Kari Wahlgren: The Voice of ALLIE from KAIJUDO
Nerd Caliber had the privilege to interview popular voice actor Kari Wahlgren about her work as the character Allie Underhill on The Hub Channel’s KAIJUDO: RISE OF THE DUEL MASTERS series. We talk to her about her contribution to the character’s personality, the Kaijudo series and what would be her secret voice over dream job.
We also have a clip of “The Rising” episode, part of the final concluding this Saturday, December 15 on The Hub!
“The Rising – Part 2”
The Choten’s plan to take over the human and creature worlds starts falling into place. Ray, Gabe and Allie alongside their creatures and the Kaijudo masters are faced with saving Earth from an impending apocalypse.
Check out the clip and our interview below!
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E. Ortiz: How did you become involved in the Kaijudo series?
Kari Wahlgren: Well, they had auditions for the show and I auditioned for it and they did a lot of callbacks but I was out of the country for a convention. I was sad because I thought I wasn’t going to have a chance to [do a second] audition for the role and they liked me so much the first time they said “She is our Allie!” When I came back to town, I found out that I was going to be a part of the show, which was really exciting.
E. Ortiz: Sometimes the writers of a show already have a preset notion of how the character will sound and act, and sometimes the voice actor is so tremendous that the writers change the character around the voice actor’s interpretation. Did anything like that happen with you?
Kari Wahlgren: That’s a great question. It does work both ways. Sometimes as a voice actor you come into the audition and they say “Yes, that’s exactly how we imagine the character to sound.” Sometimes once you start working there will be mannerisms and certain quirks you bring to the character and those things actually move the character in a new direction. With Allie, there were just little snarky, sarcastic things that I would do in the recording sessions that they ended up using for the character a lot more. There is a little thing that Allie does where she says “Yeahhhh… no.” And they ended using that a lot more with her character during the recording so it’s kinda fun when you get to sort of bring little touches to the character and they end up using that in future episodes.
E. Ortiz: How would you say the character Allison Underhill is similar from the many characters you have voiced in the past?
Kari Wahlgren: She’s similar in the way that I sometimes get cast into characters that are a little spunkier, a little sassier so she definitely has those elements to her but she also has a lot of layers. The show goes a lot into her relationship with her friends, her family, and we see little traces of vulnerability in her that are nice. I think the more the show goes on, the more aspects of her personality we will see and it’s making her more three-dimensional. That is making her more unique than any character I ever played.
E. Ortiz: You also voice the character Sasha, Channeler of Light. What are your thoughts about Sasha, do you find her to be an interesting character as well?
Kari Wahlgren: Sasha has been a challenging character to do, because she’s very regal and serial. They don’t want her to sound too human and yet they want her to more and more relatable and human and as she hangs out w ith the kids so it’s been a challenging balance to kind of be disconnected and be connected if that makes any sense. So it’s been a interesting challenge for her.
E. Ortiz: What can you tell us about the final episode of Kaijudo (airing December 15)?
Kari Wahlgren: We can’t say too much with the final episode coming up bu they did a good job of wrapping up certain things and planting just enough teasers that if the show continues, there can be some pretty juicy things coming up in future episodes. That’s about all I can say!
E. Ortiz: You have voiced so many characters. Is there character you haven’t played that you would love to voice in the future?
Kari Wahlgren: I am a big Birds of Prey fan. I love the graphic novels. If they ever do a Birds of Prey cartoon… Black Canary, I think, would be on my secret wishlist of characters that I would like to play.
E. Ortiz: What about Birds of Prey do you love the most?
Kari Wahlgren: I love Gail Simone. I make no secret of the fact that Gail Simone is a great writer, one the finest writers for female superheroes. With Birds of Prey, I can tell when another writer took over because I think Gail Simone just captures the voice of female characters so well, in a way that’s smart, in a way that’s funny. I’m a big fan of her writing.
E. Ortiz: Did you know that recently that DC Comics has let Gail Simone go from writing Batgirl?
Kari Wahlgren: I don’t think she will ever get hurt for work. And I’m excited to check out her other titles that other people have recommended to me. I’m sure I will be following the many things she has written and soon to write.
