Interview: Kimiko Glenn is the New Voice of BABY SHARK

Broadway star Kimiko Glenn is using her voiceover talents to lead Nickelodeon's "Baby Shark's Big Show," which premieres tomorrow, Friday, March 26, at 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT)

Glenn played Dawn Pinket in the original Broadway production of Waitress (2016). Other theatre credits include: Love's Labour's Lost (2013, Delacorte Theatre); Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (La Jolla Playhouse, 2012); and Spring Awakening (National Tour, 2008-2010).

She is best known for her work as Brook Soso in the award-winning Netflix series "Orange is The New Black," as well as her recurring role on FX's "Married". She also made a cameo on Comedy Central's "Broad City" as the evil hipster store clerk at Beacon's Closet. Films include: Can You Keep a Secret? (2019); Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018); and Like Father (2018).

BroadwayWorld had the pleasure of speaking to the actor about how much she loves voice acting, how much she loves Baby Shark, and what she's looking forward to when Broadway returns.

Read the full interview below!

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I feel like Baby Shark has become one of the most recognizable names for kids. What's it like to take on that mantle, almost like a superhero?

When you say it like that, it's a bit unreal! I guess I know that, but it's hard to put it in my brain. When this opportunity came to me - first of all, it wasn't handed to me. There was an extensive audition process and everything. In finding baby, for this particular show, I didn't really reference any of the other things. Of course, I've seen and heard all the iconic viral Baby Shark songs, and the dance, and everything, but this was kind of its own thing. What I took from - you know, I read the script, and I was blown away with how adorable and how fun it was, but I remember back in the day I was doing a show in New York that was geared towards children, and one of my friends onstage had this line where he goes, "I like sports!" And then there was a kid in the back row, and he screams, "AWESOME!!!!"

And it made the audience explode with laughter! We all broke character onstage. And it's one of those memories that has just engrained in me the joy and innocence of being a child. That is something that I brought to Baby Shark, because he's always like, (in Baby Shark voice), "That's JAW-some!" It's that sort of spirit - it's exactly who Baby Shark is. He's bubbly, he's sweet, he feels his feelings to the fullest. He's curious and he's adventurous and he's brave and ready to get out there and do whatever! He gets these wacky ideas in his head, and then he goes for it. And he brings his best friend William along, and they go on these fun adventures! I don't know, it's just one of those shows I think people are just going to adore. I'm so happy to be here.

What do you love most about voice acting?

What don't I love? I mean, as an actor, so much of it is based on appearance, and it's so wonderful to have that stripped away. With my theatrical background - I started as a singer, so I've always expressed myself using my voice. And to be able to just express myself using my voice is such a gift. And in this situation particularly, because it is geared towards children - the parents can watch it too, obviously! There are little nuggets in there for the adults!

But this feeds me in a way, because I leave the sessions and I feel like I'm connected to my inner child. And I'm able to express the little Kimiko who started at age 5 doing all this singing and acting. I'm literally living that Kimiko's dream, you know? So it's wonderful.

What's it like to record music for a TV show as compared to for a Broadway cast recording like Waitress?

It's similar, but there's also the experience of performing it onstage. So there's a little bit of - when I was doing the soundtrack for Waitress, in the show, I make this crazy choice, right? Did you want me to tone it down for the soundtrack? Do you want me to sing it or kind of express it like I do onstage? It was a bit of finding that happy medium - like, what is more sung on the album versus some of the things that were purely acted for comedy onstage?

There's a little bit of that negotiation when it came to that soundtrack. But on this, it's pretty much the character and what they're going through. That is what lives on. There isn't the physical performative part - it's all just through the voice. It's solely that experience, so in that way just a little bit different. But they're very similar!

What does that difference - between the physical experience of performing onstage and the physical experience of recording - feel like in your body?

It's funny, because obviously being onstage is a full-body experience. Wholly. Like, your arms are out, you're expressing yourself. But in voiceover, it's similar - like, you have that option to completely make it a physical experience. And sometimes I do! A lot of the times with the dialogue, the sessions are long, and I sit down. It's like four hours all in one chunk. So it's a little less physical - more upper-body than full-body.

But it's a lot of fun. I do kind of do the gestures to get me into.

I've talked to a few voice actors and it's sort of always a different experience in terms of who's in the room with you. Did you have the opportunity to record with other actors, or were you on your own?

Yeah! It's aways different, with every project. Some really encourage the ensemble record. Mostly, schedule-wise, it works out where people do it completely isolated with a voice director and the creative team. But in this experience, it's been a mixture of both, which is nice. At the start, we were playing a little bit of catch-up, because there was some scheduling stuff with the pandemic and everything, so I was recording my voice along with the animation they'd already set.

So, it was isolated for a while, and then we caught up on all the episodes, and now we've been able to do ensemble records for the past few! That has been really rewarding because I have these ideas of the characters in my head, and to see them come alive - and to see the creative process of these people, these legends of the voiceover industry - people that I've seen on every sheet of casting! Every time I get a job, they're on there. And I get to meet you, I get to see you work, and I get to see the magic of how different you were from that job to this one. It's really impressive, and quite an honor.

What is your hope for the future of Broadway?

I hope it comes back to normal! It will come back, it will. I don't know when it will, but I hope that the magic will stay alive, and I have all the faith. The future looks a bit more hopeful than it did last year - not just for myself, because I love the theatre, and I really hope that I get the opportunity to be on Broadway again - but for my friends, who spend their entire careers in the theater and that's their love. I feel for them in that way. Theatre was always my first love. I never considered television or film in the equation. It feels odd, but I always had my eyes set on Broadway. So, my thoughts are always with them.

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Watch the trailer for "Baby Shark's Big Show" here: