MARY GIBBS (Boo) makes an impressive
acting debut as the vocal persona of a playful young
girl who becomes the first human to enter the monster
world. Born in Pasadena, California in 1996, Mary is
the daughter of Pixar story artist Rob Gibbs and his
wife Sue. She moved to the Bay area at the age of
1-1/2, when her dad joined the Pixar story team.
Gibbs describes Mary as "a typical normal everyday
kid who can sometimes be a bit of a ham and
occasionally acts super goofy. She is energetic,
good-natured and a non-stop talker like the Boo
character." Mary was originally brought in to record
some temporary scratch track screams and giggles
when she was 2-1/2. At that time, her language skills
were still in the gibberish stage and she was just on the
cusp of forming real sentences. Director Pete Docter
used puppets and other quiet toys to try and get the
verbal performance that the character required. Instead
of having Mary remain stationary at a microphone, the
sound engineers followed her with a boom as she
scampered around the room. It wasn't until a year later
that the Boo character was set and Mary was told she
had the part. Other recording sessions followed.
According to her father, "Mary has had a few real concerns about monsters in her closet, but basically she understands that monsters are good and helpful. Now that she's five and has seen promos and trailers for the film, it's just starting to sink in that she's in a movie. My wife recently overheard her telling her friends in pre-school, 'I'm in a movie.' In real life, Mary is blond-haired, has small eyes and no pigtails so there isn't much physical resemblance to Boo." Mary recently started kindergarten and has expressed interest in pursuing additional acting roles in school plays. |
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