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Show Layton grad wishes upon star and becomes one By Bryan Potts, TV Preview Editor “When you wish upon a Star...,” is the theme of the Walt DisneyCo. whose roots began in Hollywood, but if you want to make it in that town, it takes much more than wishing. Just ask Layton High graduate adopted daughter of Darkwing Duck, in the new Disney animated action-adventure series. “T was so thrilled to be working with Disney,” she says, “They wouldn’t have to pay me to do cartoonsit’s so much fun.” Cavanaugh, the former Christine Sandberg, is an actress who has recently made a name for herself in commercials and animation voiceover since her arrival in Los Angeles. She has done regional commercials for Farmers Insurance, 7Eleven, McDonalds and is also the TVvoice of Cathy, the popular comic strip character seen in the Standard-Examiner comic section. Her voice also is featured in an upcoming national television ad for Toyota. The lessons she has learned on the road to success can help others hoping to follow her footsteps on the path to fame and fortune. “Coming from Utah I was never sure I was going to make money at acting. Now I am sure I will,” says Cavanaugh. “There are a lot of avenues in this business, you just need to find the ones that work for you.” Her father forced her to learn to type, that way she would always have something to fall back on in © The Wait Disney Co. Christine Cavanaugh who stars as the voice of Gosalyn Mallard, the Darkwing Duck and Gosalyn, his adopted daughter,fight the forces of evil in Disney's “Darkwing Duck.” The animated show can be seen weekdays at 4:30 p.m. on KXIV and Saturday mornings on KTVX at 7 a.m. tough times. She went to Los the Disney team, she realized how Angeles, where her husband was from, and enrolled in acting school. “Down here, there are hundreds where the writing is incredible” says of schools, it took me two years to discern between the good and the not so good.” She emphasizes “In this city you have to be careful about the people you are influenced Cavanaugh, “Each voice-over ses- by and associate with.” Cavanaugh answered an ad for a UCLA graduate student film that launched her voice-over career. She later worked as an actress in other films for the graduate program. “The contacts I made at UCLA became invaluable as these people advanced in the film industry.” She used hertyping skills to land a jeb at Carson Productions, Johnny Carson’s production company. From there, she met Don Pitts of the Joseph, Heldfond and Rix Talent Agency. The agency handled Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck ), Paul Winchell (Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger), Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Quickdraw McGraw) and other legendary voice-over artists. Pitts’ firstrate company opened the door for Cavanaugh to important producers including Tad Stones with Disney’s Layton High graduate Christine | Cavanaugh is the voice of Gosalyn | in Disney's “Darkwing Duck.” 24 much work went into each show. “T am in a high-quality show, “Darkwing Duck.” The introduction paid off as she landed the job as Gosalyn. Once she began production with sion lasts about four hours. Thenit takes between five and 12 months to finish an episode. The shows viewers see today, I completed the voice- over work one to 1 1/2 years ago.” Cavanaugh says working on “Darkwing Duck,” is definitely a team experence and this team has a host of talented artists. Jim Cum- mings, who plays Darkwing Duck, Herb Muddlefoot and Negaduck, is also King Louie in “Talespin” and he plays six characters in “Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers.” Dan Castellaneta who stars as Megavolt, the living battery, is the voice of Homer Simpson and has used his voice in more than 100 commercials. Doing a 9-year-old girl is a differ- ent role for Cavanaugh who specializes in sounding like little boys. She is the voice of Chucky in the Nickelodeon cartoon “Rugrats.” Her character Gosalyn is an independent 9-year-old duck who likes sports, gross-out horror films, making mischief and going on adventures with her dad. She usually digs her dad out of the messes he gets into. Besides doing voice-over work, Standard-Examiner Ogden, Utah |