Rey’s story of finding where she belongs and fighting hard for what she believes in has influenced me in more ways than I could have initially imagined. Beforehand, I thought I was more of a Finn-type person (and I’ll be honest, I geeked out watching John Boyega in theaters), but I came to realize I held incredible similarities to my girl Rey. Especially in this social media-driven world, finding one’s place could be considered more difficult than ever. As an artist, that struggle was already real from a very early age; when I was accepted into an arts magnet high school, I realized I was deciding then and there if I really wanted to spend my life performing. By saying yes, I’d put one foot in front of the other year by year and never looked back. During the pandemic, I’d made the radical decision to go at it alone and see what all I could accomplish by auditioning and ultimately voice acting as a career. Though I’d had support from those closest to me I’d never really made it public, and in another sense, I was isolated. Finding a community and family in voiceover, making new connections, and finding new opportunities feels a lot to me like Rey’s journey in finding herself and the people she belongs with.
Adversely, I feel she’s much more opinionated than I am, and I can’t say I’ve experienced living a life completely secluded from other people (thankfully). Finding her voice has taken a lot of study, and it’s like I’m always finding something new about her! Outside of it all, voicing Rey has helped me feel more empowered in my own decisions, and now I only want the happiest of endings for her! Haha, perhaps that’s a bit of bias, but I’ll take it.
