The Big Picture

Ming-Na Wen fell in love with animation through watching Hanna-Barbera and Disney movies, especially enjoying the magic of The Little Mermaid. Voice work in animation brings Wen back to the basics of acting, focusing on storytelling and inflection in the voice to bring characters to life. As an actor, Wen’s process in animation hasn’t changed much since her first voice acting role in Mulan, but she appreciates the evolution and collaboration between 2D and CGI animation.

Throughout her career, actor Ming-Na Wen has been a consistent presence on-screen, not only in a variety of live-action projects, but in animation as well. Beginning in 1998 with Disney’s Mulan, Wen has lent her voice to a wide range of animated films and series, making her uniquely qualified to narrate the new documentary film Pencils vs. Pixels, which chronicles the history and evolution of the animation industry. Featuring a who’s-who of animation industry heavyweights including Glen Keane, John Musker, Pete Docter, Seth MacFarlane, Kevin Smith, and Jorge R. Gutierrez just to name a few, the film examines the shift from hand-drawn animation to computer-generated images, through the eyes of the animators and creators that lived through the seismic shift.

In this one-on-one interview with Collider’s Arezou Amin, Wen talks about her history with the animation medium, the difference in the acting process, and she weighs in on whether the performance aspect changed as the industry evolved. They also talked about the most surprising revelation in Pixels vs. Pencils and whether Fennec Shand will ever make a comeback.

COLLIDER: Nice to speak to you again! Jumping into Pencils vs Pixels, there is this moment where the animators are talking about their eureka moment that really made them fall in love with the medium of animation, and I want to know if you had a eureka moment with animation.

MING-NA WEN: Oh my gosh, that’s too many years ago. I’ve always loved comic strips so I’m trying to think of the first time I really fell in love. I’m gonna have to say Hanna-Barbera. Bugs Bunny was one of my favorite characters, and I used to love Fred Flintstone. Oh, and all the Christmas specials like Frosty the Snowman! So I would think it was that era when I was a kid where I just fell in love with animation. Then I think the resurgence of Disney when The Little Mermaid came out, that was when my mind was blown.

Image via Strikeback Studios

As a performer and as a storyteller, what is it that draws you to animation in terms of voice work?

WEN: It brings me back to the basics of acting. I was trained in theater and a lot of times we would do rehearsals in what’s called a black box. No costumes, nothing, it’s just boxes for furniture and a tree or anything you want. You imagine things in an empty space. That’s kind of animation for me. You go into a booth, you have the words, and it’s pure. It’s all about storytelling, it’s all about the inflection in the voice and how you relate to the character at its very core, and trying to just bring it out in the voice. I love that whole process. Then the surprise element, like in those home improvement shows and the big reveal, to me that’s animation. We work years and years on a project, and I see little bits and pieces of the animation, but then when you go to the premiere and you see it all put together, it’s the most magical, transformative experience for an actor. The collaboration and the artistry are spectacular.

Do you find going from this black box theater context now to animation, which is often very solitary, creates an extra hurdle, or does the story and the direction all kind of compensate for not having the other actors in there with you necessarily?

WEN: I mean, there are pros and cons to it, for sure, but I’ve done it for so long now that I’ve kind of forgotten the cons. If you have a great director and the character is on the page, it’s just fun. I never get tired of it, and I love taking one line and doing it five different ways. It’s just the best indulgent acting exercise that you could imagine for an actor. It’s so much fun.

From your perspective, because, obviously, Mulan, Final Fantasy, and then more recently, Gremlins [Secrets of the Mogwai] and Blue Eye Samurai, this is spanning a couple of decades of working in animation as an actor. The documentary talks a lot about how it’s changed for the animator, but I’m curious how, or if, the process has really changed for you from your perspective.

WEN: It doesn’t change for the actor. Pretty much since day one, I went into a recording booth for Mulan. Mulan was my first venture into voice acting. Watching this documentary, I knew a little bit about it just from the context of the lines I had to say, but listening to the animators and hearing their stories and their experiences and how some animators couldn’t adapt to CGI and sort of lost their way a bit, and then having 2D reemerge as old-becoming-something-new, and then bringing back those 2D artists, that made me so happy. I think there is definitely an evolution of the two forms being able to work well together.

Image via Strikeback Studios

Having watched the documentary now, was there something about the history of animation or the process of animation that took you completely by surprise?

WEN: One was what one of the Bancroft brothers said about the budget and the time, that it is not the same. That surprised me quite a bit. I always thought with CG, it becomes a faster thing, but there is a lot of work in having to input all that information, as well. But for me, I’ll always just love 2D, in the sense that every stroke is bringing the soul and the personality of the artist into the art piece. I don’t think any amount of computation can really make the essence of the characters.

As we wrap up, as somebody who is a massive fan of your work, I would like to know what is coming up next for you. I very selfishly want to ask when Fennec Shand is coming back, but I know that’s not something you can answer.

WEN: I want her to come back now!

Please! Who do I have to call? Who do I have to write letters to?

WEN: Yeah, start the petition, please! I don’t know. You know, we just ended the strike, and I will be ready and excited to put on my three-layered leather outfit and be Fennec. I miss being her. Yes, very much. But right now, I’m just working on a cookbook and developing a couple of projects.

Pencils vs. Pixels is available to purchase now on digital platforms. Check out the trailer below: