Pokémon is one of the most iconic franchises out there, and there are tons of ways for creative people to express their love for the extensive universe. Voice Actress Anna "Brizzy Voices" Brisbin actually got her start doing the voices for the first 151 Pokémon nearly a decade ago!
Since then her stardom has continued to rise, with fans hearing her voice on her channel as well as various projects like the Monster Camp video game and the Ride Share motion comic web-series. With so many projects and endless videos under her belt, we got in touch with her to pick her brain a bit on what it is like to live in this creative landscape and the journey she has embarked on to get to where she is now.
One of the many questions we asked her involved her start with the Pokémon video up until her most recent project with Ride Share, and her answers were incredibly informative. Her explanation shines a light on the fact that practice, hard work, and opportunity are all anyone needs to achieve their dreams.
Our interview with voice and cosplay actress Anna "Brizzy Voices" Brisbin on the Inner Child Podcast can be listened to via the player below.
We have also included our chats with fellow Ride Share talent Julie Nathanson (Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, Avengers Assemble), James Gavsie (Digital Sky, Who Would Win?), and Cooper Barnes (Henry Danger, Danger Force) along with the written transcript below. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section!
7m 4s
Literary Joe: How did you move from Impressions to do more traditional voice acting roles?
7m 17s
Brizzy Voices: The Impressions only started because I knew I wanted to do film and TV acting and on-camera while I was in school. So rather than auditioning for onstage productions, I was auditioning for student films. When you're a freshman, the film students at NYU have to do audio projects first. They take their baby steps as far as storytelling. I started working on the film student's audio dramas. One of the first ones was a Pokemon one, where I played Ash and Officer Jenny. When I listened to that final thing, I was thinking; you didn't even pitch it or anything? That's incredible! This is so cool; I want to do more of that. So, I was bored one summer and started the YouTube channel. I was like this Pokemon story thing was fun, and I know people are doing this online, so I'll start a new YouTube channel. I had one for six years, but I'll create a new one specifically for these voices and started uploading sort of portfolios of Impressions to send as auditions for fan projects for these things. When that blew up, it cemented into me that this is what I want. I want this on the biggest scale there is. I started getting serious about learning the voiceover industry and how that all works, all the different areas of it, and what I'm most interested in.
9m 1s
Literary Joe: In the disclaimer of your original Pokemon video, you mentioned that you had 500 followers or something like that. Is that the first one you feel started gaining traction?
9m 25s
Brizzy Voices: I had maybe 200 subscribers on my YouTube channel before that, the previous one, and I didn't advertise the new channel at all over there. So I don't think any of them were from there, but it was one of the first videos I uploaded on that channel within the first month. I think I uploaded a Nickelodeon Impressions one before it, and that got me the 552 or whatever that I had. I think I got those because my friend Dom Farah, who's a YouTuber himself, liked it or commented on it or favorited it. Back then, if you did that on your YouTube channel, it would show up on your feed for your followers. His followers found it from that, and that was my baby blow up to the 500. Then I guess those people saw the Pokemon, and then that one was posted places.
10m 54s
Literary Joe: How did you get involved with Ride Share? Did somebody reach out to you? I know Julia said that you guys are friends.
11m 5s
Brizzy Voices: They first emailed my agents or me. I'm not entirely sure if they went directly to me or my agent's first, probably Scott Zackrin or Robert Elle, who was working on it, in the beginning, said, Hey, we found your stuff on YouTube and think you're cool, we think you'd be great for this since you can do different voices. There's this character who we want to play a younger version and an older version. So it would be great if we could have you on for that, and eventually, they did, and they liked working with me. They were like, do you want to be the narrator of the whole entire thing? And I was like, okay!
11m 50s
Literary Joe: Did you also do a character then? Or did they switch you to the narrator?
11m 56s
Brizzy Voices: I did the character first. There's a future version of her, a present one like a child, and a grownup version. I did that first, and then after that, they asked me to narrate it.
*Interview has been edited for clarity and hosted by Literary Joe, Darth Lexii, and Comic Brooks*
Escape Reality with a thriller fiction podcast to get lost in. Ride Share is the series premier episode of DIGITAL SKY, an anthology podcast series of social and science fiction about the apps that control our lives. Fans of Twilight and Black Mirror will love Ride Share! Trapped in a Car with Strangers!
On his ride share app, Keith decides to choose the carpool option. They all take a drive they never expected. Hang on for an awesome sound experience that will take you on a wild trip, projected like a movie inside your mind. If you’ve ever used a ride share app, it probably crossed your mind that you are getting into the car of a complete stranger. Our hero Keith decides to make it even more interesting by choosing the super-saver carpool option, which adds even more strangers to the ride. Now Keith appears to be trapped in a car with three people, who are very strange indeed.
Ride Share releases every Tuesday on Youtube and you can check out
Brizzy Voices on her Youtube channel right
here!