Lori Alan - Episode 416

Steve Cooper talks with actor Lori Alan. Lori is perhaps best known for her award-winning voice-over work. Recently honored by her peers at the First Annual Voice Arts Awards (the Academy Awards for Voice-Overs) she took first-place prizes for Outstanding Body Of Work and Outstanding National Television Commercial. She starred as Diane Simmons on Family Guy, Pearl the Whale on SpongeBob: Squarepants, and Sue Richards, The Invisible Woman, on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, among many other fantastic animated roles (Monster's University, Toy Story 3, Despicable Me 2, WALL.E, Henry Hugglemonster, Metal Gear Solid, Cow and Chicken, Animaniacs, and Futurama) and a long, successful commercial career. She also has firm roots in theatre, where she's thrived for over three decades. She most recently mounted a smash solo show, Lori Alan: The Musical, and appeared alongside Paul Reubens in The Pee-Wee Herman Show. Of her role as Queen Celia in the hit musical Sneaux!, Backstage West proclaimed, "Lori Alan might give Carol Burnett pause!" She originated the role of Mae in the award-winning musical Reefer Madness, a performance that earned raves from Kenny Morse of CBS Radio, who called her "a standout whose talent will take her very far". On TV from roles on the gripping Showtime drama Ray Donovan, to the hilarious Comedy Central gem Workaholics, to the deliciously naughty Desperate Housewives, her energy and natural essence flow effortlessly from genre to genre. A true character actress in every sense of the word, when Lori speaks, the world listens. She delves deeply into her material, emerging with the power to make the audience laugh and cry in the same moment. Her television career has flourished with appearances on Bones, Southland, CSI, 90210, Law and Order (both LA and the original), and every other show imaginable.