Arts & Entertainment

Meet Your Instructor

Lesson time 05:32 min

Get to know Nancy Cartwright as she narrates an animated version of her own life story and shares what she’ll be teaching you in her class.

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Topics include: Nancy Cartwright Teaches Voice Acting

Nancy Cartwright

Teaches Voice Acting

The legendary voice actor reveals her creative process for giving life to animated characters with emotion, imagination, and humor.

Preview

- The tip of the tongue, the lips, and the teeth. The tip of the tongue, the lips, and the teeth. Red leather, yellow leather. Red leather, yellow leather. What a to-do to die today at a minute or two to two? A thing distinctly hard to say, but harder still to do. For the beat a tattoo, at a quarter to 2:00, with rat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat to do. And the dragons will come. And they sound a drum at a minute or two to 2:00 today, at a minute or two to 2:00. Hey, Jeff, how are the levels here? JEFF: Sounds good, Nancy. - Good. I'm going to tell you a little story about a girl from Ohio. Though she wasn't the biggest or the strongest, what she could do was talk a lot. - I cut my hair like this. Who do you think would win a cute prize, a baby unicorn sneezing or a puppy riding a-- you must owe Mario a lot of money. NANCY: So she joined her high school speech team. And she was good at it. - And the camel said, harrumph! NANCY: So the girl got a job at a radio station, where she saw that you could make a living with your voice. - (SINGING) WING, winging it in Dayton. NANCY: She even got to create a character to perform on the air. - Lifeguard Lilypad at your service. This isn't a hot tub. Get swimming. NANCY: At the station, the girl met a nice lady who gave her contacts for people in the animation industry. - All right! NANCY: And one outstanding phone number for Daws Butler, voice of Huckleberry Hound, Elroy Jetson, Yogi Bear-- - You hear what I hear, Boo Boo? NANCY: --and so many more. When she called him, she got an answering machine. PERCIVAL (ON ANSWERING MACHINE): Um, hello. This is Percival Pickles, Mr. Butler's butler. Mr. Butler's not home right now. If you'd like to leave a message, wait for the beep. Beep. - (ENGLISH ACCENT) Oh, hello, Mr. Butler. I'm Nancy Cartwright. And I'm very interested in voice acting. Why don't you just give me a ring on the old telly. Thank you very much. Pip, pip, cheerio. (NORMAL ACCENT) Oh, I can't believe I did that. [PHONE RINGS] NANCY: He called back immediately. - NANCY: And just like that, a beautiful friendship was formed. Now Nancy had a mentor to teach her how to use her unique voice. So she moved to Hollywood and started her career. She worked her way up, and eventually did voices for hit cartoons. - What are we going to do, Richie? - It's just an expression. "Get down" means to boogie. - You've simply just got to set your mind to it. NANCY: Then one day, she got an audition for the voice of a little girl named Lisa. But Nancy noticed another monologue for a school-hating, 10-year-old underachiever with spiky hair. So the girl asked to read for him instead. - Eat my shorts. NANCY: She was hired immediately. And that show won countless awards and became the longest running scripted show in the history of the world. - I'm Bart S...

About the Instructor

For nearly 40 years, Nancy Cartwright has voiced some of the most iconic animated characters on screen, including everyone’s favorite 10-year-old underachiever. Now the Emmy winner takes you into the recording booth to teach you the art of voice acting. In our first class to feature original animation, you’ll learn how to develop characters, get performance tips, and hear Nancy’s career advice. It’s time to get animated.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Nancy Cartwright

The legendary voice actor reveals her creative process for giving life to animated characters with emotion, imagination, and humor.

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