Cthulhu or Cthuwu: An Interview Voice Actor with Corina Boettger

Corina Boettger is both a voice actor whose voice you might recognize from anime such as One-Punch Man (Tatsumaki), Love Live! (Anju Yuki), Dino Girl Gauko (Naoko), and many others. Gamers have probably heard their voice in Genshin Impact (Paimon), Ai: The Somnium Files (Mizuki), Tower of Fantasy (Fenrir), as well as several more. They were recently a guest at Anime Los Angeles in Long Beach, CA and we were lucky enough to arrange an interview at the event! We discussed what got them into acting in general, some hilarious fan interactions, and advice for those trying to get their start in voice acting! There's a lot here for both fans, and those discovering them for the first time. Read on and perhaps follow Corina on social media for more!

A-to-J: Thank you for the interview. For those who may not know you, could you please give an introduction and tell us a little bit about yourself?
Corina: Yeah. Hi, my name is Corina Boettger. I am the English voice of Paimon in Genshin Impact, Mizuki in AI: The Somnium Files, Tatsumaki in One-Punch Man and many, many, many, many more.
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A-to-J: How did you get your start in voice acting?
Corina: I got my start in acting in general because I watched the movie The Mask and I was obsessed with Jim Carrey. So, I went to my parents and said: “I figured out what I want to be when I grow up and I wanna be Jim Carrey!”  My parents said: “Well, you can’t be Jim Carrey. Okay, you want to be an actor like Jim Carrey.”  I responded: “No, you said I could be whatever I wanted when I grow up and I want to be Jim Carrey!” After a whole meltdown because my parents had to explain I can’t just turn into another person when I grew up and I had decided they had lied to me, and how dare they lie to their child! I conceded that an actor is close enough. They put me in community theater, and after my first performance I was like: “Okay, yeah, I do want to do this for the rest of my life.” At that point, my mom sat me down and we had a conversation about what it meant for me to do this as a job and the harsh truths of it: How hard it was probably going to be, that it might not actually go anywhere and I said: “I at least want to try.” So, we went from there. I booked my first professional theater job when I was 8 years old and I booked my first voice over job too. I did a promo for a game for PAX, I think it was. I don’t exactly remember because I was 8 at the time. I didn’t know what was going on except that I was acting, and that’s all that I cared about. So that’s kind of how that all started.

A-to-J: Do you have a favorite role or character that you have played?
Corina: They’re all my babies. I love them all.
A-to-J: If you have don’t have a favorite, that’s okay.
Corina: I don’t have a singular favorite because I love them all for different reasons: Paimon is stupid and I loved that. Mizuki is the badass person I've always wanted to be. I was a character that was super small in Love Live! [Anju Yuki] and I love her just because she was my first named, recurring character. She was barely in the show, but I love her for that. It’s really hard to just pick on because I like them all for different reasons.
A-to-J: Do you have any favorite lines from any of the characters you’ve voiced?  
Corina: The most recent one for Paimon is: [Paimon voice] “[gasp] They were roommates!” I did improv that and got it in the game.

A-to-J: That's amazing. We understand that you also stream on Twitch?
Corina: I do. Actually, it’s more YouTube now, but yes.
A-to-J: What kind of things do you enjoy streaming?
Corina: I enjoy streaming stuff I’m in, but I also like to stream some random stuff to play with my friends and other castmates. Like we do the Among Us streams. I did Pico Park with Erika Harlacher, Sarah Miller-Crews and Christie Cate not too long ago, and that was super fun because it was crazy. Stuff like that I really like doing.

A-to-J: Do you have any advice for people who aspire to become voice actors themselves?
Corina: Classes, classes, classes! Practice also helps. If you’re trying to save up the money for classes, absolutely open up a book and read it out loud. Look up on YouTube how to properly take care of your voice so that way you’re using it properly. And then, also, if you’re going to practice on your own, make sure that the minute your voice hurts you stop doing whatever you’re doing, because that means you’re doing it wrong. That’s super important because your voice is an instrument, and your voice doesn’t recover like the rest of your body. You can lose parts of your voice if you do it wrong. The minute it starts hurting, stop doing it, and don’t do it again. Do play around with your voice, see what you can do, just with that caveat.  
I used to practice when I was a kid by playing Ocarina of Time and voicing all the characters in it. I would give each region a different accent, affect or anything like that and seeing if I could stick with it. Then, as I said, classes are super important. You want to start saving your money at least and try taking as many classes as possible, because that’s the best way to network to get into the industry. A lot of my friends in the industry I met through classes. Classes can also get you in front of a lot of people. Teachers are fantastic people to have on your resume. Especially when you’re starting out, you might think you don’t have anything to put on your resume, but yes you do. You have your classes. Classes count as experience. It’s just like when you go in for a regular job, you put down your college experience. That counts, so put down your classes, the teacher, and what you learned in that class. They do look at that. I know that I have specifically gotten auditions because I took classes at the Groundlings, which is an improv house. I specifically get called for auditions just because that is on my resume. I’ve also gotten auditions because I’ve taken a whole lot of classes with Charlie Adler. Just having that on your resume helps you so much so classes do count.
In those classes, you’re going to meet people who are hopefully one day going to be your coworkers and your peers. They can also help your network. Honestly, networking with people already in the industry is hard to do, especially because you’re not in the industry yet, so network with the people you’re taking classes with because once they get an audition they’ll be like: “Hey! You’re my friend and you also fit this voice type! I’ll ask if you can audition too!” That’s how you branch in. It’s a lot of doing the hard work, making really good friends, and making them honestly. It’s not that my friends are ever a stepping stone. We are friends, and we also happen to be in the same industry.  
Then, there’s also people I’m not necessarily friends with, but they’re my coworkers and I respect them and they respect me. We’ve been in a lot of classes together and they know that I’m good. So, they might be like: “You’re not my friend, but I know you’re good so here’s this audition.” It’s not even a friend thing. As long as you’re super honest about who you are, and who you are friends with, people like honesty especially in this industry. That’s the best way to network: in classes, and with your fellow students you’re taking classes with. I’ve known Zeno Robinson for over ten years and that’s because we took Charlie Adler classes together. He’s one of my best friends and we help each other all the time. So, “Practice, Practice, Practice!” Yes, but also save up your money to take those classes.

A-to-J: Speaking of classes, you offer classes too right? [#NotSponsored]
Corina: I do offer classes and they’re also online, so you don’t even have to be in Los Angeles for them. If you go to my website (corinaboettger.com), there is a portion that talks about classes and how to sign up for them. I try to keep them as inexpensive as possible, but I hold them on the weekends. When you take one class of mine you get to join a student Discord where I offer a lot of stuff that I’ve written up. I also put in classes from other teachers that I recommend in there. Also, my partner is a sound engineer. He’s in that Discord as well and he answers all the questions about equipment and what would fit your budget. Because equipment is not cheap, but at least we can make it as inexpensive as possible, and get you to a point where you stuff is still professional and can hold up to work in this career.

A-to-J: What are some of your upcoming plans after ALA?
Corina: My plan is to go and summon Cthulhu. That’s my plan. Probably in Vegas when we go for Kayli’s bachelorette party.  
A-to-J: Was it Cthulhu or Cthuwu? 
Corina: Cthulhu.
A-to-J: Okay but we should also summon Cthuwu.
Corina: Yeah, Cthuwu too.  
A-to-J: Both of them.
Corina: They’re cousins: Cthuwu and Cthulhu. Yeah, debauchery. That’s my plan for after AX... I mean ALA. Where am I? What am I doing? 
A-to-J: I used to think ALA and AX were the same thing before I moved to LA.
Corina: Well, that’s fair.

A-to-J: Do you happen to have any funny stories you can share that happened at an anime convention? 
Corina: So, it was actually at this convention, ALA. For real, actually ALA not AX. I was here with my friend and coworker Jackie Lastra. She was having a signing so she looked all fancy and professional. I was just there as a guest, so I was in a fox kigurumi. I was basically wearing my pajamas all day and I may or not have drank a lot of drinks that I like to call "Aged Water" that have a special effect when you drink enough of them. Jackie had just finished her signing and she was walking towards us. As she was walking towards us I found this cosplayer for Saitama from One-Punch Man. At the time I had just gotten to announce that I was Tatsumaki. I went up to him and said: “Can I take a picture with you because I voice Tatsumaki?”  He was like: “What? You do? That’s crazy! No way!” Then he went to his friend and Jackie joined us.
At that point apparently the Saitama cosplayer told his friend: “That person over there voices Tatsumaki.” Of course he thought the very professional looking Jackie Lastra was her voice actor because I’m in a kigurumi at the point, and I look terrible. So the guy comes up to Jackie and was like: “I love you!” No context. Nothing. And she was like: “What?” He was like: “You voice Tatsumaki in One-Punch Man, right?” Jackie tells him: “Oh, no. That’s not me.” and she points towards me and I’m like: “Hi!” and I’m in this kigurumi. He’s like: “Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” I’m like: “It’s cool, I get it. I do not look like a professional right now.”

A-to-J: That’s is a great story! So, where can fans go to learn more about you?
Corina: On my website (corinaboettger.com). Also, I have a TikTok which I highly suggest not following me on because I’m a menace on it. It’s mostly videos of my birds [more childish voice] because I have two of them, and they’re terrible, and I love them. They’re terrible creatures and I love them so much.
A-to-J: They share a brain cell.
Corina [normal voice]: Honestly, I don’t think the other one has a brain cell. It’s Dumb and Dumberer for real. So, TikTok is @corinaboettger. My Twitter at @thebirdzulu which is one of my birds’ names. My Instagram is @corina.boettger. That’s all the stuff you can find me on.

A-to-J: And lastly, can you give a closing message to your fans?
Corina: Thank you all for being avid supporters of Cthulhu. We’ve worked hard on this and we will summon him at one point. I promise.

We'd like to thank Corina Boettger for the interview and we strongly encourage everyone to check out their work and follow their social media via the links below. As always, keep an eye out for more from Corina in the future! Also, special thanks to Anime Los Angeles for this opportunity!

For More Information On Corina Boettger:
Website: https://www.corinaboettger.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebirdzulu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corina.boettger/
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/corinaboettger​
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@corinaboettger

The above interview was conducted by Molly Ring, with assistance by Manuel Figueroa and photography by Ivan Aburto. Transcription by Jeffery Kelly.