I have to admit.  Sometimes I feel like I have multiple personalities.  Back in the 80′s when we were working on tons of weird Japanese animation projects, we didn’t have a contract with the union.  It wasn’t until Robotech came along that we realized that maybe we should protect ourselves and most of us came up with fake names.  Mine was Reba West.  For some reason it stuck.  Just last week I attended a screening for a documentary we made at Harmony Gold as a tribute to Carl Macek, the brains behind Robotech.  I was credited as Reba West and signed some autographs with that name.

I always feel kind of funny doing that because it’s not my real name.  Rebecca Forstadt is my true moniker.  Reba is derived from Rebecca and West was the name my grandmother used when she was a headliner in vaudeville in the 1920′s.  (Mirium West)  She was 16 at the time.

After we were able to create a decent contract, I went back to Rebecca Forstadt.  Unfortunately, our contract hasn’t changed much in the last 25 years, so it’s not as decent as it was back then.  It’s odd because dubbing requires much more technical skill than doing original animation.  We are hoping to up the ante, but it doesn’t look good considering that anime projects are not making the billions they used to when Haim Saban got rich doing Power Rangers.   (which I also worked on)  He did honor our contract though and I have to say, those were the good old days.   Internet downloading has taken it’s toll on the industry in general but especially with dubbing work.

That’s OK though.  Life goes on.  I think at the next anime convention I attend I will have to have a T shirt made saying “My name really isn’t Reba West.”  (Sounds kind of like a country singer to me. . . LOL)

Thank you to all the fans who came out for the documentary screening.  It was lots of fun, the food was excellent and it was great to see everyone all dressed up.   Here’s a picture a fan took and put on Facebook.

Darn, where is photo shop when you need it?

This will be fun. I’ve been asked to be a guest voice actor at PMX in November to talk about my role as Mihoshi in Tenchi Muyo.  I hope you can make it too.  It takes place in November 2011 in Pasadena, CA.

I hear they will be doing a roast of veteran anime voice actor Mike Reynolds.  I once had the pleasure of holding a conversation with him as Naomi the Cockroach in Twilight of the Cockroaches to his talking turd.

Watch below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I did this fun interview the other day for 91.8 The Fan

I hope you enjoy it.  It goes into depth about my infamous voice acting career that has spanned over 30 years.

You can also CLICK HERE to access the recording

I love this image they created for me too.

I apologize that I haven’t written in my voice over  actor blog for a while.  I have been writing and working on a ton of blogs.  Not all mine.  I discovered the geek in me and now help others install and configure their WordPress blogs.   I was also out of town for about 6 weeks in Rhode Island taking care of parents.  But now I’m back and looking to get connected again.  I’m still coming up high in Google under anime voice actor thanks to all of you out there.

I am hoping that with the terrible tragedy that happened in Japan, that the anime industry will be able to come back.  I’m so glad my son, who was stationed in Okinawa left right before it all happened.  A day before he left there was a category 4 typhoon.  The area of the world does not have it easy.  My daughter had also been there to visit and spent a week in Tokyo.  Pheww!

Whatever happens I know a bunch of you out there have dreams about becoming a voice actor.  I’d love to take any questions you may have about voice acting and answer them for you.  Leave your questions in the comment section and I will get back to you asap.  Let me know what you want to know about.

I’d also be happy to autograph stuff for you.  Check out the donation box in the sidebar.  Cover the costs of shipping and I will send your stuff back to you.  Or, go to my autograph page.

I checked my Rebecca Forstadt Voice Actor Fan page yesterday on Facebook and a fan had made a pretty cool Robotech video.  Check it out.  Jason writes

For all the Robotech fans, This is my resolution to the question of “where is the SDF2?” I made many composites, new scenes and an enriched sound fx bed. Dedicated in memory of Carl Macek.

Lisa launches SDF2 from jaesonk on Vimeo.