Lucky Star>Interview - Wendee Lee

I'm Wendee Lee and I'm playing Konata in Lucky Star.
Q:How did you get involved with Lucky Star?
I think I was a semi-requested character.
And I think it was in keeping with the same Japanese actress that had played Haruhi, had also played Konata.
So we thought "Well, it's a novel idea. Why not try the same US actress, why not?"
That's like" Yeah, I can do it!"

Q:What process do you go through to find a character's voice?

Oh, to find the voice is quite a process
We spent a lot of time establishing that in the beginning and I heavily borrow from the Japanese, I suppose,
the spirit of characters, the nature of her energy, her age range, any kind of the nuances
and Konata being so nuanced and textured and layered with certain peaks and valleys and rhythms to the way she speaks.
I loved to hear the Japanese before each line of recording.
That's been really helpful, very critical information.
We also spent time with the producers and they were very involved in setting the character.
And we were exploring territory that I haven’t really used before and she is a new voice for me.

Q:Do you think the success of your portrayal of Faye from Cowboy Bebop type casted you from playing other roles?

I love Faye- Faye, you know, and she is so close to me.
And she in many ways kind of put me on the map in anime.
I had been working for over ten years before I recorded into the Bebop series,
but I do feel very much like she was the vehicle that kind of put me over the top as far as .being very widespread and accessible.
She is a super accessible character.
You know she is, so solidly who she is and uses her sex-appeal and strength and has a lot happening intellectually.
And I really love that about her. I like kinda the chick power that she represents.
That is in a way a defining moment for me, certainly defining character, yeah.
And it's not a very long series. I've done many shows that have gone on for years.
And I have had far many more titles.
But Bebop has that lingering quality.
It's sort of.. I think it was, xxx, I think Bebop hasability to draw a western audience.
Probably one of the most effective ways of any series.
It probably opened the door for lots of other series to follow.
And I think people rethought dubbed titles and gave us more of a chance as voice artists after that show, or with that show, I should say.
And gave us some credit
You know I've been waiting along time for that credit.

Q:You get to play a very different character in Lucky Star. Do you feel you are getting the roles you want?

Are you kidding? You're talking to an actress. So of cause I want to do all the parts, all the time.
Right? You know me.
Yeah, I mean as an actor you just wanna work.
It's what you live to do. And you wanna play as many characters as you can
and have a chance to slip into the shoes as many people's life experiences as you can.
And you really grow from it, each of everyone of them.
It's important and critical to continue to expand your vocal range.
And, yeah, I'm experiencing that.
And it's important to me always continue to grow.
I wanna be variable well and tuned.
I'm old lady,dears.
When I am old, then I feel old sometimes.

Q:Do you like hearing other actors recorded voice tracks to enhance your performance while recording your own?

It's great to have other characters to play off of.
We don’t know it's how that luxury and we've adopted.
And you can deal with or without, that's no problem,
but I enjoy my cast so much that I really look forward to seeing "Oh, oh, it's this long recording" and how'd they play it, I can play off a bit
and I feel very much like we're an ensemble and that are our performances interweave very fluently.
So it's a huge bonus to have everybody else recorded and be able to have that luxury their performance in my ear,
but it's also a big part of your imagination as an actor to be able to envision what's happening preceding your lines and following your lines.
So it works both ways.
Sometimes when I'm looking to really focus on what's going on.
I enjoy not having any other track laid down.
I can just sort of get into the meditate of rhythm ofjust dialing in that one voice and only being influenced by that one voice.
But honestly it's like.. it's a treat and diversity what we do is what keeps me feeling nourished.
That all my needs are being (?mat )as far as the diversity where we get to.
There's not a lot of (mxx).
It probably looks madness from the outside if you would step into our recording session.
It would probably look like "oh, that such a grind" you have to do one line over and over.
And we find that guests don’t stay with us very long, but it's to be expected and if people (?exodus) after a few minutes of observing.
We just kinda laugh, because, you know, we outlive anyone.
We can stick it out.
You know, we do hours of this everyday.
So, yeah, we work both ways.. you know, I do like to have is music and effects tracks to be able to play off of the explosions, you said it again,
what I do really appreciate is having the music and effects tracks.
The stands are available, so we can hear sound effects and music and a ton of the scene.
That's really helpful.
I become spoiled in that way, I kind of expect that wherever I go.


Q;Does the experience of having directed some anime shows change the way you approach voice acting?

I do treat voice acting and directing separately,
but I think the directing gives me tremendous insight to the process for delivering what you really need on each take.
Because I've got the benefit, of course, of being on both sides of mike and I know mike technique insidenow after all these years of experiencing it.
And I began as a singer basically with my first(?acclamation) to studio work
So I'd had some experience with technique.
and that's actually big part of the puzzle
Being consistent, not distorting, not beingcorrosive or, you know.
Or spiting gut for bit, or you know just having respect for the people on the other side.
Because whenever we get too dynamic, it's verypainful in the monitors, it gets very loud.
And being intuitive and knowing when something doesn't work technically, I can pick it up quickly and just say let's try that again.
Let's go again.
We don’t have to start to discuss what needs to be altered
I know intuitively what to do.
But many of my counterparts do the same thing.
A lot of voice actors are super intuitive and that's a big part of what we do.
It'll make you gravitate to them, because it just so easy to direct.
When I get it that, any of them.

Q:Do you still have a desire to do voice acting now that you are having more opportunity to direct?

I set up to be an actor and I get to do so many other things than just acting.
And I really feel fulfilled in many ways.
And for me it's the diversity what I do. It's being able to jump upon a mike and being a mix and tweaking sound and adopting a script, researching a show.
All that stuff is presents great challenges for me, keeps the flash.
And now I feel like I xxanything might be approaching the middle of my career
And that I, you know, just approaching some kind of pinnacle and that, I don’t know that'll look like,
but I won't disappoint myself, but If anything, I wanna just be able to have lots of opportunities and continue acting
and being involved closely with our clients and I'm very fond of what we do.
It will really blast to be would be in this business starts growing so much right now

Q:Do you have any kind of message to the Lucky Star fans?

Konata would probably something like, oh, our show has fans?
Um, yeah, of course it does.
I hope you guys are eating lots of choco-cornets and that you getting bye this volume and the next one and the next one.