, you know what? If you're here for my looks, then you're here for the wrong thing, right? That's right, hey, but you did get a comment that said, damn, she's cute. And I'll say that that's the kind of energy we like. Don't talk about me being scraggly.
Courtney Pearl (01:14)
Sure.
Yeah, come from my looks.
Yeah, I'm
all right with that, but I'm still on the debate whether they were talking about me or they were talking about Uma Thurman and Kill Bill on that one. I feel like that could be it could be taken either way, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Thank you. Thank you for that. And this and the the long hair, the beard, the hat, it's your brand, right? It's your brands. You're just owning it. And I love that.
Just Blane (01:36)
Whoa!
You gotta take, I think it was about you.
It is!
It's recognizable and we'll go through and see what other people out here is saying. But I got some great comments pulled up here and let's start with this one because we were talking about Ted Lasso and how kindness. I think I said something along the lines of, know, we were talking about kindness is is not a weakness and somebody says WTF is this guy talking about kindness?
is weakness. And another one says he's still on the sheep scope. And then I see at practically magic podcast. That's you. You jumped in there and you said, we'll see about that. When all the ladies picked a genuine nice guys to make new generations of humans with. I love that.
Courtney Pearl (02:39)
Sometimes I pull it out. Sometimes I have some eloquent things to say. Sometimes not on the air when I'm actually recording, but that's one I'm proud of. I'm proud of that one.
Just Blane (02:50)
Yeah,
yeah. We put another one out when we talked about Kill Bill and we were talking about the soundtrack and the iconic sounds that were in there. And at Steel Paradox hit us and said, I think more of Young Buck sampling it to be honest. I love this comment because I had forgotten about the rap song, Bang Bang by Young Buck back some years ago. I don't want to start guessing how many, because I bet it was way more than I think it was.
Courtney Pearl (03:13)
Mmm
Just Blane (03:21)
But he used the sample from Kill Bill. Great shout out from Kill Paradox there. ⁓ Here it is. Damn, she's cute. I think they're talking about you, Coco.
Courtney Pearl (03:25)
⁓ yep.
Nice!
Okay, sure, I'll take it. Cute is my name, my first name when you take every other letter out, so.
Just Blane (03:39)
Well, it sure is.
Okay. Okay.
Courtney Pearl (03:47)
dig it.
They were just giving me a hi. They were just like, hi. And I'm like, hi, hi.
Just Blane (03:51)
I'm gonna have to say it was for you. And I like that kind of energy. Don't talk about the looks in a negative way and don't go any further than saying, damn, we're cute. That's all we need. That's it. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing more.
Courtney Pearl (04:02)
Sure, yeah.
Little pick me up, that's nice.
Just Blane (04:06)
We got into our last Wisp of Wednesday, not this Wednesday, but last week. Whew, so many comments on Alien. And I enjoy those kinds of comments because here's one right here from at Donna Fraser, my all time favorite movie even now. Aliens is just something different and Ripley hasn't been beaten by another female action star yet. I totally agree.
Courtney Pearl (04:17)
Of course.
Just Blane (04:36)
1 million percent.
And we got, we'll get to another comment where somebody said a little something different than that. But yeah, I'm with that one right there. And here it is, at Andrew Russell, because we're talking about Ellen Ripley, says, character ever written. Can you actually read? Now I'm gonna have to say, I'm gonna have to say first of all,
Courtney Pearl (04:40)
Yep.
Can you actually breathe?
Just Blane (05:09)
I'm not sure what having, being able to read has to do with any of the Ripley being the greatest tater ever written,
Courtney Pearl (05:15)
Yeah, guess, I guess,
you know, because it's written down. So I guess you would have to read to be able to read all of the other characters that have ever existed. Okay.
Just Blane (05:25)
Yeah, I'm not sure, but I
think that Andrew Russell is mistaken still. I hate to be the one to tell you, but you're wrong.
Courtney Pearl (05:35)
And we're welcoming to all the opinions. Opinions don't have to agree with ours, but yeah, you've got your opinion and that's great. Good for you.
Just Blane (05:40)
Yeah!
Yeah!
At least
Andrew was nice about it. And then here's at permit P E R U T eight alien and all cast is the greatest film I have ever seen, let alone the scariest of master piece. Don't care for any of the other words, others in the franchise. Alien is all I need. Anyway, good review by you both. I love that kind of feedback too, but I do have to say to at permit, please give the other.
Courtney Pearl (06:08)
⁓ Thanks.
Just Blane (06:13)
films and a TV show in the franchise to chance because if you do, my goodness, your universe and your alien world will be opened up so much more and you'll have a whole lot more than just the one film to go with. Sure, they're not all that level, but I don't think they have to be to start filling in some of these gaps and making this universe that Ridley Scott's put together for us. I love that type of comment though right there. Got somebody else.
Courtney Pearl (06:39)
Mm-hmm.
All right, you sold
me. I'll go watch the rest of them.
Just Blane (06:45)
Yeah,
you got somebody else at Sam Han 25. This is some of your people. I'm an Irish man. I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day either. He was agreeing with us talking about St. Patty's Day. Lots more alien comments about HR Geiger and alien was the high bar of horror and sci-fi and still is. I love these comments and we'll get to more of these as time goes on, but we're going to
Courtney Pearl (06:58)
Okay.
Just Blane (07:15)
leave these for now because they're growing and we can't keep up. We're gonna have to do entire Freqy Friday shows where we just go through comments and see what's out there.
Courtney Pearl (07:22)
Yeah.
Yeah,
but I like sorting through, sifting through. get a couple here and there, so keep leaving your comments. And if it's very eloquent or maybe even extremely harsh, we'll take note.
Just Blane (07:41)
Yeah,
yeah, but I do love that the freqs are coming in and saying, hey, you guys are doing a good job on these breakdowns and enjoying what we're doing because that's what we're here for. We're not here for my looks. We're here to break down and deep dive and do film analysis and TV show analysis and basically show you what's going on because it's a mirror, it's reflective. We've talked about that all the time. Parallel frequencies, that's what we're doing.
Courtney Pearl (07:51)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thanks guys for popping in.
Just Blane (08:13)
What kind of comment?
What kind of comments are you looking forward to seeing out there, Coco? You like when people answer our questions and stuff like that?
Courtney Pearl (08:21)
You know,
I like the ones from Ireland, baby, from my motherland, my ancestral motherland, some of which I have never even been able to visit in my lifetime yet. But it's like, I get this chance to reach across the pond and get some connection there. And I love that. So if you're in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, I don't know, everywhere in Northern Europe, you can reach out to me there and
Just Blane (08:33)
⁓
Courtney Pearl (08:50)
⁓ Also, you don't have to be from Northern Europe, you can be from anywhere. I literally am happy from anywhere.
Just Blane (08:58)
I like how you're just picking out regions now though.
Courtney Pearl (09:01)
Yeah, I'm like, wait a minute. I don't want to exclude all of the people in the continent of Africa.
Just Blane (09:07)
Malaysia,
Australia, even like anywhere else.
Courtney Pearl (09:10)
Actually, anywhere and
everywhere. Yeah, I don't even care. Like, I didn't even mean to say just Ireland. Let's just welcome them all, all those comments.
Just Blane (09:19)
Scratch that from the record. She didn't say that
people. didn't freqs. But if you are an Irish freak though, hit up Coco. Start a new fan club there for us. We love that. Bring us over there. Bring us over there.
Courtney Pearl (09:23)
But you know.
Yeah. my gosh.
That would be a dream come true for me. For sure.
Just Blane (09:38)
Let me show you something I
found ⁓ that ties into Feature Friday because now we'll transition from Freqy Friday to Feature Friday and today is a special one. I'm hyped up for it. And we normally do like a movie or a TV show, but this one we're going to highlight women voice actors. And this story right here really got me
interested in this. You had this on the docket already and then I caught this the other day and it's it's an anime cartoon adult Tof and it's going to be voiced by a blind voice actor, Deon Kwan I believe is their name and I thought this was one of the coolest things.
Courtney Pearl (10:25)
And why not?
Just Blane (10:27)
One of the coolest things. then like I said, ties into today's show because we want to highlight voice actors. These are the women who you probably pass by at Target and don't know who the hell they are, but they probably voiced a hundred different things and people and characters and whatever else that you've heard. And they need that recognition. So Coco, this was your idea. And I love it.
Courtney Pearl (10:29)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I'm calling it the voices
of women. That's our focus today. And we've got some really well-known names. I mean, they should be well-known. Most of you have heard their voices in your ears for your entire lives. And then we've got some little treasures, little gemstones that maybe haven't been discovered yet that we're gonna talk about today.
Just Blane (10:58)
Yeah.
I love it. I love it. And let's just set the stage up and talk about why this really matters because voice acting is it's like emotional puppetry. No costume, no camera, just vibration from your vocal cords and intention. And women in this space, they've been carrying entire emotional universes on their vocal cords. Seriously, I didn't realize until we started doing fan eggs and all this other stuff.
Courtney Pearl (11:42)
Yeah.
Just Blane (11:48)
how many voice actors are women and how many roles they've actually played. It's insane. They don't just do one, it's hundreds. And they do stuff from anime to animation to video games. They're shaping how we understand strength, vulnerability, chaos, love, all with their voice. But here's a twist. Historically,
Courtney Pearl (11:57)
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (12:16)
They've also been asked to fit into boxes, make it cute, make it soft, make it less threatening. Meanwhile, they're out here playing warriors, villains, gods, and broken heroes. That didn't really connect, you know? That's some tension, but that's where the real story lives. I just think that the impact that they have made, and I haven't even named one person off yet.
Courtney Pearl (12:32)
Mm-hmm.
You ⁓
Just Blane (12:42)
and we'll get into who it is. But I just want to set the stage and say that this is not an easy thing once again for women to break into or anybody. Voice acting is hard.
Courtney Pearl (12:53)
Yeah, yeah, and much, much credit to all of the anime voice actors in the spectrum of different types of acting doing that kind of work. ⁓ Personally, my list today that I'm going to be noting some that are on my radar, I don't have any anime voice actresses on my radar right here, which means that I need some help from the freqs. If you've got your favorites, ones that really stood out to you, this is where the comments you're to want to
Just Blane (13:14)
Mmm.
Courtney Pearl (13:22)
let us know because we want to give a shout out to some of your favorites and ones that have really stood out to you. Like, whoa, yeah, when you listen to it, it's powerful, it's strong. And like you said, conveying so much emotions just with their voice. I'll tell you, if I was going to now go back in time and pick a career in acting, I think I'd want to be a voice actress. I used to love to play with my voice. I used to love different dialects and different.
Just Blane (13:29)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (13:50)
different tones and different things. now I'm like, sounds like the perfect career. You don't have to get hair and makeup. You don't have to go on location. Just show up in the studio and do your thing. I think it sounds fantastic. Or home.
Just Blane (14:02)
or at home. You can put a voice studio
in your house.
You can do this in your pajamas. can do it in your pajamas. Yeah. You. What a gig, right? I mean, that's that's got to be incredible. Absolutely, and they definitely do. And. I just want to throw out there that we're going to have two powerhouse voice actors on this episode right here for some interviews we did at FANX. We got Erica Schroeder and Ryan Bartley, and I love both of these women. They were.
Courtney Pearl (14:09)
That's what we're doing. Yeah, absolutely. That sounds like a great gig to me.
Not to say that they don't work hard. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (14:38)
incredible to talk to they're incredible at what they do but we're gonna get to that and yeah so so they don't just perform characters they understand them and that's the difference you can feel that every single one of them every character they play got a different feel to it
Courtney Pearl (14:43)
Yep, stay tuned.
Yeah, I think it's even better. mean, I know you can recognize voices as you go along. You can, we're gonna talk about one today I've got it in my back pocket to talk about, but I, ⁓ you have those ones that you're like, I recognize that voice. It's the same as this place that I've heard it. But it's even more amazing when it's kind of ⁓ that Christopher Guest ⁓ phenomenon. I say Christopher Guest because he's one of the actors that I know of that when he's in different films.
Just Blane (15:18)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (15:25)
It took me a long time to realize he was the same person. And that's that's talented right there as well. Like to be able to disguise your voice, to be able to completely change based on the character. I love that. And that is really that's really a lot of talent to be able to do that.
Just Blane (15:28)
Mmm.
It is, the performance itself is an invisible performance. So let's talk about this weird paradox of voice acting because you can scream, cry, break down, but nobody sees your face. So the question for the voice actors has to be, how do you make someone feel something without being seen? I know their characters are seen on screen and the animators do a lot of that, but a lot of this is just acting in the dark.
It's trusting that your voice is enough to light the room up. And that's kind of why when you think about it, no facial expressions to lean on, just tone, breath, timing that they have to get completely accurate and right. So it seems like an easy job. And of course we knew, we know it's not when we were setting it up, talking about, oh, let's just do this from our own. No, no, no, there's a lot of work that goes into this.
Courtney Pearl (16:19)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Absolutely, yeah. Noting all of the beats and pauses, noting the breath, all of these different things. I mean, I think there's a lot more that goes into it than we realize. And much credit to them.
Just Blane (16:42)
End.
Yeah. And I'm gonna talk
about a couple of the names right now. We haven't mentioned anybody yet, but even IMDB has a list and it's June Foray, Joan Gerber, Tress McNeil, Rusty Taylor. You know, it keeps going. Gray, Delisle, Candy Milo, Jennifer Hale. That's just the top eight, seven, eight. And you're, lot of people are probably like, I don't know any of these names and it's okay.
Courtney Pearl (17:16)
All right.
Just Blane (17:20)
Because you know the characters they played. Courtney, you got some names over there. What's one of the biggest names you've got?
Courtney Pearl (17:28)
All right, I'm gonna start with the big ones. We've got the big ones that almost everybody, if you've been into pop culture at all in the last 30 years, play the same characters for 30 years. Nancy Cartwright. You know her as Bart Simpson and Nelson Muntz and Todd Flanders and Ralph Wiggum on The Simpsons. I mean, 30 years of playing a 10-year-old boy.
Just Blane (17:41)
yeah.
Yeah!
Courtney Pearl (17:57)
Can you believe it? And I've seen her on interviews. I've seen her talking about it. I love that she loves to play with that voice. I love that she surprises people when she's out in public and sometimes she just gives them a little Bart Simpson and they're like, it was you? I mean, they're not gonna recognize her by her face, but they know that voice, right?
Just Blane (18:18)
Like I said, you could walk by these voice actors ⁓ anywhere you're out in public and you wouldn't know. I know Nancy Cartwright might be recognized by some, but she's still not recognized as much as an actor who is seen on the screen, like their actual face or whatever. I probably wouldn't recognize Nancy Cartwright. I know what she looks like, but...
Courtney Pearl (18:37)
Mm-hmm.
I probably wouldn't either, even though I've seen
those interviews and I've seen ⁓ pictures of her, I've seen her talking in Bart's voice, I've seen all this over the years, but I think if she was passing me in the grocery line, I probably would just think she was any old average person, just another one of us.
Just Blane (18:59)
Yeah,
another one of us. I'm probably coming up with a normie. A freak, maybe she's a freak. I hope Nancy Cartwright's a freak.
Courtney Pearl (19:03)
You're the one of us, normies.
She would if she listened to the show, she'd be a freak. I know she would. She's fun like that. Yeah. And then we have, of course, Yardley Smith playing Lisa Simpson. She's one of the ones that only plays one character on that show. Her voice is very unique, very specific. You know that voice. But I want to point out she was also the little girl, Cecilia, in the We're Back.
Just Blane (19:13)
Yeah, yeah, I guarantee you. I guarantee you she'd be a freak.
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (19:37)
a dinosaur story from 1992. These are from my nostalgic 90s millennials. You know, we remember that ⁓ movie with John Goodman playing Rex. mean, that was Martin Short, I think was another one. Ray Perlman, she did a voice in that movie. you ⁓ know, big names. And then we have that adorable childlike almost
high in the vocal cords, ⁓ Yardley Smith's voice that she does there. It's absolutely iconic. I love it.
Just Blane (20:12)
incredible performances and that's what really hits hard and it's also
how do I tiptoe around this? Because it's women, it's harder. We've established that. This business and industry and all of that is harder to get into. And that's something that these actors had to navigate. It's almost like a double layer. ⁓ They're doing their own character, yet they're dealing with the real world and still it's like you gotta go into the booth and be emotionally expressive, but not too much.
Courtney Pearl (20:38)
Yeah.
Just Blane (20:51)
Be strong, but still be likable. Be unique, but you still better be marketable. And yet they created some of the most iconic characters ever. Bart Simpson is gonna live forever. And that's Nancy Krueger.
Courtney Pearl (20:54)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's just one of those that
she just keeps right on going with the series I mean there have been others that have come and gone and play the same Character as someone else, but she's been one of the tried-and-true Not going anywhere anytime soon Bart Simpson
Just Blane (21:22)
Yeah,
and these characters that these women have given us over the years, they've taught us how to be brave, how to feel deep, how to survive chaos. And the kicker is a lot of their performances, most of them came from spaces where they weren't even fully seen or sometimes even credited. And that's wild too, you know? How do you, yeah, it's...
Courtney Pearl (21:49)
I would dare
say there was probably a fight ⁓ and there probably still is an ongoing fight to close the pay gap for ⁓ women voice actors versus what men are paid for the same job. And so I want to point out that's probably still something that they deal with in their careers getting started. yeah, I want to shout out to Kristen Shell. She's just an amazing ⁓ actress and comedic actress anyway, but she plays
Just Blane (22:08)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (22:18)
Louise Belcher on Bob's Burgers. This is one of the only times I think it's okay, only because it's so good that we have men playing the parts of females in voice acting. Because you have Dan Mitz who plays ⁓ Tina Belcher and ⁓ John Roberts plays Linda Belcher in that series. so I don't love the idea of men taking the part.
Just Blane (22:31)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (22:45)
taking the job from a woman who could do the parts of the female characters. But in that show, it just works so well. I forgive it. Just have to mention it. Just have to mention it.
Just Blane (22:54)
You have to kind of, right?
Yeah, you have to kinda, kinda forget it because, yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, and it is what it is.
Courtney Pearl (23:03)
It's just too perfect. I mean, Linda,
how many times a day do ⁓ I play the part of Linda Belcher with my own kids and go, aw. Aw. ⁓
Just Blane (23:14)
Now let's get to two of these interviews that we've done with some of these voice actors and ask some of these questions that we've talked about. And you might not recognize the names, Erica Schroeder. I do, I mean I do. And a lot of people at FanX and stuff like that do. And once again, we went to FanX with Promise to Live. We'll get into that after and I'll give you the feedback and what you gotta do for that.
Erica Schroeder, you don't know the name, but she's been in, I mean, I'm tell you like hundreds of things, Pokemon mainly. And we talked to her about that. let's go, Coco, you remember this interview we did with Erica? Yeah. Let's go ahead and play this and get into it and let the freqs out there hear this.
Courtney Pearl (23:58)
I do.
you
She's amazing. I love her advice too.
Just Blane (27:04)
Incredible.
I forgot about her.
Yeah, I forgot about her talking about nature like that. That was the best part in your golf course.
Courtney Pearl (27:12)
Absolutely. I was like, you're
gonna hear my gasp in the interview. Did she just say that? Get out in nature. That is my jam.
Just Blane (27:19)
And that's Eric and Schroeder.
Erica Schroeder, Sonic, she's in the video game, I believe, Blaze the Cat maybe, and Percival, Pokemon, Tokyo Mew Mew, lots of, I'm telling you, like, you see, and every one of these voice actors has those posters up behind them, and there's so many characters, and it's wild.
Courtney Pearl (27:29)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
long way.
I know.
What a fun job. What a great career. I just think that sounds so amazing and maybe doesn't get quite enough of the ⁓ in the starlight or in the spotlight unless they happen to do a little bit of both, which I would like to bring up my back pocket person if I could. The one I've been saving. One of my favorite actresses, ⁓ voice actress and on screen is ⁓ Christine Kavanaugh.
Just Blane (28:03)
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, let's hear it.
Courtney Pearl (28:16)
and we lost her in December 22nd, 2014. did, absolutely, if you look her up, you will recognize her. I promise you will. But one of my favorite things that she did was Chuckie Finster on Rugrats. So for all my people who are my age, you'll all remember watching Rugrats when you were kids on Nickelodeon, but she also did, ah, real monsters on Nickelodeon. She was also in the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series. I'm not sure which part she played, but she was on Darkwing Duck.
Just Blane (28:21)
Yep.
Mmmmm.
Courtney Pearl (28:46)
Dexter's Laboratory and people know her most. One of my favorite movies of all time was The Voice of Babe.
Just Blane (28:54)
yeah, look at that.
Courtney Pearl (28:55)
You remember
her. ⁓ She was in ⁓ X-Files in live action and not voice acting. She was on one of my favorite episodes, Small Potatoes. And she has one of the most iconic voices. She was also on Cheers, Wings. Everybody loves Raymond, ER, a supporting character in Jerry Maguire. This woman's epic. And you know what else? She was born right here in Layton, Utah, and passed away. She was living in Cedar City, Utah. So she's one of our own. One of our own.
Just Blane (29:23)
No way!
That's wild!
Courtney Pearl (29:25)
So I just had to bring her
up and put her out there. She's one of my absolute favorite voice actresses, but also she deserves credit for all of the things that she did. So.
Just Blane (29:35)
I love that.
I love that. Like touched all aspects of, she actually had ⁓ what I would have considered my dream career. It sounds like, like working on all that stuff there. Like you named off cheers and all these sick off. Like that's, yeah, I'd love to do that. Let's go ahead. Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Let's go ahead and talk to one more person, Ryan Bartley. And this is from FanX.
Courtney Pearl (29:46)
Yeah.
amazing. Yeah.
⁓ passed away too young, too.
Just Blane (30:06)
2024 maybe, but I remember talking to her and this one was real special to me. I enjoyed talking to her and let's just go ahead and get into this.
That's the wrong.
trying to share this screen, but it's not.
Courtney Pearl (30:44)
hips.
Just Blane (30:47)
You're getting old. All right, here we
If you
It's like every anime
But you're very good at what you do. play a lot of these characters. Do you really enjoy anime? I do.
growing up.
Mm!
Courtney Pearl (31:43)
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (31:54)
And you're part of
You're in a Kiki something, but that's not the same Kiki from... Oh, you know what? That's a different thing.
Look at that! ⁓
Courtney Pearl (32:07)
.
Just Blane (32:17)
local witch and me and her doing a podcast on that. So when you bring it up, I'm like, oh my gosh, I know this stuff. That's very cool. No, that's awesome. But we were in the same boat. was like, we didn't grow up with anime. It's polarizing. It's either you hate it or love it, which I'm
like, why? I it now. I do too. And I think it got a bad rap for so long that people didn't like it. And it's like, oh, I don't like it either. But you never watched it. Well, there's also like, you know, when I was a kid, it was harder to find. Now it's
We have so many different ways to watch anime and you can find even Disney Plus like Hulu.
It was either Sailor Moon or Pokemon or that's it.
Courtney Pearl (33:07)
Okay.
Just Blane (33:10)
chest tape era. How did you get into this? Is this something you drained of? You know what, I actually have been interested in voiceover since I was a kid. I actually started as a tween. I was working for Radio Disney because they use real kids to do their promos and their commercial spots. So that's kind how I started. But I always really wanted to do cartoons.
And I was, I loved cartoons growing up. was into Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold.
Courtney Pearl (33:44)
Mm.
Just Blane (33:48)
of like doing cartoons and I...
which is very different from other kinds. yeah, that's kind of how it started. I wanted to touch that because a lot of people think, I could do that. I could be a voice actor. But there's a lot that goes into it. Yeah, there is.
doing musical theater and plays all as a kid and then and dance classes and all that kind of thing and so know mean voice actors are actors like that that really has to come first and foremost so and I always tell people like if you can do plays at school or any kind of theater at all is great training to get your feet wet in that world and it is it's just it's acting so take an acting class take an improv
way to get into voiceover. let me ask you something serious because acting does take a toll on the actor themselves. How do you deal with anything like that that might have got you down? Maybe there's a message I hope that you can have for somebody else out there listening. What would it be?
Courtney Pearl (34:44)
You
Just Blane (35:02)
Mm.
We only have such a tiny amount of time on this earth. So I always tell people, chase your dreams. You're never too old to start, first of all. I get people for all ages asking me, could I be a voice actor? you think, how do I break in? ⁓
Too young.
and he's now a massively successful voice actor. does cons all the time. He directed me on a video game recently. And he was in the military. This is his second career. So he books all those Call of Duty, all those kind of...
and he really does sound like he's in that world, know, when he gets those auditions he kills it, you know, but but his second career so I always tell people you're never too old you're never too young you know follow your dreams if you have any sort of interest in this passion you want to explore like I love what I do and I want everyone to be as happy as I am you know but yes it is a lot of rejection
If it's worth it to you, you tune that out and you pick yourself back up. It's hard though. It's definitely hard. You lean on your friends. I do a lot of meditation.
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (36:46)
You
Just Blane (36:47)
One of my coaches.
the hunter hunter Doug. He directs.
and you just keep fighting and you never give up. Realize there's tomorrow. There's always a tomorrow. The sun is always going to come back out. The world's going to keep spinning. It's a hard time to do anything. It's a hard world to live in right now. And it's stressful and there's just so much going on.
You know, I want to get into that because a lot of people here, these are their outcasts. These are the nerds, which used to be a derogatory term. I'll say I'm a nerd, I'll fight anybody to ask you
⁓ It's almost like there's a competition to see who can be the hottest. It happens, it happens. But we're all little weirdos in our own ways.
to the table. Have you ever seen the movie The Craft? Oh yeah. Do you remember when they get off a bus and the guy tells them look out for these weirdos and she looks at him and says we are the weirdos mister. We are the weirdos. That's true. Let me ask you let me get out of my hat. What do you have coming out now? You got a video game? got a what's big? What are you looking forward to? Talk about what can I talk about? That's the.
Courtney Pearl (38:38)
Okay.
Just Blane (38:52)
Yeah
Courtney Pearl (39:15)
Yeah
Just Blane (39:41)
Yeah Yes, in a heartbeat. It was so fun. No, I the little mini pups. They're so cute. No, was, we had a blast working on that. Call them for the next one and I want my agent feed. want a little. you go. Thank you so much. No, thank you guys.
How fun was that?
Courtney Pearl (40:00)
Yeah!
Just Blane (40:02)
I forgot how good that interview was. That was from 2024, like I said once again. So none of that stuff is actually new, it's been out. I do like how she threw Disney under the bus and admitted to their child laboring because she was working as a kid for Radio Disney. And they...
Courtney Pearl (40:22)
They've been doing that's a that's a time-honored tradition.
Just Blane (40:27)
No, but she was
great and answered a lot of those questions that we've already kind of talked about. How hard it is and the struggle, the tip of the iceberg. She's got a thousand roles, not really, but who knows? She might've been rejected for 10,000. That's gotta be hard.
Courtney Pearl (40:36)
Yup.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, but just knowing that means like, hey, if I'm getting rejected, I'm on the right path. I'm getting rejected maybe five, 10 times more than I'm gonna be booking or getting it. And that's just part of the process. It's part of it. So check that box and you're doing great.
Just Blane (40:51)
Absolutely.
⁓ What?
Yeah, so in watching that interview back, made me start thinking, I'm like, you know what? There's something almost spiritual about voice acting. It's like Ryan Bartley or Erica, it's like they're lending out their soul for a few hours to let it live in somebody else or something else. And the audience, don't ever see the actor. We just feel them. That's the difference. It's a different kind of fame. It's invisible, but
Courtney Pearl (41:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Just Blane (41:33)
unforgettable. I don't know, it's almost like Ryan and Erica and all these other women that we've talked about, it's almost like they are unsung heroes because they're unknown. But if they start talking, it's like, my gosh, everybody's going to come to them. They know, they know that voice and that's wild. I want to throw this out there to the freqs and ask
Courtney Pearl (41:53)
Hmm.
Just Blane (42:00)
What voice out there, give us somebody that we can talk about that has changed your life or is a staple in your life. And let's build a list. Let's build a list of the best women voice actors ever and our favorites. I love that. And I think we could put that up somewhere. What do you think Coco?
Courtney Pearl (42:09)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Don't forget about those that do narration for audio books, things like that. I'm going to give a shout out to Mary Jane Wells, ⁓ narrated a book I loved to listen to on audio books called Anima Rising by Christopher Moore. Christopher Moore is a fantastic author, by the way, if you ever want to read something hilariously funny, he does a great job. But her as a voice actress, ⁓ she won awards for doing that book, narrating it.
Just Blane (42:24)
Mmm.
Courtney Pearl (42:48)
And I took note of her because I've listened to lot of audio books, but as I'm listening, I have never heard anyone switch characters so beautifully because a lot of times they're narrating a book that they have to play every part when they're doing an audio book. So a lot of times, you know, when you're listening to a romance novel and it's like a guy's voice who has to somehow be the girl and you get that and you're like, ew.
Just Blane (43:05)
Yeah.
Courtney Pearl (43:17)
That ruined it. But not her. She did every character so different that I knew I was listening to the same person, but in my head they became different people. And I thought she was so amazing. I started following her on Instagram. Saw that she won some awards for that book. It's right there in the bottom. 2026 Audi Award that she got for that. So. Yeah.
Just Blane (43:30)
Mmm.
⁓ nice. And this is her right here. At Mary Jane
Wells of Stories.
Courtney Pearl (43:49)
Yes, go follow her, go check her out. I mean, these are like unsung heroes, right? You're not gonna see her name on a lot of things or, you know, up in lights, but she deserves credit for what she did, because she's amazing.
Just Blane (44:01)
I'm gonna hit follow right there. You know what? Well, you should reach out to her. Let's talk to her on the show right here. Let's get her on here.
Courtney Pearl (44:07)
I would be,
see that would be me like fangirling about, cause I really, really did love her work so much.
Just Blane (44:13)
I want to talk to her. Let's reach out. Maybe she'll see this show. If she does, Mary Jane, will you please come on and talk to us? We'd love to talk to you and give you the flowers that you deserve. Metaphorically, of course, because I don't have... But no, I really do want to do that. I love this episode. We went a little longer than I intended, but that's okay.
Because these women, like I said, they do need their flowers. And we do have to put them on the map. I want to build that list and see what the freqs out there, I wanna see who you got and see what we're missing.
Courtney Pearl (44:52)
Yeah.
Yeah. Tell us who to listen for.
Just Blane (44:57)
I love how Ryan Bartley, when I asked her about the projects she was working on, she couldn't tell me. And I knew, I almost got out of her because I kind of knew. And it did come out later and she was in Call of Duty, Black Ops 7, she was in The Ghost of Yote, which is a ⁓ Japanese, like a samurai type game. And these were huge games. And I know she was wanting to, yeah, I knew she wanted to tell me, but couldn't.
Courtney Pearl (45:20)
ooo
Amazing.
Just Blane (45:25)
So I thought that
was kind of cool. I felt like I was almost in the end. I want to talk to Ryan Bartley again. Ryan, if you see this, please come back on and talk to us. I know you got some more stuff going on. Erica too. Great conversations. Coco, thank you for putting this one on the docket. It needed to be done. We need to do it again. We could do this and talk about 50 different women that we didn't even mention today. And that's the crazy.
Courtney Pearl (45:51)
I'm sure.
Yeah.
Just Blane (45:53)
I am JustBling, that is Coco. You are our freqs. This is Parallel Frequencies and we will see you on the other side.
Courtney Pearl (46:03)
See you next week.