Q: Did you audition?

A: Sort of. It came in a roundabout way, and they don’t care about this happening in the entertainment industry, but through someone that I had worked close with, a publicist, I guess if you will, an agent, I met with the producer of “Jock the Hero Dog,” and we just met in a casual setting, like, had lunch. My mom, my sister and I and the producer, and since it was a voice-over work, she just kind of listened to how I talked and listened to my actions and just told me right on the spot that she’d love to have me play young Jock, and so that’s how it came about and then I flew home and then they let us know when it would be recorded and I flew back out

Q: Why did you decide to take the role?

A: After talking with my mom, because at the time that’s what I really wanted to do; I wanted to be an actress, a voice-over work was never something that I had really imagined myself doing; I always wanted to be on screen so getting a voice-over job was a little weird to me but my mom and I talked about it and we thought that it would be a great experience even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. It was just a great experience to put myself out there and get my name out there in the entertainment industry.

Q: Are there any other reasons why you were selected?

A: Honestly, I think that most of the time in Hollywood, they just kind of know. Whether it’s in an audition setting or it’s meeting for lunch or it’s going to a meeting, like when you walk in the room, generally they have an idea if they want you or not, so I don’t know exactly what I did to make them want me, but my name and been put out there through an agent and we met and we just really had lunch. She wanted to see me in a natural state, which is like not trying too hard, not auditioning because it was a fun role and it wasn’t a huge role either so I think that she just saw my natural instincts and she just saw the way I talked to people and the way how I verbalized and thought that I would be good for the role. Plus, I was really young at the time, and it was a good role because I was playing a dog, a boy dog, so it’s kinda weird because I’m a girl, but it was supposed to be a puppy, so I guess my voice kind of fit the requirements.

Q: How did you react to being selected?

A: I was surprised at first because I had never done any voiceover work, never really had any voice-over training. It just wasn’t what I had gone out there to do; I didn’t really think there was anything unique about my voice or anything like that, so I was surprised but I felt obviously extremely blessed to embark in something like that. Again, it’s just the experience overall, like how many people can say that they did that, you know?

Q: What was your experience like?

A: It was so cool. Basically I woke up really early, I think it took two or three days to record, which is rather short but I had not a huge part, and I woke up really early, we drove to the studio, it was in Santa Monica, CA and we drove there; it’s really secluded; it’s not glamorous like you think it would be at all. It was this tiny studio, but I walked in, I got all set up, we did voice checks, voice run-throughs, we ran through the script, I read through the script, basically the way the room was set up like you walk in and there’s rows of chairs, and then there’s a huge movie-type theater screen and they play the animation on that screen while you stand in front of it and talk so you can watch the screen and try to make your actions in sync with what’s happening in the animation, so that was really cool. Basically, you just put on the headphones, it beeps three times, and you go. And like the funniest part is that no one really gets how much work goes into that because I only probably said 25 lines total, but I spent three days doing those 25 lines. So I had to do it over and over and over again, and every single time they’d be like, “OK, that was good, but can you do it a little bit grouchier?” or “OK, that was good, now try it a little meaner?” I think that they just wanted to get a variety of sounds for it so they could pick the best one, but it was a lot of fun. Especially when there’s some action shots in the movie where I have to be flying and falling and grunt when I get hurt, or whimper because I’m a dog, but it was a lot of fun.

Q: What did you learn from your experience?

A: Well, I learned a lot from my experiences in LA in general, the most valuable thing is that I’m able to now walk into a room with a variety of any different kinds of people no matter if they’re adults, kids (or) teenagers and be able to hold a conversation and hold my own in a room of people I don’t know. It was intimidating at first but having all those executives in there and everybody’s watching you and counting on you to do the part, but I thrived on that kind of pressure. Some people crack under pressure, and in that kind of situation, you can’t crack. You were picked for the part, so you have to prove yourself, and I tried to, and it worked out in my favor. That’s something that school can’t really teach. Those kinds of skills, just social skills almost, like walking into a room and being able to impress people and give your personality in a short amount of time.

Q: Do you plan to pursue a career in the entertainment and film industry?

A: I actually do. I would love to go to USC or a school like that in California and I want to go more into the communications side of media whether that’s visual design or or PR.

Q: What is your own opinion of the movie you starred in?

A: It’s funny. It’s so weird to hear yourself on screen. I almost can’t take myself seriously. I laugh when I watch it. I haven’t watched it in a long time; I need to watch it again, but it’s almost funny to me just because I was so young and I sounded so different then, but overall, it’s a good movie; they have a lot of big names in it and it’s on netflix, you can check it out, but it was just so much fun. It’s hard when you’re in it, it’s kind of hard to step back and actually watch it for what it is, but I like the movie, I think kids will like the movie. It’s a kids movie, so yeah.

Q: Are there any other comments or thoughts that you would like to add?

A: I would just say advice that if anybody’s interested in doing voice-overs, put yourself out there; that’s basically the biggest thing. Put yourself out there; don’t be afraid of failure. That was something I was always really scared about because if you tried, you didn’t fail because you got something out of it. So anybody that wants to do anything in the entertainment industry, just put yourself out there and have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously.