It’s hard to believe I’ve been a voice-actress since 1981. Wow! How time flies! You may have heard my young-sounding voice in hundreds of Japanese anime cartoons but I’ve also done my share of commercials, animation, video games, audiobooks, and ADR.
I’m a long time member of SAG-AFTRA and am based in Los Angeles. You can contact me at rebecca@rebeccaforstadt.com
My back story
I started out as an actor doing theatre in high school and college. My first paid gig was performing melodramas at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Birdcage Theatre where I worked for 3 years doing 3-6 shows per day.
During the mid-70s, I came to Los Angeles from where I was living in Orange County, to make it as an actress. Not long afterward, I took a detour and worked as a wardrobe mistress for shows like The White Shadow, Hill Street Blues, and Blake Edward’s SOB.
But in my heart, I wanted to be an actor so I quit my well-paying, incredibly wonderful job to be in front of the camera instead of behind it.
And hey, I starred in two films!
Okay, they weren’t A-Movies but. . .
My first starring role was in a film called Mugsy’s Girls, later renamed Delta Pi playing a nerdy sorority girl. Singer Laura Branigan played my best friend, Eddie Deezen was my boyfriend and the great Ruth Gordon was our housemother. To earn money for our sorority, we entered a mud-wrestling competition and fought some of the GLOW girls.
My 2nd “starring role” was in the film Round Numbers where I was a wacky receptionist in a fancy health spa. I ended up with quite a few lines and voice-overs over the loudspeaker. Kate Mulgrew, Samantha Egger, Shani Wallis, and Marty Ingles shared top billing.
My life in the theatre
During the 1980s, I was awarded Hollywood Drama-logue Awards for outstanding performance as an actress in Ionesco’s Tales, with Eugene Ionesco in residence, and Leonce and Lena both at Stages Trilingual Theatre in Hollywood.
How I got into voice-overs
I was born with a child-like voice that never grew up. While perusing Drama-Logue, I saw an ad for adult women to play kid voices at a sound studio on the Sunset Strip. It turned out they were dubbing foreign films and cartoons mostly from Japan.
It was a perfect fit for me and I worked steadily for decades voicing young girls, some young boys, various creatures, and even a few monsters and eventually became a legend in anime, in my own mind. My most infamous role was Minmei in the series Robotech which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary.
I also have a life
In addition to working as a voice actress, I am the mom of two adult children and a chihuahua, love to travel, and started a business as a blogger and social media influencer. Much to my surprise, I discovered I have a techy side and learned to build websites. It turned out to be a cool and flexible gig for an actor and definitely beats waiting tables.
If you want to SAVE MONEY and set up your own WordPress voice-over site read my tutorial here. If I can do it at 60+, so can you.
My life has had a few bumps
If you have the desire to become an actor or voice-over artist, know that reality can derail your career at times. I lost my husband of 23 years to cancer in 2001, lost my boyfriend of 15 years to cancer in 2020, was a single parent to two kids for a while, (which is my greatest accomplishment) experienced financial downturns, and got older. (not always welcome in Hollywood)
Still, life is good
You can’t let adversity stress you out or bring you down. But, as long as you have other interests and pursuits in life, you will survive and enjoy what life has in store.
Contact me at rebecca@rebeccaforstadt.com or follow me on Twitter @rebeccaforstadt
