Hey there League of Legends lovers, Maleok here with another Voice Acting interview for this weeks article. I had the privilege of talking to the talented voice of many characters such as: Hagara in "World of Warcraft", Painwheel in "Skullgirls Encore", but most importantly Karma from League itself! Her role as Karma was in fact her very first role in voice over, she tells us what the experience was like and how it changed her.

First off can you tell us who you are and a few of your roles?

Danielle Mcrae: Hi I'm Danielle Mcrae, I am a voice actress. I voice characters in video games and anime such as: "League of Legends" as Karma, Hagara in "World of Warcraft", Painwheel in "Skullgirls Encore", Orba in "Magi: The Kingdom of Magic, and others.

So far what has been your favorite role and why?

Danielle Mcrae: I actually love all of my roles. I put a part of myself into each role that I play. If I had to pick one though I would have to pick Karma because she was my very first role.

Now we know that you officially began with Riot, but how did you begin doing voicework in the first place?

Danielle Mcrae: I've wanted to be a voice actor since I was a little kid, though at the time I didn't know it was called voice acting, I thought it was called voice changing. I used to think that people would go into their garage and record these voices and put them out the next day as finished cartoons, *laughs* I was a weird kid. However I did know that there were voice actors behind each character. I didn't think that characters had a voice of their own, I always wondered who voiced them. I think what really got me into voice over was a weird show called "Charles in Charge" with Scott Baio. It was a live action show which had a scene once which inspired me greatly. The scene was of Scott Baio's mom in the show, she was pretending to be Elvis and she had the whole outfit on while trying to do the voice. I thought that was cool because her voice sounded so different and I liked it. I began to pursue that for a few years, but I started to take a different path in college. I took computer animation for video game character design. I did that for 2 years but eventually gave up because I have massive ADD and couldn't do it. I started taking theater classes after that through a friend, and I also did some voice acting workshops out here in LA. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. I had just got in with a studio and started working after that.

What is the average day of work like for you?

Danielle Mcrae: I had like 5 auditions today actually, though it's usually not that many. Sometimes it will be one audition every few days, or possibly between 1-3 recording sessions depending on how busy the week is. I still have weeks were there is no work, and I spend the time just looking for jobs and putting out my demos. It's just me constantly trying to find work and when I am waiting for responses I'm playing video games. So after my business I kind of forget about the submissions and dealing with the studios or auditions and either play video games or the guitar. Those are my stress relievers.

So you are a gamer, but do you play League of Legends?

Danielle Mcrae: Um YES! Before I got the role of Karma, my friend told me about the game. This was before the game hit it's huge popularity spike, it was slowly getting there. I agreed to play just one match, and I thought I would be done after that. After that I was just like, "Can we play again? Can we play again?", and we ended up playing until like 4 AM the next day. The thing that got me was the idea of just playing one match and now I'm just like, 'You've ruined me". I love this game so much.

So how did you initially get in contact with Riot?

Danielle Mcrae: I was originally approached by a studio called "Bang zoom Entertainment" which does a lot of anime and video game voicework. I just happened to get an audition with them one day. Before I auditioned for Karma I auditioned for 5 other characters: Miss Fortune, Cassiopeia, Irelia, Zyra, and Shyvana. I was just kind of playing around with my childhood when I did the Karma audition. I took inspiration from my two childhood favorites which I merged into one, I thought of Gaia from Captain Planet and Storm from X-men. Luckily they happened to like it.

Karma, "The Enlightened One"

Were you aware of League's scale when you got the job?

Danielle Mcrae: I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I got the job. This was my very first in studio job. So I was nervous anyway because this was my first time in a studio recording but I had no idea how big it was gonna get. I didn't understand that pressure until I started playing it, because I started playing it heavily right after my session.

What was the recording session with Riot like?

Danielle Mcrae: Each session I have with different studios is somewhat the same. Although there are some that stand out a little more to me personally. The session I had with Riot was awesome, the were very cool and casual. We were working with the director because I had to do all of the Ionian chants 3-4 times since it was a different language so that was tricky. They were a lot of fun to work with, it was very easy, or at least it felt easy. I think it was because they are gamers too and they were talking to a fellow gamer. It was almost like a video game strategy, so it was easy in that sense.

Did you like Karma as a character when you read for her?

Danielle Mcrae: I loved her character. When I read her they has a description saying that she was very independent and had a regal personality. I like that a lot, I pointed out some key words to myself and went with that. Then it just came down to the 80's childhood merging with the voice. (Gaia+Storm)

Overall how important do you think working with Riot was to your career?

Danielle Mcrae: At the time I had no idea how important it was or how big the game was or would be. I just wanted to be in a video game, I didn't care which I just one to be in at least one. Being in something like that as my first job was a huge feat on its own. I felt important to me just to get into a video game.

How do you feel knowing that there are 1,000's of people who main Karma and hear your voice daily?

Danielle Mcrae: It's still something I can't get used to. I remember when I first heard Karma in the game I kept thinking that they re-cast me. When I voice some of these characters, I often forget what I sounded like after spending time as that character in that moment. I kinda forget everything that I've done, so when I hear it again I just think, "Woah is that me?".

Is voice over something you think you will be doing for the rest of your life?

Danielle Mcrae: Definitely. I love doing voices even when I am not working in a booth. I talk to my cats sometimes it's weird. I talk to them doing voices until they look at me like, "What are you doing?". (laughs) I love singing as well, so if I'm not voice acting I am playing my guitar and singing. I guess you could say I am in love with anything vocal. I would love to see myself doing this 10, 20, 30 years from now.

Thank you so much for your time Danielle, we absolutely love your work as "The Enlightened One" herself and wish you all the best in all of your future work. We will be looking forward to hearing your talent behind new characters in the future!

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