Kensington Tallman (Inside Out 2, Home Sweet Rome)

The talented Kensington Tallman joins us this week to discuss her time voicing Riley in Disney's "Inside Out 2", starring in "Home Sweet Rome", starting her own podcast and more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
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(00:21):
slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now? How you doing
out there? It's me Tigger, I am Doc Wayne Duck.
It's me Bunkers Deep Bobcat. All right, y'all? Did it great?
Your favorite firefly you desire? Hold old knock guy. My
name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Welcome back everybody to another episode of Tuned In with
Jim Cummings. We've got a great episode for you coming
up today. How are you doing today, Jim superb?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Thank you for asking and yourselves. I'm superb as well
as usual. What a life is good? Yes?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Indeed?

Speaker 1 (00:58):
And how about that carry walkern.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, that was a good episode last week. That was
a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
You guys have a good time. We had a hell
of a good time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
And then it was nice too because we got to
catch up with her at the Nostalgicon in Denver.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's so true. Yeah, and many more to come, but
more on that later. Yes, today, who do we have Today?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Today we have Kensington Tallman and if you don't know,
she plays the lead character in Inside Out to the
highest grossing animated film of all time. I can't believe
it surpassed I mean the Lion, I.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Know I can't either at Rosen and thanks for bringing
it up because I wasn't in it, but it still
did well. Go figure anyway, the stranger things have happened.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, that'll be coming up right next for you guys.
But first we have a couple announcements to make, starting
off with Jim's convention appear yes week.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I just so happened to have a list right here.
Thank you. Coming up River Walk Anime Anime Convention in
San Antonio, Texas. You know what, you love it. It's
a really cool place. You ought to come. It's May
seventeenth and eighteenth and maybe a little of the nineteenth.
I don't know. I can't. I don't have a calendar
in front of me. That's up to you. Be there.
We'll see you then, and don't forget Nostalgic On and

(02:08):
Boyce id which commonly known as Boise Idaho. Now that's
May twenty fourth and twenty fifth, nostalgic On. I'm getting
nostalgic just thinking about it. Oh, and there's another one
in Nostalgic on. It's in Anaheim. Talk about nostalgic and
that's in June June sixth and eighth. June sixth and eighth,
I'll be there, Producer Chris will be there. But wait,

(02:29):
there's more anime verse where else but Kansas City June
twenty eighth and twenty ninth. Anime verse probably you know,
like Yuna verse. I would think so. I doubt it's
chapter and verse. But anyway, you know what to do.
We'll see you there. Have I left anybody out?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
No?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
No.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
With all that said, we hope you guys, and we
know you guys will enjoy this conversation. It was actually
a really really insightful conversation, especially from somebody so young.
It was actually really cool. So we hope you enjoy
it and we will see you in the next one.
All right, Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned
In with Jim Cummings. Mister Cummings, the legend himself. How
are you doing today, sir, It's another day in paradise,

(03:11):
another day in Paradise. I'm producer Chris, and today we
have a very special guest for you, Kensington Tallman. You'll
know her as the voice of Riley on Inside Out Too,
along with a whole bunch of other credits.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, thank you so much for having me. I'm so
excited to.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Be so glad you are here, So glad you are here.
Thank you, very very very much.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
So exciting because I'm a huge fan of you and
I feel like you are you are like iconic and
a legend in the voiceover community. So I'm truly it's
an honor to me.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Well it's the Augusto is Mino, which is probably not French,
so thank you. Well, it's an honor to have you,
It really really is. And you know, we, you know,
as usual, we do our research and try to try
to add a little find out a little bout everybody's background,
and oh my gosh, we I mean, you're a wunder kinder. Yeah,

(04:05):
you're one of those old high powered overachievers, straight a student.
And yet I still like you anyway because I never
got along with those kids when I was in school,
you know, but we're out of school now, so so
I think we're gonna do it just fine. I love that,
oh man.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
And you graduated already.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yes, So I I'm sixteen and I finished technically, I
finished high school in my sophomore year when at fifteen.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Wow, how'd you pull that off?

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Oh man? Lots of studying. I have an amazing support team.
My mom and my dad are incredible.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
I was.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I've also been homeschooled since sixth grade, which I feel
like that was just so nice because caause it was,
you know, with acting and everything, it's it's easier. I
feel like to be homeschool just for scheduling, and it
was more.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Flexable and you were never late.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yes, I never had missing assignments or any of that
because I was, you know, on set, so a lot
of the times, you know, I'd be on set during
the day and then at night, you know, just go
home and do my school worker you know, bank hours
for school work, and then you know, work the rest
of the week. So I feel like that was a
big part. And also I feel like I really do
love learning. I feel like there's parts of school that
are really challenging and our struggle for sure, But I

(05:15):
would say overall, I do really enjoy learning. So I'm
doing some community college courses right now. I was doing
my math homework all the way here.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Oh my gosh, were you doing it in Italian? Because
I see that I'm just here. It could be A
two A plus A two. That's my Italian. By the way,
I love it. That's Italian.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
I love Italian. I studied Italian all throughout high school,
so I studied it for like three years. But I
also I filmed a show in Rome, and so it
came so perfect. It was like, so it came in
so handy. I was able to like speak with like
my limited Italian and try to learn more. And I
was there for four months, so it was like a
very experience.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
And what was the name of this show is it?
Could it be Home Sweet Role? Yes?

Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know it? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
It's on Max right now, which is so fun. All
our all our episodes have dropped. It's from the creator
of Hannah Montana, so it's kind of got that vibe.
It's it's really cute. It's basically it's like a think
of like a kids Emily in Paris. That's kind of
the inspo.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
You're really curious of the logistics, like you as a person,
like how does how does your family? I'm looking over
here at her mom off camera if it looks weird
to you guys, but like, so, okay, you booked this
role that's shooting in you know, do you know ahead
of time it's going to be like a four month thing?
And how do you adjust as a family to that?
You know, like do they say so you later, you know,
have fun and us your lunchbox.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
It's like, ye, you know, it was so interesting. When
I got the audition. I was so excited because and
this was I would say I was thirteen at the time,
I think when I got the audition, So I don't
know that twenty twenty two, right, that's on about right,
that's crazy. I can't do that, mad, I don't know.
But I was like, oh, it films in Rome, and

(07:03):
it has been my dream since I've like been in
fourth grade to go to Italy. And I was like,
oh man, this would be so perfect. But I'm not
going to like get my home stuck or anything. But
it was so great. My mom went with me to
Italy and we had the best time. We stayed in
piazza like Centrosico, so like that's near Piazza Levona, so
we were right in the center of room. And on

(07:24):
the weekends I would go to the Torea Argentina. I
would see the Roman cats. I made friends with with
the with the Roman cats, I would feed them every
weeknd because I you know, I was.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
I was with the cats. That's the thing. That's a thing.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
The Roman cats. Oh my goodness, they are so cute.
And then we found this vegan cat cafe that we
went to also every weekend, and that was amazing.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Vegan cat cafe, and it's where cats go to eat
what vegan mice. That's the kind of sta I don't
even want to think about it.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
We love it. It was so cute. It was like
this adorable little cafe. It was like a little bit
outside the center of Rome, so you would have to
like take a taxi to get there. And then yeah,
there's like these six cats that just lived at this cafe.
And it was great. You you go there, you make
a reservation, you eat great vegan food, and you hang
out with the cats.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Oh my god, good good time. It's is this where
they made Ratituy, I'm just trying to I'm getting getting
a lot of crossover vibes.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
I love Ratitude. That's one of my favorite, favorite favorite
Pixar movies. It's so cute.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Oh I thought you're gonna say dishes, but that too. Yeah, okay,
well that works. Oh my gosh. Well well it's too
bad you can't find anything to keep you busy these days.
I mean, my goodness, you're just everywhere. That's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Thank you. I feel like I'm the type of person that, like,
I really, I really like to keep busy because I
feel like when I have my hands in different things,
it's just very creative, like very creatively stimulating for me.
So like when I when I do have some sort
of like you know, kind of downtime or something, I
always try to find something, Okay, what's creative from me
in this moment to do And that kind of emulates

(09:02):
in different ways each season.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
You know, Wow, that's so beautiful. Thank you, Good for you,
Good for you. What what do you have anything that
we're working on now? You were allowed because inevitably somebody
will come on podcast. You know, I'm doing the greatest thing.
It's so cool, it's gonna be Oh my god, I
can't win. It's it's you can't even well tell us

(09:25):
about it. Oh no, oh yeah, oh no, no, I
can't say a word. Oh well, thanks, you know, okay,
we're all dying. Got anything you're allowed?

Speaker 3 (09:33):
Yes. So I'm doing some some animation stuff. I've got
a dream Works project going on right now.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I've heard of them.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
I'm exploring some you know, live action stuff. But actually
the most recent thing I've been doing, I'm doing a
podcast with my friend Ashlyn Arnold. We started a team
mental health podcast ourselves and so it's called Let's Talk
About It. It's going to be released very very soon.
And it's been so fun because we've been doing it
all ourselves. You know, we're we are recording ourselves, we're

(10:01):
editing ourselves. You know. The other week we just we
did a photo shoot ourselves, and I think it's been
such an incredible like learning experience for both of us.
But really the inspiration behind it was, you know, we
both have been through a lot of mental health challenges
just growing up as young teens in today's world, and
I feel like it's really hard to go through that alone,

(10:22):
and I feel like oftentimes when you're going through things
like that, like when you're going through anxiety or depression,
you can feel like you're the only one you know,
feeling that, but the reality is like there's so many
other people feeling the same way. Yeah. Absolutely, So that
is we just wanted to create like a safe and
authentic space to like talk about it for other teens
to hear and say, you know, hey, this is this

(10:44):
is what we're going through. This is the challenges that
we've experienced. This is how we you know, manage that,
and this is the ups and the downs of it.
And we hope that you know, you can you can
feel a little less alone in this journey.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Oh yeah, well, I think it's great for someone like
yourself doing to do that. Thank you, because yeah, you know,
I mean every teenager, every girl. I've had four girls,
so I understand, and they're easiest pie anyway. But you know,
there's all those different conflicting moods that hit you, especially

(11:19):
when you're teenager coming of age, and there's apparently boys
figure into it somewhere along the line. It's what I'm told.
And then you have to get good grades on top
of it all.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
It's a lot.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Social media is just like I feel like a whole
other thing, you know, like TikTok and Instagram, and it
adds another layer I feel like of pressure and kind
of something I don't know how to explain it. It's
like the best thing and the worst thing all the
same time. You know, it's great to be able to
express yourself and to connect with your friends and to
have this kind of like authentic platform, but at the

(11:54):
same time, it can just suck you in and you
can go into comparison, which so tricky.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh yeah, that's that's something to avoid.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, it's hard.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I think it's got to be especially hard for your
generation because like you know, even my generation I'm a millennial,
and like social media has changed so much from what
it once was, you know, and we're still all trying
to understand it as like every generation at the same time,
so we don't have any answers to be like, you know,
this is how it was, and because everything's changed and

(12:26):
we're all experiencing it for the first time as well,
you know, like my grandma you know, is like dming
me on Instagram, you know, like the like just multiple
memes a day, Grandma, please stop, it's too much. Like
maybe one that's great, but you know what I'm saying,
it must be tough for you guys to like tackle
all that stuff because we have a hard time tackling

(12:48):
it as adults. And like what you mentioned, you know,
like comparison, you know, and like comparison is the thief
of joy, you know. And when you see, you know,
like you see I mean, you see everybody on there,
and like everybody's putting on a show too. You know,
we all want to put ourselves in the best light,
you know, even if it's just like for your friends
and your family. You know, you want to have like
a little gender reveal party, and everything's so performative, you know.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, and it's.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Like it's not really real life, but it's presented like
it is real life. And I can only imagine. I
used to coach high school football kids and it was cool.
I really enjoy talking to kids because it's so like
we were just talking about this on the way over here,
and it's like it's so easy for us to forget
what it was like to be a kid. Like you
guys have your own culture, like and somewhere down the

(13:33):
road that just like we forget about it. And like
we were listening to you on another podcast and you
said something and you were like, you know, you enjoyed
moving from New York out here. One of the things
you liked was driving around. And that struck me because
I was just like I forgot what it was like
to drive a car for the first time, you know,
like to have that freedom of like I'm on the

(13:53):
open road, like by myself. Like it's so easy to
forget that, you know. So it's like interesting to hear
like a different perspective.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
It's so funny too, because I feel like like this
is the I love what you said, because like this
is the first time we're experiencing this all together, right,
like my generation, like we're growing up with this, and
every single day there's new advances in technology. So it's
it's never going to stay the same. It's just going
to be kind of like evolving every single day, kind
of all of us trying to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Oh god, yeah. Well, when I was growing up that
texting was called writing a letter, yeah, or a postcard.
What's a postcard? Wow, Let's say you went to Niagara
Falls or Disneyland. They have little cards and you could
put someone's address on it. So yeah, that was texting.
That was you know, I.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Prefer that because I'm the worst at like responding to people.
It's so bad because I don't know, there's something about
like text messages because I'm I'm I'm always like doing
I have like add so I'm always like doing a
million things all at the same time, and so like
when I see the text come in, I'm like, okay,
let me put this off. Like and I just am
the worst at responding to people. That I feel like

(15:05):
would be really good for me because I could see
the letter on my desk and be okay, I need
to write this. Yeah, there you go and physically do it.
I feel like we should get back to that. Honestly,
I agree.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
I'm with you, So let's go on. I'll see it's
a stationary story.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
I think.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Okay, that was easy.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
I just wanted to touch a little more on that
subject that we were just talking about, because I feel
like you're getting a double whammy of, like, you know,
being in the film industry. I grew up around the
film industry. My dad was an actor, and one thing
I always noticed you know, I worked plenty of crew
jobs and everything, but on set, children really get treated
as adults, like they're your peers. You know. It's like

(15:41):
even you know, the higher up on the call sheet,
the more you get treated like an adult. And I
think that's like hard to That's why you see a
lot of stories of you know, these child stars, you know,
like going down whatever avenues they went down. It must
be hard to maintain that that like level of like
I want to say reality, because everybody's treating you like

(16:02):
you're just a coworker, and that's almost like I want
to hear your experience like dealing with that, because that
must be you know, like hard to kind of wrap
your mind around, like your mind's still developing and like,
you know, people are talking to me this way, maybe
my friends are. So I want to hear like some
insight into that experience on set when you're working.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
I really love that you bring that up. I think
it's such a unique experience, you know, being like a
child actor and being on set at such a young age.
And I kind of liken it to sports in a way, right,
like kids who play football and who are you know,
growing up and getting scholarships to amazing you know colleges,
and like that is their passion. They are. They work

(16:41):
so hard, they put everything, they put their dedication and
their focus into it. But I think what really makes
the difference is like having a good support system. And
I feel so grateful that, like I have my mom
and my dad and an incredible family who's just been,
you know, so supportive of me, and my mom you know,
takes me and drives me everywhere and make sure that
like my my schedule all great and like I can

(17:01):
have time for myself to self care. But I would
say as far as being on set, it really is
interesting because it's like you're a kid, but you're also
an adult, Like you're a kid in an adult field.
And I will say the people that I've worked with
have been so unbelievably incredible. Every single director, producer, like
team truly has been so lovely and treated me just

(17:23):
so lovely. And I feel like, especially working on inside
out to like Kelsey Mann, our director and our producer
Mark Nielson, two of the most incredible humans, Like they
it was so interesting because they treated me like a peer.
But it was like a collaboration of like I want
to hear your experiences, your take on this character. What
can we infuse from your real life into this character?

(17:44):
And it really was a creative process. And I feel
like that is what acting and art is. It's creative,
it's creative expression. And so I feel like if we
can embrace that a little bit more, you know, rather
than like treating people as kids, or treating the kids
just as adults, I feel like treating them as a
young person who was who is a creative I feel

(18:04):
like it's really the way to go. And I feel
like the way that really everyone on set, on all
the sets I've worked with, have just treated me that way.
And I feel so lucky.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Well, that that's why you're there, That's why you got
the job, because you're you and you you bring that
you bring that that's that's nice. I you know, it
sounds like they there's a part of me that that
here's that they count on you, That they know that
you're there because you're you and you've got it. So
that's nice.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
I think.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
I hope that feels good to you.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Thank you. I feel really really really blessed and grateful.
I think, you know, being I think something that's really
important is to just trust yourself, you know, And I
think that's something that I've been you know, working with
for a long time. I'm a perfectionist and I've been
that way since I've been little, and I feel like
being able to grow up in the entertainment industry has

(18:55):
actually been able to help me like let go of
that in a way and just kind of be like, Okay,
this is my art. I'm just going to trust myself
and trust what comes out of it. And also like
not taking things personally, like you know, that's so hard,
like when you when you don't get a job or
when they're like, yeah, we're going a different direction. A
lot of the times, it's just like you're just not

(19:15):
the right fit. Like there's a certain essence and it's
like you're you either are that or you're not. And
it's not because you're not talented or not because you're
not working hard enough. It's just it's just isn't the
right fit. But the right fit will come and it
will be there. So it's just like remembering, you know,
those things and instilling that and it's so hard to
so hard to do.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
Well, you know. I have an expression that it speaks
to some of that, and it's called instincts are the
best stinks. And it's just if and if and if
you're making a choice, if you're you're trying to should
I go this one? I sugure that I don't know. Well,
you know, if it feels right to you, it'll probably
feel right to a couple of other people out there too, you,

(19:54):
so give it a go.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Absolutely. And I think something that I've learned recently, like
in the past few months, is like you are the
only either is like I feel like there's this kind
of narrative, especially in the entertainment business, of like, oh,
I have to be what they want me to be,
Like I have to fit this mold. And I feel
like especially young women go through this, like I have
to fit this like mold of what people want me
to be. But at the end of the day, you're

(20:17):
just bringing yourself to the table and that's enough, you know,
That's all you have to do because people to like
you for you and they'll.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Appreciate And you're not there because you shouldn't be. Yeah,
you're there because you should be exactly. So Yeah, I
love that. Yeah, so you Yeah, and Lord knows you
should be you could do whatever you want. I swear,
Oh my gosh. You know, at high school done with
high school at fifteen, I wasn't done. I'm still not done.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
So well, all still learning and growing. So I think
we're all still out.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
We can hope that people are learning and growing.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
It's I'm not sure about some of us, some of
the good guys, the good one, Oh my god. Yeah.
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
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(21:17):
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Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, you've really brought a lot of your personal which
I don't want to say personal life, but yourself. You
brought a lot of yourself to that character. Yeah. I've
heard you speak to that and that must have been
a really fun role to play. Gosh, I mean, watching
it for me, it's like you get to literally have
such like a huge range of emotionality, and that must
have been really cool.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
It was so freeing because I'm telling you every single
line or thought or anything. The emotion set literally everything
that I have said in my in my real life,
everything i've thought, that's a real thought, like that I'm
not good enough. I can't tell you how many times
I've said that to myself. And it was so interesting
because I never realized it until I recorded. And you know,

(22:11):
I started auditioning at thirteen, so that was oh that
I started auditioning at like thirteen years old, which was
that's crazy. That was like three years ago.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
So my auditioning forward.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah, for Inside Out, and I was going through a lot,
you know, it was like pandemic times, and I was
diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, which was really hard, and
it was just a very very isolating time in my life.
And I was like, no one else is feeling this way,
like I'm crazy, I must be doing something wrong. And
then I got the script and I started recording for

(22:45):
Inside Out too, and I had this realization for the
first time of like, oh my gosh, I'm not alone,
Like this is normal part of life. This isn't just
part of growing up. I mean, this is just part
of our day to day lives that I didn't even
know before. And I think what's so special about this
film is that, you know, our filmmakers have like put

(23:05):
a face to these complex emotions and like given people
of all generations and all walks of life from all
over the world a tangible way to express how they're feeling,
because our feelings are complicated. And I think what's interesting is,
you know, none of them are like necessarily good or bad.
They're just there to help and protect us, and it's

(23:27):
important to remember that. So it just truly was so
full circle. And I remember, so I've moved around a lot.
I lived in Denver, Philly, New York City and then la,
oh my gosh, I love it. I love love the city.
I love New York City so much, and so that's
really where I grew up. I moved there the week
before my sixth birthday, and so I had just moved

(23:49):
to New York City. I was not happy at the time.
I was like, I don't want to be here, you know,
I want to move back home with my friends. And
so that was the week that inside out And yes,
at the time, no, no, I don't know about this play.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
The traffic you know, I mean, I can't get a cab.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
It's like, looking back, I'm like, come on, I'm like,
but all of you know, it's so interesting because I
was I was so little, but I really was feeling
these things. I was really in my fields, even at
such a young age, I was in my fields. And
my mom took me to see Inside Out the first
one on my birthday, and so, and you know, Riley
moves from from Minnesota to San Francisco. Literally, I had

(24:30):
just moved to New York City, broke down in the
theaters crying. My mom had to escort me out of
the theater early because I was like really really uncontrollably sobbing.
But I feel like it was the first time that
I realized like how impactful movies can be. And so
it's really full circle to see me ten years later
and me sitting here today.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
You know, it's, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
It's very I feel like everything happens for a reason
and everyone has a special path that's that's meant for them,
you know.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
And you said to fall, Wow, that's true. Good for you.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, I'm curious when you're when you're moving all over
the place. I moved a lot as a child as well,
moved all over the place, different cities, And do you
find it hard to make friends, like especially when you're working.
You know, I'm like, what other sixteen year old is
doing that? You know, I'm serious. You know, it's like
that must be hard to make friends.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
It's really hard, I will say, like you have to
try to, Like, you have to you have to give
yourself the space to just be. I feel like and
for the first two years of living in La I
let myself just live in the space of I want
to be here. I don't want to make friends. I
want my old friends. And it took about with my kids.

(25:42):
It's actually better two years for me to realize and
like find my group of people. And I realized that
it's so much better to just have like one or
two close friends than like a million acquaintances.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's why I've done it.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
I have found the most incredible friends. Like I had
my sweet sixteen last August and it was so fun
and I was like, okay, and I don't really like parties,
you know, I'm not that kind of person. I'm just like,
I like one friend, you know, having a dinner kind
of a thing. But I was like, you know, what
if I say sixteen, let me do something, And so
I was going to listen, like okay, let me like
invite all my friends. And when I sat down at

(26:19):
the table, I had like twenty friends. And it was
just amazing to see the community that I built over
the years, and to see how supportive they are, and
to see the relationships that have sustained. You know, my
best friend Samantha A. Smith. I'm actually going tomorrow to
see her. We're going to prom together because she's in
she's in real high school and I never, you know,

(26:39):
got that bad opportunity. So I was like, hey, can
we can I go to your prom? She's like, yeah,
of course.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Oh that's funny. Oh that's great. Have you picked out
your dress?

Speaker 3 (26:47):
I have. I have a really fun purple dress. I
was going to do a pink dress, but I decided
on purple. And she's wearing a black dress, so it'll
look the contrast will be really good.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah. Oh my gosh, Well you have to send us
a picture.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
I will for sure. I'm so excited. But I think
it's just like fine, just allowing yourself to find the
right people and give yourself the space to just be
and be like, Okay, you know, I'm gonna put myself
out there. If this isn't the right person, that's okay.
You know, the right people will come then they'll like
you for you. And I think that's something that I've realized.
But I have my amazing friends A g Arnold and

(27:21):
Ash and Arnold who I'm doing the podcast, but I
met them on the set of vacchirl Ale, which was
one of the nick shows that I did. Oh yes,
and so we've stayed friends throughout the years and we've
become really close, and I like their family is like
my family, Like they are truly like family to me,
and I love them so dearly.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
So that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Just find you find the people you click with and
you stick close with them.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, you know, when I was coming up, I was
born in Youngstown, Ohio, very similar to La anyway, and
I really bonded with the kids that I did plays with.
I love because you know, I did a lot of
plays just like you're saying. You know, of course, of
course with you it's actual television shows in my little

(28:04):
you know, puppet shows, but it's it's really something I mean,
because it's it's a bond that's very different. I suspect,
you know, I played football and at the sports in
grade school, not in high school. It's certainly not in college.
But but it's certainly it's got to be similar to
that bond the teammates for sure. You know, you got

(28:25):
to feel because you've had both teammates and actor.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well, because you feel vulnerable with them, right, and you
bond over that vulnerability, and it's like it is like
a team, you know. Like I was in the military too,
and it's like the similar thing, like when you struggle
with people, and like you know, you're necessarily I think
in the case of being an actor, it's also such
a unique thing, you know, and like you all know
that you're blessed, you know, so you're kind of like
sharing that.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
You know.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
It's like a couple of lottery winners, like all bond
bonding together. You know. It's like a very unique thing.
So you're going to be immediately, you know, attracted. That's
what I think, at least from outside looking in, I would.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
Say, like all my close friends are in the entertainment
business in some way or another because they just like
the understand and I feel like you know, it's like
if I can't respond for a couple of weeks, like
they get it because I'm you know, on center going
doing something, you know, you know, breaking down a script.
Like there's like a sense of I feel like understanding
and and understanding the ups and the downs of the

(29:20):
business too. It's it's really hard to navigate, and so
to find like close people to like talk about it with, like, hey,
you know, I had this really hard audition and I
didn't get it and I was really frustrating, and you know,
to see their opinion of like, no, I get it.
I've been in that position too. It's like a mutual
sense of understanding. You know.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
But I actually I have a question for you because
I'm so curious. I'm like truly such a big fan
of you, like being in being in the voiceover community
for so long and the entertainment industry. Do you have
any like advice for me just you know, growing up
as as a young actor of like just any advice
I'd love to hear it.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Well, okay, let's see. Well, I know one, you can
take the work seriously, but not yourself. You know, I
love because people who take themselves really seriously are called
There are words for people like that, and we're not
going to say them. Some have several syllables, have some

(30:20):
have one, just need one syllable, and uh so you
know they're out there, you know. I always say instincts
are the best stinks. You know, if it feels good
to you, then it should feel good to other people.
But but but definitely don't take it too seriously. And
and you have to remember that it's a numbers game.

(30:44):
It's a numbers game. You really have to have a
tough skin, you know, you really really do. Buddy mind
Nolan North, great guy. He tells the story about he
was just so frustrated, so frustrated, couldn't get it up
get a job. But then he got the last one
auditioned forward right before he was gonna quit, and it

(31:06):
put him on the map.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
So that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I mean, yeah, and Ross.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Ross yeah, yeah, from the Walking Dead Ross. Uh I
can't remember.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Oh gosh yeah walking Dead Yeah, but yeah, but he
but he had the same thing. It was like, never mind, wait,
I got the job, Okay, Like I was saying, I'm back,
you know, yeah, because because it could just go the
whole other way.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
Yeah. The most interesting thing I've learned from actually just
like talking to people on this podcast is like what
a lifelong battle it is as an entertainer. And like,
you know, there's people who, you know, they come on
the show and you kind of see like the motivation
kind of gone out of them, you know, and they've
had like great careers, and you kind of hear it
in their voice, you know, like you know, like you you're

(31:57):
young and bubbly, and you hear excitement and you know,
like in every sentence you say, you know, and you'll
like you'll hear some people and it's kind of like that, like, wow,
I've been doing this for like thirty five years and
I don't have any of my own characters, you know,
and it's like once again back to that conversation of
like comparison is the thief of joy. You know.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
It's like, dude, but.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
You people are watching you on this podcast, you know,
and it's like, you know, I could be I could be,
like you know, they don't. Actually some people have actually
come out and said it, you know, like like straight
up on the podcast you're like, yeah, my career's over,
like I've done some cool stuff, but like I'm not
gonna be j low, you know.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
And it's so I feel like it's such a humbling
like and like hard realization I feel like to come
to because it's especially when you've been doing something for
so long, like when it comes to a point where
it's like I'm not feeling the joy anymore. Then I
feel like that's the moment where you know you have
to step away and have to take a step back.
I this is like a really weird example, but I

(32:58):
grew up playing the violin. Actually when I started when
I was six years old, and I did it for
three years and I was like pretty decent and I
did enjoy it, but it became so like intense for me,
and you know, that works for some people did not
work for me because I really just wanted to do
it for fun and I enjoyed the instrument and I

(33:21):
enjoyed playing, but it was like, Okay, how many days
a week can you practice? You know, how many hours
can you practice? How much work can you put in?
And it came to a place, you know, at six
years old, where I'm like, I don't think this is
fun for me anymore. Oh yeah, and so I stopped.
I finished the year out because I'm I am a
firm believer. Like you start something, you finish it, and
if you don't like it, you know, you never have

(33:42):
to do it again kind of a thing.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, but yeah, you were young enough to get a
fresh start at the age of seven. I think, Yeah,
I think you're my wife's my life's over. Of course
I'm only seven.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, that's true, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
I can I can probably, I can rebound. I know
I can do this. Look out eight here I come.
You know, I love it.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
It's amazing even like, you know, I've seen like so
many people like just finding new sparks of passion like
throughout their lives, and I feel like that's so inspiring.
Like some of my like family friends, like you know,
they've lost passion in something else, so they've turned to
other forms of art. Like one of my mom's best
friends is a really amazing artist, and it's just amazing

(34:25):
to see her progression in her journey of finding what
she truly was meant to do, and like she loves
it so much, and it's just so it's really inspiring
to see things like that.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
You know, Yeah, well, you know it's interesting you say
that something she loves to do because I've always told
with my kids, nieces, nephews or you know, I do
a lot of conventions and yeah, you do a panel
and they say, well, what about this over there? And
I think what I did, and I it worked for me,
and I think it would work. It's kind of a

(34:55):
universal truth. Is you write down five at the earliest
age or right now, write down five things that you
like doing so much that you would do them all
day long for free, with not anybody paying you anything,
and then do them so well that somebody will pay you.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Oh I love that, so.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
You know, and I mean that could be anything. That
could be, you know, selling hot dogs. Maybe not selling
hot dogs because I did that in the French Quarter
for one day. Don't do that. Do something else, anything else,
everything else, everything else. But but you know, whatever it

(35:39):
may be, whatever it may be, basket weaving, sure, why not?
You know, and do it so well and that somebody
will pay you. And that's and I think you've discovered
that at a very early age. I really love doing
this and they pay me. Boom, It's great, Okay.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
It's amazing. I will say, like literally, I mean I
would show up on set for you know, like every
single day for a year, and I would do it
for free, like I really would, because it is so
it just is what I love to do, and it's
that's always what it's been about for me. It's just
it brings me so much joy and fulfillment. But I

(36:18):
feel like there are, of course ups and downs to it,
like anything, but it truly does bring me so much joy.
And I feel like what's important too in the entertainment
industry because it is so up and down, like you
also have to find other things that like make you
happy as well and make you joyful. So like I
do aerial silks, which is really fun, like I love
I love.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Our oh you do, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
With like the hoop and like the silk and like
the trap peas. I don't know, I've I've always loved
I've done that since I've been little, and I don't know,
there's something just really really fun about it. So that's
another thing.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Yeah, oh my gosh, how the heck do you even
get start? Who invented that one? I don't know, you know,
it's very graceful sort of a thing. And then you
get up there and how do you get up.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
That you oh, not up body's streth, not up for
body's shathe. Yeahs, wow, it's I would love it because
it's a great like it's a for me. It's like
a great decompression thing. And like I love to work
out in whatever way, like I oh, I try to
work out every day or yoga or something because it's

(37:21):
so good for your mental health. And I find like
I took a week off from going to the gym
and I spiraled. I was like, oh no, like I
got to get back into the gym. I gotta get
back into my routine because it just makes you feel
good and it puts you in a positive headspace. So
that's something that like some form of form of physical
activity that is really fun, but also it's like really
good for your mental health too. But it's like your

(37:44):
progress is so measurable, is what I love about it.
Like you know, you one week, you know, you try
to climb and you can't, you can't do it, and
then next week, all of a sudden, you got your
climb and you're all the way up at the top.
It's really really fun.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Oh cool? Is that That's amazing?

Speaker 2 (37:57):
So can you do like when they like twhirl themselves
down and they're like bouncing back and forth. You know,
I'm talking about, Oh my god, wrapped up in.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Their legs and it's so fun. I I So I love.
My favorite thing to do is like drop, so like
you'll you'll configure yourself and like away at the top
and then there's like a million different drops and then
you just fall.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
But it's like and it like twists you around the
stuff and then you.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Like and in like a cool position.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
So I love. That's like my favorite part of it.
What I don't like is the poses that that's what
hurts the most, is like holding a specific pose and
I always try to like film them, like wait, let
me film this, and then I'm like, oh wait, bite
it hurts.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Wow. So aren't those are they in the Olympics now too?

Speaker 3 (38:39):
They are not, But I say I posted a video
when when our Olympics where I'm like, okay, guys, twenty twenty,
twenty twenty eight, twenty twenty, when is the next Olympics?
In law twenty twenty eight Olympics, we need aerial silks, guys. Yeah,
because it's so you have to have so much like
upper body strength or strength. It's impressive. Yeah, okay, I like,

(38:59):
I'm I'm not like good at it or at anything,
like I just do it for fun.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
But like, yeah, guys, I'm so sorry it's getting violent.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
I'm so sorry. I really apologized this pike. Oh sure,
it's fine, but yeah, I'm twenty twenty Olympics. Let's go, guys.
I think it's time. I think it's time.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
They do vote new sports in every Olympics. I'm not
sure if they've done it for this one or not,
but they just had like skateboarding, they had surfing, golf,
they do like I think every city does like two
or three new ones like trials every Olympics.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Then I love that.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
Yeah, break dancing. I'm sure we all saw that one.
That one was Oh yeah, the legendary ray Gun. Shout
out to Raygun.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, well, shout out to horseshoes. I want to do it.
I want to do horseshoes because I can. I can
actually not bad at horseshoes. Yeah, I played in about
ten years, but horseshoes, just putting it out there, horseshoes,
I love it. Okay, was that subtle enough? I think so?

(40:01):
I think I think we're on the right track. Oh man,
I love that speaking on the right track. What's what's
the Do you have anything coming up? Do we have
something to brag about usually or conventions or anything? Have
we touched on everything yet?

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Do you do conventions?

Speaker 3 (40:18):
I so, I do, like a little a couple under here,
and then I did. I did. I went to D
twenty three for my first time.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
That was so fun.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
I've never been. I had no idea what to expect,
but it was so fun. I didn't go the full
three days. I only went too but they had like
a whole inside out like booth thing upstairs. That was
so cool.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
If you're a fan of everything we do here at
tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support the show
on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early
in ad free access to the show itself, prize drawings,
and more. You'll feel the difference, so go ahead and
join the tuned In family today at Patreon dot com

(40:59):
slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Okay, I'm just going to jump back to you doing
a convention, because I remember I go to conventions with Jim.
We'll do the podcast on the road some conventions, and
I remember we were at with this one convention and
next to Jim one of the days was like a
like a I don't know, she was like what eight
nine year old girl? Oh, And it just struck me

(41:24):
as like really weird. I'm like, why are these like
grown men coming up to like this nine year old girl,
Like I can't I need your autograph? You know, maybe
if it's like your peers, but it just like I
had never thought about it in that context before or
when I saw it. You know, she didn't have like
a big line of people. It was like, you know,
it's like she played like I don't know, maybe one
of the little girls and stranger things or something, but
not like the main you know, I don't know, I

(41:45):
don't know, I don't know who she was. But it
was just like, you know, you see like this like
forty five year old man coming up like oh, you know,
hopefully it's for his like niece or daughter or something,
but I don't know. It just struck me as like
awkwardy dose, Yeah, I'm wondering how I feel for you
to like sit there and like if you've ever had
an experience where it's like hi.

Speaker 3 (42:04):
I actually I will say I've never had an experience
like that. I will say, like most of the people
who come up for like conventions or I did like
a like one or two autograph signings, and it was
so fun because there were there were so many kids
there or like parents and they're like, oh, my goodness,
my my niece loves this movie, or like my daughter
loves this movie, my son loves us. Can we to
a video? Can can you sign an autograph? And can

(42:25):
I take it home from them?

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Like oh god, yes.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
So it was it was actually really great to see
like the amount of young people and like little kids
who were I think it's really cool. I feel like,
and I'm sure you've experienced this so much as you know,
when they hear the voice, they recognize the voice, are
like whoa because they because they don't recognize your face
of course because it's a cartoon. And then they hear
your voice are like, oh and the girl I got
to meet the girl who plays Mini Mouse. She's amazing,

(42:49):
so talented, and I yes, I flipped out. I was like,
oh my gosh, it's Minimus Yeah next to me. And
it's like it's so so sweet to see their reaction
and it's been great. I've been able to connect with
a lot of teens too, which I feel like is
really important, and to empower other young teens and be like, hey,
like you can do this too, you know, like I'm

(43:10):
I'm figuring this out. We're all figuring this out together.
And it's been great. I've been able to stay and
connect with and connect with them, which has been awesome.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
That's so nice of you. That's well you You've inspired.
There's no question that you've inspired a lot of young girls,
have a lot of end boys for that matter. That's
a beautiful thing. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
I feel like mental health is so important. I actually
work with an amazing nonprofit, so i'm their brand ambassador.
It's called girl Well and we sort of undersheltered teenage
girls and we provide them with self care kits that
promote mental, physical, and emotional well being. And my friend
is the founder and CEO, and she founds it at
sixteen years old, and she's she's twenty now, which is
so cool. She's she's amazing.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
She's twenty year old veteran.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Yes, she's killing it. She's doing them just like a
world wind of incredible things. But this is one of
the amazing things that she does, and I just feel
really grateful to be a part of that because we
basically the whole idea is that, you know, self care
is so important for your mental health, but a lot
of the times it's really inaccessible and like inequitable, and
it's like, oh, you know, you have to have like

(44:15):
super expensive skincare routine. It's like no, no, you don't.
And we're we're breaking that stigma of like, you know, here,
we want everyone to be able to practice self care.
It shouldn't be limited. You know, everyone deserves that that right,
you know, to practice that. So we give them three
months of free teletherapy through Better Help, We give them
hotline cards, we give them you know, skincare, makeup hygiene products.

(44:39):
But I think my favorite part is like our letters
of affirmation that we write. So we write handwritten like
affirmations of like you know, you're loved or you're beautiful,
and you know, often the young girls that receive this
are very much overlooked and they don't they don't get
that affirmation that they deserve, and so this is just
like a little reminder to them of hey, you're enough,
we love you, you know you're loved.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
You're amazing. That's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
It's it's been really amendable. Oh thanks, it's it's been.
I love doing it because it's helped me so much realize, like, wow,
the words we speak to ourselves are so important, you know,
And so I've started putting up affirmations on my mirror.
And this is something that you know, we touch on
an inside out too, of the belief system of what
you say in your mind impacts your everyday life. And

(45:26):
it could be complete lies, you know, like Riley goes,
I'm not good enough. That's not true. But when we
start to believe it, we ruminate on those thoughts and
it we spiral. And so I think that's just been
It's just been such an important realization for me, and
I think for a lot of my friends as well.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
You know, you just reminded me of something I used
to do religiously and I haven't done it in a
few years now. Is make a what they called a
dream dream vision board, vision board. I love vision boards.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
I make one every year.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, yeah, I have to make a new one, yes,
And I think I think they're really great. You're so fond,
you know, and you know, I remember I would I
would get for peace or something. I would get a
rose garden or something symbolic of something like that, and

(46:15):
the sunsets and you know, an old nineteen fifty seven ship.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
No, just kidding, but hey, we can put that on
there too.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Yeah we can.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Yeah we can.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
And yeah, and that's a that's a beautiful thing to do.
So take note, folks, do that. Vision boards what she said.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
I love vision boards. Me and my friend Agy we
make them. It's become like a little tradition. So we
make them every every New Year's together and it's really
cool to see, like the vision board from from twenty
twenty four and now my twenty twenty five vision board
is wondering how it's changed and what kind of like
came true, and it's it's interesting because all of the
things on there did but in a way that I

(46:58):
never would have expected. You know, I put something on there,
you know that maybe that I thought was going to
represent something, but it represented something completely different and it
manifested its way into something completely different. And it's been
really cool. And even some of the things on my
vision board this year, they're like they're slowly like popping up.
I'm like, wait, I put that on my vision board and.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Oh that's great.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
But I think it's just you know, like when you
see that every day, you know you believe it, and
if you believe it, you can do it.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Oh I agree. Yeah. Yeah. I used to have a
thing that I and I accidentally touched on this. I
think I must have been like ten or twelve. What
if I acted like I already did that? Oh yeah,
just what if I acted like I already did that.
I remember, I haven't thought of that in a hundred years.
That's so different. But yeah, and it could be just

(47:47):
something like I mean, back then it was something pretty mundane.
I'm sure, you know, like had that last piece of
pumpkin pie, you know. But yeah, but we can kind
of pull tricks on ourselves, right, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
I love that. I think it's like even for like auditions,
like it's important to walk into the room with the
mindset of like, yeah, I got this, like this is
this is who I am, Like you know it. My
coaches always tell me, like, book the room, don't book
the job. So it's like I'm coming in here not
to book the job, but I've already booked this room.
I've already booked this, This has already been great, you know.

(48:26):
And I think each, like audition is a learning experience.
You know, I've felt lots about auditions. I have so
many stories. But each each audition is a learning experience
and as a stepping stone and you grow, and you know,
even if one audition one day went better than the next,
you know, it's still a stepping stone to where you're
meant to be, you know.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
Yeah, right, Well, as long as you could learn a
little something. Yeah, And you know, I think what was
Edison didn't need to go through two hundred things before
he got the light bulb. He goes, yeah, and it's
a lot of failure, and he goes, no, no, no,
I successfully found them one hundred and ninety nine things
that didn't work and you only need the one.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
And also like he wouldn't have gotten into that one
thing if if he didn't test and fail and test
and fail.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
I mean, that's that's that's it, that's how, that's how
success is made, absolutely in the world. I mean, that's amazing.
Love and you and you you've learned that certainly very early.
Look at that. That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Thank you. I feel like it's it's hard to I
feel like grasp, especially in today's world of like comparison
of like you know, okay, well this person's done this
and they're younger than me, or they're older than me,
and they have this all sure, but it's like everyone
is on has a special path, and it's like you
build every single day. You know, you do little small

(49:44):
baby steps to reach your goal, not someone else's goal,
your goal. And I think that's been something I've been
really really trying to work on this year because it's
hard to like, you know, it's like it's like the
swimmer thing. You know, you have to focus on your lane.
You know, you swim in your own lane. You don't
look at anybody else. That's how reach the finish point,
and that's how you reach your goal. You just look forward.
So I think that's something that I've been trying to

(50:05):
work on this year specifically, Yeah, do you.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Have a do you have a dream role or a
character that.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
You'd want to play?

Speaker 3 (50:12):
I will say, I mean like it, I grew up
watching Pixar movies and.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
So okay, this this has my mind is really I'm
trying to think what would it be truly.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Being able to be in a Pixar movie was such
a big dream come true. I would say I'd really
love to do like some sort of like action packed
you know, like like superheroes. Yeah, so like a Marvel
could be any superhero, any superhero.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
That's actually a really good question. I love Gomora, I
think I love her. I love Guardians of the Galaxy.
That's one of my favorite Marvel movies. It's so so
well done. But to do a movie like that, I
think would be really fun. And like being able to
train and like I love stunts and I love you know,
I do Aeriel, so like I love that kind of
like that's thrill in a way real. I also love

(51:02):
that era.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Yeah, okay, just checking, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
I think that'd be like an absolute dream come true.
And I think like working like a movie like Avatar,
you know, working with so much green screen and you know,
motion capture, using your imagination like that. I mean that
is you like that? I love that interesting to me,
that is the true test really interesting because.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
A lot of actors feel the complete opposite, like there
acting on that stuff. Yeah, I think it's people like
like really upset on this podcast about.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Like having that's my dream is because I feel like
it it it trains you, you know, so that like
when you show up on set and you have like
a really nice, pretty set, you have like a realization
of it.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
Wait, I'm interested. So most of your auditions, like since
you've been a teenager, have they been in a room
with people or has it been like zoom?

Speaker 3 (51:53):
When I was so I started acting, I did like
some smartapes.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Do you do a lot of self tape?

Speaker 3 (51:57):
I do a ton of self tapes recently, like before
Pandemic because I was acting before Pandemic, I did a
lot of in persons like most yeah, yeah, all in
person and then Pandemic. For that I love in person,
I will say, because you get to connect and you
can take feedback. It's like when you do a self tape,
you're like, well, I don't really know what they're looking exactly.

(52:21):
You're like, I don't know, but I'm gonna give it
my best and they may go, oh, that's not the
right thing.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Moving on to self tapes, I can't stand them.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I love them and I hate them. I love them
because you know, you can explore different things, which I
really don't.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
You feel like sometimes you explore too much. It's like
you can spend like three hours on an audition and
it's like, Okay, if I was in person, I have
like one day, ten minutes, you know, have to have it.
I don't know. I'm like, I come from theaters, so
like I like that live performance, you.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Know totally, I feel that. I feel like, yeah, right now.
It's a lot of self tapes, but a few like
in person things here and there, which I actually think
is really nice. You're like, I actually like like over zoom,
like live zoom auditions, which I think is nice because
you're still in the comfort of your own home and
like you don't have to go or leave anywhere, but
but you're you're getting that face to face interaction. So

(53:10):
I think that was one good thing that kind of
came out of the pandemics, like, hey we can there's
other forms of like in person live auditions, you know,
we doom over.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Zoomah, which I like. So if if you had your brothers,
if you had to choose between Broadway theater and Hollywood cameras,
what do you think.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
I would say? I don't think I could pick one.
I love it all.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
I know you were going to.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Say, I really so, I have actually never done theater.
I mean, okay, I did. I did Charlie the Chocolate
Factory when I was six, and I had no lines.
No I was I was the person in the background
holding the lollipop that that was.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
My loved her. It wasn't she was awesome.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Yeah, yes, oh I killed it every five seconds of
my part. I was. So that was the only musical
theater experience that I had in New York City, like
with our community program, and I really really want to
get into theater and Broadway and I love to saying
and I I just I think there's something really unique

(54:15):
about it because you're going throughout the story right, like
your go from beginning middle end, Whereas on set, you know,
you're jumping all over the place and it's really hard
to keep your place sometimes and it's hard to remember, Okay,
where's my character at in their arc? But theater you
get to explore that. And what I love about it
is you do it every night, and so you get
to explore something each and every night, and you get

(54:36):
to find different quirks. So by the time that you
know you have your last show, it's the most beautiful
performance because it's incorporating sorry, Mike, it's incorporating every little
bit and piece that that you found throughout the process.
So I'd love to do theater in Broadway.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely me too.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
It seems like so much fun. I mean, because do
you feel like it really like was a good training experience,
because that's what I've heard from a lot of people,
like it trains you so well.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
I think actors who come from theater are just better actors. Yeah,
Like I think you can totally watch you can tell
which celebrities even are theatrically trained. You know, like the
only one I can really think of who's like a
phenomenal actor with no theater training is like Brad Pitt. Yeah,
I really can't think. To me, it's like as an actor,
it's like day and night. Yeah, And I don't think
a lot of the general public even really realizes. You know,

(55:24):
there's so much stuff that's just like we were talking
the other day, you know, Netflix. I'm sorry, I'm jumping
because this this really frustrates me, but did you know
that Netflix is now making what they call second screen
content because they call it second screen content because they
want something where you can be scrolling on social media,
and they're saying that the audience is so addicted to
their phones that they're dumbing down the plots and they're

(55:46):
simplifying everything so that you can just tune in every
now and then while you're scrolling, And so they're intentionally
making worse shit excuse my language, to freaking appease the
addiction that they receive people have when consuming media. Oh,
I know, it's painful.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
That's that's really disappointing actually, because the whole purpose of
film is is is you engage an audience and you
take them out of their world and you put them
in this world. But that's really hard because you're you're
living in both worlds with the whole point of film
and seeing a movie in the theaters is is seeing
the art that was created and appreciating every little aspect

(56:28):
and immersing yourself in it and feeling like you're living
with those characters. That actually is really sad to me.
It is disappointing.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
But yeah, I think I think live theater is like
at least when I did, when I did, you know,
performed in plays and stuff. We were actually talking on
the drag here about we're listening to you say something
about you were talking about anxiety and or feeling anxious
or something like that, and I was the thought that
popped into my head was you know, there's like good
forms of anxiety.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Yes, like absolutely, Like when I.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
Go on stage, like there is an anxiety anxious, but
it's like anxious. Jim gave the example of like, you know,
winning like an Academy Award, which we saw you at
the Oscars, which is crazy.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
I still can't believe that happened. That was wild. Which fun. Oh,
it felt like I was living in a little anxiety
and there's absolutely absolute Do you do the cam? I did?

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Now.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
I did not post it because I was afraid to
post it, but I did do it. I don't know,
I'd never done one before, so I was like, I
don't know if this is any good, But I did
do one because I was really, yeah, you got to
do that. I should post it.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
I should Yeah, yeah, you should, Yeah you should do
you should go ahead.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
I should release it.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
You don't have regret things you don't.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (57:39):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
But yeah, I think there are really really good forms
of anxiety, and I think that's something that the film
explores you know, like, Okay, anxiety is just really trying
to help and like you need a little bit of
exactly on your toes. Yeah, because if you weren't anxious,
you know, you'd go into a.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Test and be like you do one of those people
base jumping from a crane, Like, don't those people don't
have anxiety free climbing Yosemite, you know, like those people
don't have anxiety. They're like looking as hard as they
can to find anxiety.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
They're searching for it. But I think it I feel like,
especially as like a performer, like when I do have
a little bit of anxiety, I think it's really good
for me because it pushes me to be my best
and sure and it makes me it makes me excited too.
It's it's like those butterflies. But like something that I've
been really working on the past couple of years, you know,
in the business, is like channeling the where the part

(58:32):
of the anxiety does start to spend channeling that not
the bad part, but the spinning part into excitement, into
that butterfly feeling, because that's that's what drives you, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Yeah, Yeah, it keeps you on your toes, Like I
say yeah, so so true, so true, and that little
extra I think it's it's like putting a little extra
gas in the tank.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
Yeah, you know, absolutely, because if you didn't have that,
then then you just sit home and like you wouldn't
do anything. Yeah, you wouldn't. Really.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Yeah, I've often noticed about myself over the years, whenever
we would do a read through and they would say, well,
you don't have to do full performance. You don't have
to do full I can't not.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
I'm the same way. Oh my gosh, no I'm doing it.
I can't because it feels weird.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Yeah, I can't go. Okay, well, hey, you guys can't
be in here. Time to we have to run. What
do we have to do? We have to run now?
And then oh and then they run out of the room,
you know, and you end up giving this half terrible
you know thing. But well, you guys can't be in here.
You have wait a minute, you have oh that stage
direction anyway, you know, and all that stuff. But yeah,

(59:45):
you gotta it's just comes out, you don't.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Yeah, So it's not just me.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Huh No, I feel the same way. Like even if
people are like no, like just don't do it. I'm like,
I can't. I can't help myself. I'm too excited, like
and it just I feel like it prepares you better,
you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
For It's okay, I'm so clumsy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
I've already knocked the mic so many. I love this though,
this is so cool.

Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
He's a little scary.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
I think he's scared. I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Well, that's what I meant to say, thank you, but
but yeah, it's it's it's it's daunting.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
Absolutely, Okay. I have a question for you this starry,
I'm jumping all over.

Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
The place, jump away.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
I have a question for you because obviously you've played
like iconic, iconic characters. So like when you're getting in,
when you're getting these these parts, like how do you
find the voice? And like how does it just do
you work? You work shop multiple voices for a character,
and you're like, what sticks or is it the first
instinct that's like you read the character? You do you

(01:00:48):
just exude what's natural to you? Like how does that work?

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Well? You know, I have a couple that where they're
you know, like Pooh and Tigger. They were Yeah, they
came out when I was five, you know, so that
wasn't me. But so then on that case, then what
you're doing is you want to not just a voice match,
but it's a character match. Like people say, oh, you're
you're doing you're a voice actor, you've a well my

(01:01:12):
friend just says small V, but a capital A, you know,
because you know if you're if you're just doing like
there's a guy out there who does impressions and impressionists
are great, but they're not actors. All they have to
do is sound like a character, a famous person for
a sentence or two and their job's done, whereas you

(01:01:34):
know they're not. You can sound just like Jack Nicholson,
but they couldn't act like Jack if you you know,
paid them. Uh So you know, it's a it's a
different it's it's a different discipline. If if you if
you're doing an established character, first you have to sound
like them, then you have to act like them. And
then with the characters that I came up with, the

(01:01:57):
you know, the voices for dark Wing Duck Bunkers would
be one Hondo ONAKA Star Wars, they're all you know.
I have incorporated different characters from my past, like Lieutenant's
Spinelli on Chippendale Rescue Rangers is my aunt Grace, God

(01:02:20):
bless her. And yeah, Leatherhead on teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
is the first tugboat captain that I ever. I used
to be a deck in on the riverboats in New Orleans. Yeah,
I thought so too, because I wasn't from there. Well,
this is terrible. This is as bad as the steel mill.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
So I didn't do that anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
I do other things now, but but I you know,
you incorporate those really cool you know, And I'll bore
you with one more thing. One of my favorite guyes
is Hondo Oaka. He's from stall Wulls in the a Though.
You know, it is funny because when I see you today,
I see an opportunity for profit. And I can guarantee

(01:03:10):
you that I am here to accept all of the
money you wish to donate to this particular cause. Don't
worry about it. I'll leave the details to me. I will.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
Well, he is so cool, so surreal.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
I love this. That's funny. You're so sweet. Well, he's
he is h Charles Bronson and le Brenner put together now.
Charles Bronson was character actor with Super Tough Guy.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
And he's.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
And your Brenner was. He was from the biggest movie
you'd ever know, old classic movie. I don't think I
was five when this came out to the King and
I and he was the bald guy who was very
regal and very uh, you know, Moses, Moses, and it
was in the Bible. He was that guy who do

(01:04:03):
you play herod or No? No pharaoh? Who played the Pharaoh?
Yeah with that anyway. So that's like a trick of
mine that I've put people together. And if you do
a bad impression, I can tell you this. If you
do a terrible impression, famous person, nobody knows who it is.
It's a new character. I love free character. I love

(01:04:26):
that from your bad impression work so cool. But don't
tell anybody this. These are secrets. If you're a fan
of everything we do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings,
you could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts,
as well as early in ad free access to the

(01:04:47):
show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference,
so go ahead and join the tuned In family today
at Patreon dot com slash Jim Cummings Podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:04:59):
Do it Now well, since we're doing voices, should we
do a little voice swap?

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Oh? But yes, is we've come to that part of
our program. Yes, we're winding down and time to have fun,
all right, all this seriousness has to stop.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
So Jim will do Jim will do a line of
one of his characters, like a Wennie the Pooh, a Tigger.
Just he'll say a line and then you'll repeat the line,
but in one of your character voices, so like ask Riley,
or is another voice that you've done?

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Oh my gosh, okay, yes, okay, this is cool.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
And then we'll do vice versa.

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Oh okay, how about Bunker's Bunker's Deep Bobcat the first
tune detective ever ever in the world. But she'd Lucky.
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:05:47):
I just can't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Can you help me? I just kidding, pull my finger.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
That was so good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:57):
His partner's name is Lucky, and he's trying to con
him into doing something. He goes, I'm just kidding, pull
my finger.

Speaker 3 (01:06:03):
But she Lucky?

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Okay, okay, but she Lucky?

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
Please, I really need help. Just kidding, pull my finger. Apologize.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
God, you're way too adorable. No, I.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
You're so good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
No, no, no, no, okay, So now you have to wait.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
I want to can I can throw a suggestion. I
just want to hear Riley and pooh oh, yes, so
you you give a line as Riley.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
Okay, yep, that's me Riley from good old Michigan.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Yep, lets me good old Riley from good old Michigan.
It's part of the underday. Oh my gosh, that is
so cool. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Wait, you have to just give her a couple of voices.
Get these reactions. It's so good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Hold on there. I don't think you understand the wonderful
thing about tiggers. It's figgers. They are wonderful things.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Oh my gosh, this is my childhood right now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Oh well, good, this is so cool.

Speaker 4 (01:07:12):
Well I hope it's the sweet as honey for your tool.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
And what was the curious George?

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
Curious? Oh yes, don't forget the Georgio. That is a monkey?
Is this is my favorite monkey in all love of
the world.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
And what was that jumping? Jumping the squirrel? He's not
here jumping I was jumping the squirrel. Yes, the squirrel.
Oh my gosh, this is crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
Yeah. I discovered that when I was like four or
five years old? This thing? What you can you know?
I'm talking about shaft anyway, brilliant. My left cheek doesn't
work that well anymore. I don't know why. It's it's

(01:08:08):
a phrase you don't hear very often.

Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
Well, thank you, thank you, you're so cool. Well, thank you,
ladies and gentlemen. Oh my goodness, that is fantastic. Is
there anything we should we should be bragging about? Social media?
Social media? Where do people look you up?

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
I'm on social at hey, Kensington on on all all
the platforms, but mainly Instagram and TikTok okay h e
y k a sign.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
G t o n okay? All right, got that?

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
Be sure to follow.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
There'll be a quiz tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
I have such a long name that I was like, okay,
Kensington Tollman. It's too long. So I was like, okay, hey,
Kensington is easier. I can do that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Hey, you guys, it's got some of that in there too. Wow, awesome,
thank you for being here, calm and ladies and gentlemen,
thank you, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
This is so cool. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy
we got to do this. Me too, same here and
hearing all your voices too. Truly, it's like it just
reminds me of all like my childhood. So cool, really
cool that you get to you get to inspire people
and like you know, get to get to play these
such like these special cartoons. It's really fun.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
Yeah, yeah, thanks, thanks. It's all the stuff you used
to get me kicked out of class.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
Well hey look where you are now.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
Having me should take us home?

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Sure, all right, thank you for every exactly all right,
thank you everybody for watching another episode of tuned in
when Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, joined as always by
the legend Jim Cummings. And today we had a very
special guest, Kensington Tollman. That's a tongue twister. Say that
ten times fast. I dare you. If you guys like
this content, be sure to like and subscribe. We really
appreciate it. It tells the YouTube algorithm that you like

(01:10:01):
it will show you more of this and if you
really really like this content, we have even more bonus
stuff on Patreon. That's right, unaired episodes, giveaways, signed signatures, giveaways,
I can't talk right.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Now, stuff, a lot of stuff, stuff and more.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
But yeah, be sure to check us out over there
if you want some merchandise, Jim Commings Closet on Shopify
has a whole bunch of good stuff over there. Check
it out, and as always, we will see you in
the next one. Thanks for watching.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
Thank you, you are so sweet, both of you. Thank
you for having me so much.