Eliza Schneider

Eliza Schneider
Eliza Jane Schneider is an American actress, singer, playwright, dialect coach and dialectologist. She has appeared on television and as a voice over actress on video games and animations. She also performs various musical and stage shows.
Early life and television work
Schneider spent her formative years on a Chippewa reservation in Bemidji, Minnesota with her two older brothers in a mostly Jewish family. She moved to New York at the age of 8. Her father became a math and drama teacher at the School of Arts High School in Rochester, New York, where she graduated as salutatorian. Her mother was an attorney for the reservation. She started playing violin, which she learned from her grandfather, learning the Suzuki method, after seeing L Shenkar. When she was sixteen, she was in her first musical group, IT'S MY PARTY! From ages 7–20, she went to Jewish summer camp, becoming a counselor, and started performing on stage. By the time she was in the fourth grade she began writing and performing her own plays, because the teacher told her that she would only be allowed to stage a play if she "wrote, produced, directed." Four years later she was chosen for a part in Annie; Schneider's parents would not let her tour with the troupe after being cast. She participated in a theater program at Northwestern University's National High School Institute and graduated from UCLA in 1994 as a world arts and cultures major.
While in college she continued going to auditions and got the role of Sheila Brentwood in the television series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys. For the show she was allowed to cast the actors who played her parents. After the show got canceled, she replaced Alanna Ubach for the second and third seasons of Beakman's World.
Dialect research and stage shows
For her college senior thesis, Schneider made a cross-country road tour in a former ambulance studying regional dialects. During her research into accents, she "visited all the English-speaking countries in the world, conducting more than 7,000 interviews over all." From the interviews she created a one-woman show called Freedom of Speech in which she tells the stories of 34 people in their voices. The various quotes are combined into a story. When interviewed about the shows by Western Washington University newspaper The Western Front, she explained that "People in America today are scared to speak up and tell their perspective on what our nation is or where it is going... I wanted to repeat the peoples' words verbatim so the audience could develop their own perspective." Using a semi-autobiographical approach, Schneider links the quotes and stories together, saying "it’s really a love story about a petulant girl who starts out hating America for perpetuating hate. She begins collecting sounds and winds up falling in love with her country." The show won the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival award for "Best Solo Show".
Her ensuing solo show, Words of the Prophets, is composed partially of quotes from "homeless people all over the world."
In 2008, Schneider wrote a play called "Sounds of Silence: A Documentary Puppet Musical Farce" about the 2004 United States election voting controversies in Ohio.
Music and voiceover work
When explaining about her dialect and musical interest she said; "You know how they talk about a photographic memory? That’s not actually how my mind works. It’s aural. I remember what I hear...when I try to do a piece onstage, I hear the next words [they actually said]. I hear the rest of the monologue. It takes every bit of strength and intellect that I have to control that." In a 2013 interview she explained that "to me, music, voice, voices of the people, play writing, dialect, language, violin – it all springs from the same well of fascination with sound."
South Park
Schneider also provided voice acting on the popular animated comedy South Park in 1999 after the death of Mary Kay Bergman. The latter voiced many of the show’s female characters. Bergman committed suicide on Nov. 11, 1999. With this, a friend of Schneider's asked her to contact her agent to arrange an audition. Eventually, Schneider and Mona Marshall replaced Bergman for many of the female characters on the show. In 2003, while Marshall continued to provide voices, Schneider later left over the show's producers' refusal to extend her a union contract. She was replaced by April Stewart in 2004. During this time Schneider was part of Honey Pig, an all-female country and western trio.
Personal life
In 2006, Schneider was involved in a car accident, resulting in a head injury and a broken hand.
Schneider and her partner, Roger Ray, have a son named Raiden Daniel. Schneider is working as a violin instructor for her son and other children.
In 2012, she joined the cast of Spider Baby the Musical for a San Diego performance, playing the role of Emily Howe.
Video game voiceover projects
Kingdom Hearts II (2006) – Elizabeth Swann, additional voices
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (video game) (2006) – Elizabeth Swann, Nassau Villager Female #3
Finding Nemo (2003) – additional voices
Shadow Complex (2009) – Clair
Assassin's Creed II (2009) – Rebecca Crane
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (2009) – Valkyrie No. 2
Alice in Wonderland (2010) – The White Queen
Blade Kitten (2010) – Justice Kreel, Terra-Gin, additional voices
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) – Rebecca Crane
Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) – Rebecca Crane
Assassin's Creed III (2012) – Rebecca Crane
Lego The Lord of the Rings (2012) – Additional voices
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (2013) – Ms. Decibel
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) – Rebecca Crane
The Lego Movie Videogame (2014)
Skylanders: Trap Team (2014) – Mags, Bat Spin
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (2015) – Arecia Al-Rashia
Skylanders: SuperChargers (2015) – Mags, Bat Spin
Lego Dimensions (2015) – Additional voices
Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015) – Rebecca Crane
Lego Marvel's Avengers (2016) – Pepper Potts
Prey (2017) – Mikhaila Ilyushin
Agents of Mayhem (2017) – Agent Rama
Kingdom Hearts III (2019) – Elizabeth Swann
Assassin's Creed Valhalla (2020) – Rebecca Crane
Television
The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys (1992) (as Sheila Brentwood)
Black Tie Affair (1993)
Beakman's World (1993–1995) (as Liza)
South Park (1999–2003)
Spy TV
Episode 1.2. (2001) (as various characters)
Girlfriends (Season 2)
Episode: "Sister, Sista" (2002) (as Lynn Searcy's sister, Tanya)
Invader Zim (2003) (episode The Girl Who Cried Gnome as Moofy)
Squirrel Boy (2006–2007) (Martha)
Popzilla (2009) MTV
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2011) (episode The Scorn of the Star Sapphire! as Baroness Paula von Gunther and Georgette Taylor)
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018) (Mrs. Cuddles)
Character voices
This a partial list of Schneider's regular voiceover characters.
South Park
Wendy Testaburger
Sharon Marsh
Liane Cartman
Shelley Marsh
Mayor McDaniels
Principal Victoria
Mrs. Crabtree
Carol McCormick
Estella
Popzilla
Gisele Bündchen
Tori Spelling
Michelle Obama
Britney Spears
Beyoncé
Ugandan Adoption Agent
Heidi Klum
Video games
Alice in Wonderland – The Talking Flowers
Assassin's Creed series – Rebecca Crane
Blade Kitten – Justice Kreel, Terra-Gin, Squamatan Female 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Additional Voices
Call of Juarez: The Cartel – Additional Voices
Captain America: Super Soldier – HYDRA
Diablo III – Additional Voices
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Female Necromancer
Dragon Age: Origins – Iona, Lady Dace, Mardy, Nutella, Lothering Sister, Lothering Refugee, Surface Dwarf, Tapster's Patron, Howe Estate Cook, Alienage Elf Woman, Awestruck Villager, Circle Tower Apprentice Mage, Royal Palace Servant
Epic Mickey – Additional Voices
EverQuest II – Generic Female Barbarian Merchant, Generic Female Dark Elf Merchant, Generic Female Dwarf Merchant
Fallout: New Vegas – Stella, Female Sorrows
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD – Arecia
Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Additional Voices
Final Fantasy XV – Additional voices
Grand Theft Auto V – The Local Population
Infinity Blade III – Additional Voices
Kingdom Hearts III – Elizabeth Swann
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Maid of Windemere, Additional Voices
LawBreakers – Bomchelle
Lego Dimensions – Nya
Lego Marvel's Avengers – Pepper Potts/Rescue
Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Nemesis Orcs
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer – NPC Female Teen, NPC Female Gnome, Lienna
Prey – Mikhaila Ilyushin
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time – Valkyrie No. 2
Saints Row – Stilwater's Resident
Saints Row: The Third – Pedestrian and Character Voices
Saints Row IV – The Voices of Virtual Steelport
Shadow Complex – Claire Duncan
Skylanders: SuperChargers – Mags, Bat Spin
Skylanders: Trap Team – Mags, Bat Spin
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time – Miss Decibel
The Bard's Tale – Additional voices
The Last of Us – Additional Voices
The LEGO Movie Videogame – Additional Voices
The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest – Eowyn
Yogi Bear: The Video Game – Rachel Johnson
References
External links
Salon.com's article on Blue Girl
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Place of birth missing (living people)
American child actresses
American film actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
Dialectologists
Actresses from Rochester, New York
Voice coaches
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Year of birth missing (living people)