When it comes to voice acting in the world of anime, there are a handful of names that come to mind; such as J. Micheal Tatum, Crispin Freeman, Tia Ballard, Steve Blum, and many others. Tonight, we at D&A Anime Blog are doing a special Filler Post series about the very people who do the very voices we love from anime, and non-anime titles. This series is known as D&A Voice Actor Spotlight!

If you’re familiar with old school classics like Case Closed or Ghost Stories, then your already on the right track. When it comes to anime voice acting, you’ve heard and seen this name in almost (if not) every anime title that’s out here in the world, on the internet, on your anime DVD/Blu-Ray copy, and if you’re not careful…in your head! ADV Films, Bang Zoom Entertainment, and FUNimation are just a few places that echo her name. With 300+ characters to her title as well as 15+ years in the VA biz, this is one magnificent woman that you have got to meet before you die. (We’re hoping and praying we get the chance to.) Ladies and gentlemen, our voice actor for the evening…is Monica Rial.

Straight outta H-Town, Texas this awesome lady was born October 5, 1975. Her father is from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain and as a young soon-to-be-voice-actress, her family would visit Spain often. Her voice acting inspirations came from shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and of course Beavis and Butt-head. In 1998 Monica did her first voice acting roles as Dr. Bruno and Magistrate in an anime comedy/fantasy title called Those Who Hunt Elves. Later on she would land some main character roles in anime titles like Generator Gawl, Gasaraki, Princess Nine, and Excel Saga.

Now you can hear her in titles like Negima!, Shuffle, Soul Eater, Cat Planet Cuties, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, High School DxD (Season 1), Shimoneta, and a whole bunch of others that would take too long for us to list. Two of the 300+ characters she voiced were Hispanic (and so is she), and was happy that her characters weren’t stereotyped. There’s rumored to be a grandma voice somewhere in one of her future characters, so we’ll just have to wait and see when that happens!

Monica has been given the title as the “Queen of the Voices” by her fans due to her vocal range, and is able to voice any female character from 8 years old, to 88 years old. She’s also an ADR script writer and director for many of the anime titles that you love, has done various TV commercials/advertisements, and we also believe she can hold a good note too. (There are a few titles where she sang in her character voice, so perhaps she might make a character mixtape CD some day.)

You can see her at various anime (and some superhero) conventions all across North America, and even a few places in the U.K. and Europe. Monica is a delight to talk to, and will answer a lot of your questions about her characters, her career, and various other things that you’d like to know about her. (As long as it’s PG-ish of course, unless she’s at an 18+ panel, then all bets are off!)

You can follow her on Twitter @Rialisms, and you can also find out where she’ll be in your area (convention-wise) on her website TheMonicaRial.com!