…and the story….

It turned out great. It’s a 2 page feature article in their Feb/March 2011 issue. But, since it is a local magazine, many of you probably wouldn’t get to see it. So, I’ve reprinted it here so you guys can read it. I’ve also included a link to the magazines digital edition so you can see it as well as the pictures and actual layout. Just click on my name on the cover page.

Enjoy!!!!

Perfectly Poised with a Voice to Remember

by Stephanie Struyck Elgin

She’s your typical teenage girl, so she says.  She goes to school, hangs out with friends at the mall and does her share of chores around the house.  She loves sushi, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and loves to play guitar, sing and read.  But it’s not every day you meet a teenager who has a long list of acting credits to her name, not to mention for her 13th birthday rocked out at The Mint in Los Angeles performing a special tribute to Live Aid.

She’s talented and fun loving Grace Rolek.

You may have seen the outgoing Santa Clarita resident, Grace, on television or in the movies, but chances are, you’ve definitely heard her.  While she has worked in dozens of television shows like Desperate Housewives, The George Lopez Show, Malcom in the Middle, That’s So Raven and NCIS to name a few, along with many motion pictures and commercials since the age of 4, her face is not one you would likely recognize, but rather her voice.

Grace’s voice talent has brought life to a multitude of animated characters, has been heard in dozens of commercials and has sweetened many of your favorite television shows and movies.  Some of her credits include films like Despicable Me, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Horton Hears a Who, and Meet the Robinson’s.  She has also lent a voice to Kung Fu Panda, Secrets of the Furious Five.  “I had a lot of fun working with Jack Black.  He is a very fun guy!” Grace also played Louise in Playhouse Disney’s Lou & Lou Safety Patrol, Nelson on Handy Manny, Molly on Special Agent Oso, and many more.  “I enjoy doing voiceovers.  I can be things that don’t exist in real life- so if I wanted to be a talking animal, I could be a talking animal!” states Grace.

Her latest project will be released on March 29.  Grace has the honor of lending her voice to the classic character of Lucy, in the brand new Peanuts special marking the 60th anniversary of the Charles Schulz comic strip Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.  “My agent had called me and said I had an audition for the character of Lucy.  I had a prior audition a few years back but I was too young for the role.  This time I got the role and I was so excited,” states the actress.   Grace had the opportunity to work with the creator’s son, Craig Schulz, and the talented team of animators and actors.   This was a definite highlight of her career.  “I’m a huge fan of Charlie Brown, and it was an honor for me to play such an iconic character.”

Grace currently wrapped up a project but she’s, as she states with a smile, “sworn to secrecy.”

And while the actress enjoys being busy with work, some of her plans for the future involve forming a rock band.  “I love to sing, and have always loved music on long car drives to and from auditions.”  As a student of the School of Rock, Grace hopes to put out a CD in the future.

With her voice and her talent, there’s no doubt she’s headed for success.

To learn more about Grace, visit www.gracerolek.com.

If you love the Peanuts gang as much as I do, you are going to love this one. I recently had an opportunity to see the finished product with my fellow cast members and it was awesome. I promise to give you guys more details soon but in the meantime here’s a little piece I found posted by David Lambert  at TVShowsOnDVD.com

Linus is pushed to his limits when he learns grandma is coming to visit and plans on ridding him of his childish security blanket. As grandma’s arrival looms closer the Peanuts gang tries to help Linus learn to cope without his fuzzy crutch. Lucy is particular eager to cure Linus’ dependency using her own psychiatric techniques, and while Charlie Brown tries to help he just doesn’t have the heart to see Linus suffer. All the while Snoopy is constantly agitating matters because he wants the blanket for himself. In the end, insightful Linus points out that everyone has their own type of “security blanket” and in life a little security is a valuable thing.

This spring of 2011 we will get a brand-news Peanuts special (the 45th, we believe), “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown. Based on the previous works of Charles M. Schulz, the voice cast includes Austin Lux, Amanda Pace, Trenton Rogers, Grace Rolek, Shane Baumel, Blesst Bowden, Ciara Bravo, and Andy Pessoa. New animations for this production are created by the likes of Craig Schulz (son of Charles), and cartoonist Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine).

The show, whose title is based on a previous story “Happiness is a Warm Puppy, Charlie Brown“, will come out in book form on March 22nd.

Warner Home Video has today announced that the Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brownspecial, billed as an “original movie” on the package cover (see below), is coming home on DVD thisMarch 29th. Unfortunately no Blu-ray version has been mentioned so far, but if that changes we’ll certainly let you know.

UPDATE: Warner has now provided us with pricing on this title, of $19.98 SRP. They’ve sent out rear package art as well, which you can see at the bottom. It show the following list of bonus material:

• Deconstructing Schulz: From Comic Strip to Screenplay – How the Peanuts comic strip was made into a movie
• Happiness Is…Finding the Right Voice – Meet the stellar voice cast
• 24 Frames a Second: Drawing and Animating a Peanuts Movie
• Deleted Scene featuring an introduction by Director Andy Beall

This past weekend, at The Mint in Los Angeles, me and my friends from the School of Rock put on a tribute to one of the greatest rock concerts of all time, Live Aid. The original concert took place on July 13, 1985 at both Wembley Stadium in London England and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and was broadcast live around the world. This whole day musical event featured live performances by some of the worlds’ greatest musical acts ever, including U2, The Who, Elton John and Queen, just to name a few.

Our show was not on as grand a scale but was still pretty epic in it’s own right. We did 25 songs by 25 different artists, all classics, hand picked by our incredible music director Ryan Schiff. And I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank him for being so great and patient with all of us and for helping me to perform on an entirely new level. Thanks Ryan, You Rock!

I, myself, was on 11 of those songs in some capacity. From lead vocals on a few songs to lead guitar on a couple more. From rhythm guitar to background vocals. I even got to play the bass for the first time on “The Reflex” by Duran Duran. It’s actually easier than I thought it would be.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous before I went on stage, but once I got up there, things fell into place. My first song was Bad. No seriously. It was BAD……..by U2.
Follow the link to watch it & decide for yourself.

Then of course, there was “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath. I tried to channel my inner Prince of Darkness. I don’t know if Ozzy would be proud. I might’ve made a mistake or two but I sure had fun. Now my friend Wylie on guitar, I think he was possessed by the spirit of Randy Rhodes. He was definitely shredding that guitar of his. Check it out!

All the songs turned out really good but the ones that stood out in my mind were “Rock & Roll” by Led Zepplin, “She’s Waiting” by Eric Clapton and “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds.

We closed the show with our version of “We Are The World”. The entire cast took the stage and sang together as one. It was a bit crazy at times trying to get the right person in front of the mic but I think we pulled it off. Once, during the harmonies, I actually got goose bumps.

I have to say, that everyone,( Adam, Wylie, Will, Morgan, Max, Samson, Emma, Aaron, Matthew, Genessa, Elijah, Molly, Elodie, Mikey, Peter, Josh, Hayden, Alexandra, Sean Carlo, and last but not least, Sam), did an incredible job. I want to personally thank each and every one of them for being such awesome friends and allowing me to play along side them.

Keep Rockin’

Yep! You heard me right. MEATBALLS. That’s what the weather is like in Swallow falls, where everyday it rains food. One day spaghetti & meatballs, the next day cheeseburgers and fries. You just place your order and next thing you know, ice cream is falling from the sky.

How is it possible? We owe it all to inventor Flint Lockwood and his Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, better known as the F.L.D.S.M.D.F.R.  ( That’s pronounced FLDSMDFR) This miracle machine turns water into food.

But I guess the real credit should go to Judi Barnett, author of the popular childrens book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and to Sony Pictures Animation for bringing it to the big screen in 3D that is so good you can almost taste it.You’ve got to go out and see this movie. It’s awesome.

And I’m not just saying that because I’m in it! But I must admit it was pretty cool seeing my name roll by in the credits in 3D. Which character you may ask? Well, a lot actually. I am the voices of some of the little kids you see throughout the movie. For those of you who go to see it, (and I hope that’s all of you) you can catch me in the scene where we run from our school as giant pancakes fall from the sky or the great ice cream “snowball” fight. Then there’s the scene where it rains turkey legs. Oh and I can’t forget the jelly beans. Just to name a few.I had a blast working on the film and it was even more fun seeing the finished product.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the premiere at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood California. It’s always fun on the red carpet posing for pictures and chatting with friends and fans. Here’s a picture of me on the red carpet. That’s not real food falling from the sky but do you see that yellow tower in the background? Believe it or not, it’s made entirely of Jell-O… Real Jell-O!

I also got to meet and hang out with some of my co-stars from the movie, including Anna Faris, Bruce Campbell, Mr T and James Caan. Be sure to check out my Photo Gallery to see some pictures from the event, (pictures #6-#11) I’d have to say that the highlight for me was getting to visit with Miranda Cosgrove from my new favorite tv show, iCarly. She actually performs the song that plays at the end of the movie called “Raining Sunshine” Check it out here.

Since we didn’t have our own real FLDSMDFR machine, the charity organization Feeding America was also on hand to raise money to help feed hungry families across the country. I’m happy to say that with the help of Sony Pictures, I personally raised $650.

Congratulations to everyone who worked on the film. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the #1 movie in America on it’s opening week.

View the official trailer for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs right here.

It was really quite an incredible experience. Just being in Washington is exciting enough, but hanging out in the Oval Office, drinking lemonade with the president, I got to admit, that’s kind of surreal.

We talked about everything under the sun; from political plans to personal issues and private matters.

I think I asked him some pretty tough questions and some of his answers might surprise you.

My dad videotaped the whole thing for prosperity ( and youtube ) while my mom was in another room teaching The First Lady and the girls some “FunZen” techniques.

The interview went very well. So well in fact, I’ve been asked to come back every month and do more. But in the meantime, you can see the first 3 parts of my exclusive interview with our president, Barack Obama, right here, right now!

Conversations With The President ( Part I )

Conversations With The President ( Part II )

Conversations With The President ( Part III )

If you haven’t figured it out already, Conversations With The President, is my new series of comedy spoofs made exclusively for the web. In each 3 minute webisode, you’ll see me ask the president some not so typical interview questions and you’ll hear some really off the wall responses from the man himself.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a big supporter of Barack Obama and all he is trying to do for our country. This is a comedy spoof and nothing more.  So relax and lighten up. It’s meant to be fun.

I hope you enjoy them and I’d love to hear what you think. So check’em out and tell your friends.

Until next time….

After months of waiting and waiting, the anticipation is finally over. Now that the “panda” is out of the bag, I guess I can let you in on some privileged information.

So, what is this big secret, you might ask.

Why, The Secrets Of The Furious Five, of course!

If you didn’t already know, Kung-Fu Panda was one of the biggest movies of the year. Today it was released on DVD. It includes a bonus disc that is loaded with awesome extra features. One of which is the new animated short film entitled The Secrets Of The Furious Five. And I’m in it.

My friend, Jack Black, returns as Po, the legendary kung-fu panda. In this installment, he faces one of his most difficult challenges; teaching a group of rambunctious young bunnies the “secrets” that made the Furious Five martial arts legends. Through a series of flashbacks, the students learn that kung-fu is more than just punching and kicking. They learn valuable lessons like patience, control and courage.

I play the part of Shy Bunny. (She’s the cute one with the orange belt.) With the help of Po, Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five, my character learns an important lesson in confidence. For a short film, it packs a big message. And even though I may have a small part, the experience has been huge.

I saw the film today for the first time at the premiere in Hollywood at the world famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. That place is awesome. Maybe one day I’ll be putting my hand prints in that cement. Besides all the food and entertainment, I also got to walk the red carpet which is always fun. I love posing for the cameras and saying hi to the fans.

But the highlight of the day, besides seeing my work on the big screen, was meeting up with my co-stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. We didn’t actually get to work together on our scenes. We recorded our parts separately and at different times. Then the editors put it all together. (and they did a great job I might add) But today I got to sit down with Angelina and talk “tigress style” while Jack and I worked on our “kung-fu” moves. Very cool indeed!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank producer Karen Foster and my director Raman Hui for believing in me and making me a part of the Dreamworks family.

So don’t forget to check out The Secrets Of The Furious Five. I hope you all enjoy it.

And as my friend Po would say…

SKADOOSH!

I’ll admit, when the season first started, I didn’t pay much attention to him. I was riding a different David’s bandwagon. And to be honest, I never really left. I still think that David Archuleta is a fantastic singer and deserved to to be right along side David Cook on the Nokia stage. America could not have picked 2 better artists to be in the finals. But sorry to say, only one could win.

Remembering back… It was week #6, the Top 10. The theme of the week was “Pick a Song From the Year You Were Born.” David Cook, born Dec. 20, 1982, chose “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson. Now this song was way before my time but I actually knew it very well because it was one of the first songs I learned to play on my guitar. The judges always talk about song choice and my first thought was, “I don’t know about this one. What is he thinking? “Well, 2 minutes later, I’m rushing to my computer, going to itunes and downloading it to my ipod. I think Randy Jackson took the words right out of my mouth when he said “that was blazin’ molten hot!”

From then on, as far as I was concerned, I knew it was going to be a David vs. David showdown in the finals. And week after week, they both got better and better. But I think David Cook’s star began to shine even brighter, not only vocally but also his stage presence and personality. And off stage, he is one of the nicest “idols” I have ever met. And I’ve met quite a few. We only got to chat for a short time but it was time well spent.

My favorite David Cook line is, when he told everyone he was going to pursue a music career, he said “I’m going to give myself until I’m 26 years old…” Since he will be turning 26 in seven short months, I’d say his timing couldn’t be better.

Congratulations again David. You Rock!

For more on David Cook, check out www.americanidol.com

Click here to see David’s American Idol Audition.

Click here to see David’s performance of “Billie Jean.”

Did you ever dream you could fly?

Well, the other day, my dad took me on an adventure and I experienced what flying is really like. I’m not talking about going up in a plane or a helicopter but actually floating in the air like a bird.

Skydiving is probably the closest you can come to real flying but since the law in California states that you have to be at least 18 years old to jump out of an airplane, I had to go for the next best thing; Flying in a wind tunnel.

So, what is a wind tunnel? Well, it’s a circular room, maybe about 15 feet in diameter, but vertically, it goes up about 95 feet. At the top are 5 gigantic fans that push the air through the tunnel at speeds up to 150 miles per hour. It’s meant to feel exactly the way it would feel if you were to jump out of an airplane.

And just like actual skydiving, you don’t just suit up and jump. You have to go through some training so you know what you are doing. After all, one little mistake could spell S-P-L-A-T.

In the training class, you are taught everything from safety and use of hand signals to proper body positioning. Any little movement of your arms or legs will cause you to turn or send you flying off in different directions. Actually it’s a bit of a challenge to maintain the proper position when you’re being bounced around by hurricane force winds. The best position for stability in flight is lying on your stomach with your chin up and your arms and legs slightly bent with your back arched. Thank goodness for all the yoga training I’ve done with my mom.

For my first time out, I managed to do pretty good as you will see in the video below. Yes, that’s me in action.   I’m sure my next flight will be even better. Oh yes, there will be a next time…

Click here to take a Virtual Tour of the Wind Tunnel.

I’m the voice of Whiffle, the cute, fluffy red circle. Fuzz, the silly blue square is played by Jack Taylor. It was so much fun working with him. He was always making me laugh.

The show is geared towards the very young preschool audience.  Whiffle and Fuzz help the viewers to learn various shapes and different colors. As they play a game called Sneak-a-Peek, the audience is given clues to guess the mystery animal hidden behind the curtain. When the animal is revealed, Whiffle and Fuzz break into song.

I’ll warn you now. It’s a catchy little tune that’s going to stick in your head all day. You just might find yourself singing it while you’re stuck in traffic during rush hour. Or humming that infectious melody to yourself while you are waiting in line to get your morning coffee.  I know little kids all over the country will be singing it non stop. You’re so smart. You’re so clever…

I recently paid a visit to my friends at The Disney Channel. ( Thanks again Michele…for everything! ) I got to see some episodes of Whiffle & Fuzz before they actually aired; and they were great! I’m not just saying that because I’m in them either. They really are fun to watch. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Follow this link to the Official Whiffle & Fuzz website, and Sneak-a-Peek at me in action.

It was written & directed by David Nelson and stars, 4 time emmy winner, Michael Learned and veteran character actor Miguel Sandoval.

I guess it would fall into the scary movie category but I like to think of it more as a thriller with a twist. Parents might want to check it out before they let the kids watch it just to make sure it’s appropriate. There’s really not anything inappropriate but the subject matter is definitely NOT Playhouse Disney. I’d tell you what it’s about but I don’t want to spoil the fun. Let’s just say, it’s 8 minutes you’ll never forget.

Well, anyway, after a very successful run, making the rounds at all the major film festivals, The Killer has found a home on Fearnet. Just click on this link and you’ll be taken right to the quaint little town of Bremen Falls.

So please, make yourself comfortable, sit back and check it out. Feel free to rate the film on Fearnet. Then post a comment here and let me know what you thought of it.

Enjoy!