We had the opportunity once again to sit down with the amazing Elysia Rotaru! Her career has been quite prosperous in the last few years since we last spoke and she is here to catch us up on it all. Please enjoy!! Here is the link to our first chat with her (LINK)!
Meet Elysia Rotaru, FIFA’s Beatrice Villanova
Hi Elysia! It’s been a while since you last talked with us here at Don’t Forget a Towel and it’s exciting to be able to catch up and talk again. At that time, you were just about to start your role on Arrow and now the show is going on its final season. Also, very funny that we connected on social media not to long ago and discussed She-Hulk, only to be offered another chance to chat! So let’s get to it, shall we?!
Elysia: You got it!
DFAT: Could you catch us up on what’s going on in your career currently?
Elysia: Well it’s been an amazing adventure this year. I split my time between LA and Vancouver and have been a busy bee with wonderful work opportunities in both countries and in different fields, from on-camera to voice-overs, video games, comic cons, producing, etc. I actually just flew back from a fun commercial shoot that took place in the Canadian Rocky Mountains – it’s a winter wonderland up there.
DFAT: Wow that all sounds exciting, what great opportunities to travel and do what you love! When it comes to your voice-over experiences, what has been your favorite so far? If you had your choice what would be your dream job when it comes to lending your vocal talents?
Elysia: I worked on a really rad project that is coming out in the next year or so and voice a pretty cool character. As usual I am not able to share any details yet, but I’m really excited about this one. I had the pleasure of working with a marvelous director who I have wanted to work with for years and the story is part of a universe a lot of us are very familiar with.
Regarding my dream VO job, it would be working on Big Mouth, Archer, and Robot Chicken. Being part of an animated feature and a fun ensemble, making magic happen would be wonderful.
DFAT: I really hope that someday you can make those dreams a reality as it would be fun to see you be a part of those great shows! Let’s jump over to your video game experiences. You’ve been involved on a few different titles such as the FIFA series, Anthem, Crackdown 3 and numerous others. What is it like recording for a video game versus recording for a show? What has been your favorite video game to be a part of? Are you a football/soccer fan?
Elysia: Video games are definitely a different beast. They vary in what might be required from the actor, some games are mobile games and there is no Pcap (performance capture ) needed. So for some mobile games I’ve worked on such as Nintendo’s “Dragalia Lost”, I’m in the booth laying down the voices with an image of the character(s) and getting all the information from the director, game team, etc…and it’s just like conducting VO as a prelay session for an animated show. I have found, and this is all game dependent, the sessions can fly by as the lines are shorter and need to be said in very specific ways and within a certain amount of time.
One of my all time favorite games I have worked on would have to be Anthem. I was reunited with a director and team who were part of helping me break into the video game Pcap world and it was the first game/project I worked on when I got my 01 Visa.
DFAT: I really love how immersive games have become and the use of mo-cap has only made them feel more real! What video game projects do you have coming up that you can share with us?
Elysia: You’ll be able to hear me in Nintendo’s Dragalia Lost as Corsaint Phoenix and Kristy. All the others are in development and I gotta keep my lips sealed.
DFAT: Looking forward to checking them out! Do you play video games? If so, what is your favorite?
Elysia: I do have to confess…I am not a gamer. 🙁 But if I had time, it might be good old Mario Kart and Red Dead Redemption, and of course all the games myself and my friends are in.
DFAT: It’s never to late to pick up a controller! Let’s switch gears, your YouTube project, ‘Field Trip’, could you share your experience putting that together and what it’s all about?
Photo Cred: Farrah Aviva
Elysia: Field Trip is still a work in progress, but ideally I want to shoot little behind the scenes travel videos of all the places I visit for work (or sometimes pleasure) and show off the town/city and work in collaboration with local videographers, photographers, make-up and hair teams, and other local businesses to make the most of a 32 to 72 hour stay in their part of the world and have a little memento of that adventure. It’s been awhile since I’ve made one as I self produce them and it’s challenging to focus on all the logistics involved alongside my work. So at the moment I put it on pause, and hope to pair up with a team that can help grow the project.
DFAT: I love those kind of shows and I would love to watch yours when it comes available. Finally today before we depart, what advice can you give to our readers that may be interested in getting into voice acting?
Elysia: If you’re an on-camera actor transitioning to VO or just someone starting from scratch in the biz, take a good VO class! It’s key to learn mic technique and know how the whole VO machine works. And then I can’t not stress this enough…get really comfortable in your body! Take a dance class, pilates, movement class, signing class and start educating yourself on the anatomy of the body. I believe the more knowledge you have about that, the more you can start to push yourself and expand your range vocally and create characters. And also learn to love your sound. You really need to be confident and comfortable with who you are in the booth. There’s no makeup and hair and costumes to hide behind, it’s you, the mic, and a room full of supportive and creative people wanting to hear you have a blast.
DFAT: AMAZING! Thank you so much Elysia for chatting with us once again and we are very much looking forward to checking out your upcoming projects!
