What is Sisu like? She’s the last dragon in a world where dragons, once the great protectors of humans, no longer exist. The world has been overrun by this evil force. But Sisu is hilarious. She’s not what you think of as majestic in any way. She also has a human form, but Sisu basically doesn’t understand why humans don’t trust other humans. Is trust a major theme of the movie? Trust and unity, for sure. When we don’t accept or trust the help of others, and we don’t really come together, bad things happen. So Raya [Kelly Marie Tran] joins Mulan, Tiana and Jasmine as the next Disney princess. What’s cool about Raya as a Disney princess is that she’s a warrior. I think that our definition of what constitutes not just a Disney princess, but any princess, is changing. When I was young and I saw [Aladdin’s] Princess Jasmine and Mulan, those are things that really resonated for me, whether I was aware of it or not. Those images are really important. What makes Raya special? I think Raya is very special because she is someone who really is taking care of herself. And then there’s Namaari, Gemma Chan’s character—these are two extremely strong women. For me to watch them, it’s almost crazy how not often you see that and that plays to this really unique relationship. Especially when it comes to the representation aspect of it, of two women. Namaari, in a sense, is the person who’s up against Raya. There’s a fight scene that just really struck me when I saw it. It’s two strong women, both bad and good, or however you want to define that. It’s very, very striking. This is a story about a land divided, so it seems to really speak to 2020/2021. I would totally agree with that. It’s amazing how films, no matter what genre, can encapsulate really honest truths about our world through the eyes of a different one. As we were recording it, I did often get emotional. Even if it was only me and the director, it is telling, because it shows a world where it is divided and no one wants for anything from each other. I think when you have that kind of mentality, I don’t think good things happen. Disney is always a place of make-believe, and a place where you want to escape and be happy. I think for this movie, the message is definitely one that rings truer than you’d think. Is this something that you wish you could have watched as a young girl? Is it exciting the direction Disney is taking? One hundred percent. I grew up on every Disney movie. I had my whole VHS corner, so to be a part of it today and to also see what they’re doing, the accountability and the authenticity that they work really hard to capture, I think it’s great. As a child, I would have loved to see something like this for sure. The team actually went to Southeast Asia to several countries to get the right feel for the film before starting this. Definitely. Knowing that, and also knowing all the work of the consultants that came on, it’s clear that the intent of the producers was to tell the story right and with as much respect to those cultures as possible, which is always obviously great when you go into a project like that. Disney is famous for capturing some of the essence of the person who is doing the voice for a character. Does Sisu resemble you? The way that Disney works is absolutely incredible. I always noticed that there were cameras when I would record, but what they would do is Sisu looks like me, even as a dragon. It’s the smile. So that was very bizarre but also really, really cool. I was like, “You guys are crazy.” But it’s awesome because when you play live action roles, for instance, you obviously lend a piece of yourself to that because you’re your actual self. But in an animation sense, it’s really cool to see a piece of you. This isn’t your first voice work. What do you find enjoyable about it? I think the main thing is just showing up in really whatever. You can show up in a Snuggie if you want. So, in that way, it’s nice and it’s easy, but it’s also not at the same time. It is challenging and there’s always a part of it that it brings you back to a place where it’s like a childlike sensibility. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s a really different medium. During the pandemic when everything was going into hiatus, voice acting was one of the only things that could still go on. Actors always talk about how acting is reacting, and when you’re in a voice booth, it’s pretty much just you and the director, and you’re watching the scene, right? It always varies. Sometimes one comes after the other, so maybe the animation exists already. But what’s great about it is that in my experience with animated stuff, they’ve always let me go off and take my liberties with it. Go off script, things like that. And then they’ll animate to that. I think that’s cool, but it is a different experience. It still is reactive, because usually you have someone talking to you, but not always do you have images. So, it is different in that way. What’s next? What are you busy with? I’m in L.A. now, but I’m about to head to New York to start prep on season two of Nora From Queens. I had just gotten back from Vancouver, where I was doing a movie, and then before that I was in Australia for a couple months, filming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. So it’s been a lot of moving around, but I’m really excited for this.
