Interview with Michaela Murphy a.k.a. Jessie Flower (Toph) and Olivia Hack (Ty Lee)
Eddy and I had the honor of meeting Michaela Murphy (aka Jessie Flowers) [voice of Toph] and Olivia Hack [voice of Ty Lee] at Anime Expo on July 7th, 2019. I had messaged Michaela earlier and asked ahead of time if I could interview her for Beyond Bending Podcast and she said yes. I was ecstatic. It’s not everyday you get to meet one of your idols, let alone interview them. I have never made an Instagram post so fast in my life. I shared the news with our fans and asked them what questions they would want to ask Michaela, or TOPH BEIFONG. Leading up to Anime Expo, I was trying not to think too much of it. “They’re just regular people…” I told myself over and over. But like many other die hard fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this was a show that changed my life in so many ways and has shaped me into who I am today...Who am I kidding? These “regular people” that I was about to meet were my idols. My adolescent self was freaking out but Podcast Marilyn kept me calm. Finally the day came. We drove to L.A., paid a ridiculous $35 for parking in front of the convention, and wandered around Anime Expo until it was time to meet them. As Eddy and I approached Michaela and Olivia at their booth at Anime Expo, the butterflies hit me. Thank god Podcast Marilyn took over and kept me normal. Michaela was occupied with another fan, so we approached Olivia first. My heart jumped over the moon. I was meeting the voice of Ty Lee, one of the most badass female characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Olivia was so sweet and amazing. We chatted for a bit and I asked her if I could interview her as well and she agreed. Michaela finished up with her fan, looked over at us, and smiled. And I swear my husband Eddy had a heart attack. Toph Beifong is his favorite character of all time and to him, it was like meeting Jesus.We got to their booth towards the end of their time slot so we were able to chat with them for a while. What was minutes felt like hours to me. Olivia suggested doing a joint interview with Michaela and I said “Yeah! Sounds good!” She then offered to take us to “the back” where it was quieter and that there were couches in the back that we could sit on while doing the interview. I felt like I had been struck by lightning. “It’s not much…” Olivia said leading us behind the curtain, but to Eddy and I it might as well have been Disneyland. Olivia and Michaela sat down on one of the couches and Eddy and I sat adjacent to them, with Michaela being closest to me. I hooked up my cheap lavalier interview microphones into my iphone and passed them each a lavalier to pin onto their shirts. Unfortunately I didn’t have an extra set on me for myself but I was only concerned about getting a clear recording of their voices. After sound testing, we started rolling.Michaela: I’m Jessie Flower, I voice Toph Beifong in Avatar: The Last Airbender...Olivia: And I’m Olivia Hack and I play Ty Lee! Marilyn: So great to meet you guys. Oh my gosh… O: Great to meet you!M: Nice to meet you as well!Marilyn: Be honest, when was the last time you watched the show?M: I’m actually binge rewatching it this week. So, technically right now. But before that it had been probably about two years...maybe three, since I’d watched any part of it. It’d been a while. So yeah, in spirit of Anime Expo I was like “Okay...you know, I think I need to rewatch everything from top to bottom.” So yeah, I’m about to start Season 2 so it’s been a full week. *laughs*O: And I’m with Michaela. It’s been a couple of years. I’ve seen some of the comic books and stuff but the actual show it’s been a while, yeah….Marilyn: It’s been a while since both of you voiced your characters. Off the top of your head, [what’s] the fondest memory you have when you voicing them?M: For me, I really liked when multiple cast members got to be in the recording booth together because a lot of the time it would be separate. My usual date, ‘cause I was still in high school, it was like every other Tuesday after school I would go in and record. And sometimes it would be just me, sometimes maybe Jack [voice of Sokka] or Mae [voice of Katara] would be there...But there was one day when every microphone...and I think this only happened once...every microphone was full. We had...you know, Toph, Sokka, I think Azula, and...was it Zuko? Yeah, and Uncle Iroh. We had like everyone kind of in the recording booth together so we got to go through like 3 or 4 pages without stopping and like everyone was there to like go through the scene. And like that was a cool moment ‘cause it felt like it came to life for a second, you know? And it doesn’t really get to feel that way until you watch the episode later. And so I just remember, and I forget which episode it was...cause...just memories of all different things happening but that was my favorite day because Mike and Bryan were also there cause they came in to listen sometimes...So like they were sitting with our recorder...person...audio engineer. That’s like a proper term!O: *laughs*M: “That recorder person.” *laughs* The audio engineer. And that was probably the highlight cause it was all of us in one place and just, you know...like, 45 minutes we got to kind of be going through it live together, which was awesome. So yeah, that’s like my favorite tidbit from recording.O: I was literally gonna say the same thing cause as voice actors, a lot of times you record separately! Which is fine...and we’re used to that but when you can record everybody together, there’s a rhythm and...yeah it feels like real acting. You can play off each other. They tended to record all the fire nation girls together, so that was kinda nice. But yeah, I’d say 50/50 they don’t record everyone together...but when they do it’s like more a magic kind of in the air. So yeah for sure…M: And for me it was even less, and I don’t know if it was just a scheduling thing, but I’d say probably only 20-25% of the time somebody else is in the studio. Most of the time, it was just me. So...I don’t know why….O: School, man! M: Yeah, school! *laughs*O: *laughs* School’s a drag.M: Yeah, high school… *laughs*O: That’s the one part of being a child actor that’s just like...blows...it’s the school factor.M: Yeah...You have to figure in to the scheduling but yeah….*laughs*Marilyn: Have you found like there are some days...since you don’t have someone to interact with or bounce off of, you just like struggle with…?O: I’ve personally seen performances that I...I mean obviously you read the script but you kinda didn’t realize what was going on in the scene or the tone later and I’m like “Ugh...I would have said that differently…” or “I would have played that a little different had I seen what the other person was doing..” you know? So it’s always better to act with another human being as you can imagine. M: Yeah, I agree. We’re two different instances. Me being by myself, I got used to it. BUT! Sometimes they would have the animation already made or like roughly done and maybe it wasn’t completely finished. So they would play that out while I was saying my lines so I can kind of see what was going on so that would be helpful. But then other times it would just be blank and it was like “Okay…” They send you the script beforehand usually so I would just read and see what was happening in that episode. But there wouldn’t be something to actually react to so sometimes they would be like “Okay, that was good...we need more…” or “Do three takes that were kind of like that last one and be a little more surprised.” Just to give a little bit of nuance of like what they were envisioning and I didn’t know necessarily. So yeah, it can get a little tricky but usually people then hop in to direct you and help shape what you’re supposed to sound like. *laughs* Marilyn: Yeah…*laughs* So in our podcast, we’re revisiting it as adults. We watched it in like middle school and high school and so...you know, like we were dumb kids… M: *laughs*O: Yeah, yeah, yeah!Marilyn: Everything just flew over our heads...We didn’t realize like “Oh, it’s just kids fighting a war...you know, no biggie!” Like years after you guys finished recording, was there anything that hit you later? Like “Oh wow, I didn’t realize that these themes came up or…?” O: Just how dark I think the show is...You really kinda go like “Oh this is…” I don’t know, it gets there a little bit sometimes, right? I mean just what you said...there is a lot of adult themes that go with it.M: Yeah, um...Well on a more personal note I think...when I was younger…*laughs* I’m still young...Everyone: *laughs*M: We’re still young. BUT! When I was younger, people would come up to me at cons or send some fanmail and just be like “Oh, you’ve really helped inspire me to just like be more confident in who I am and to not care about what people think...” Just kind of have a stronger attitude specifically relating to Toph...and I don’t think I realized how important and then helpful for me that would be later... just cause I was kind of in my weird-like actor kid world and grateful enough to to like have a great relationship with my mom and like always felt comfortable with like who I was...But then as I got older and I started to feel a little uncomfortable myself in college and then like noticed that a lot of people struggled in middle school and high school...Just kind of recognized that having such like a bold, doesn’t give a fuck character…O: Yeah… M: You know, 13 year old blind chick who’s just like “I’m who I am. This is it. You’re gonna like it or not….”Marilyn: Yeah…M: ...is helpful! For any age…O: ...and strong female characters!M: Yeah! O: Like ass-kicking women that you don’t see in TV...especially then.M: Right! In light of today, being a...you know, a more popular topic obviously to talk about...along with LGBTQ! Just like the whole thing. A lot more conversation happening...but this all happened, you know, a decade ago! And so it was kind of cool just to recognize like “Oh! We were a part of something that hopefully played a part in the conversations that are happening now! Which is nice...So…”O: It’s weird to be in something, especially kind of...not that Avatar was pre-internet but kind of...you know?M: K
