What do a ruthless Star Wars assassin, a rock-and-roll cartoon sibling, and Minnie Mouse’s peppy bird sidekick have in common? They all share a voice: that of Nika Futterman.

From Asajj Ventress to Luna Loud and Cucu Loca, these iconic characters are brought to life by Nika Futterman ’85, a powerhouse voice actress with almost 350 cartoon and video game character credits to her name. For someone who didn’t grow up watching much television, Nika is pleasantly surprised by the longevity of her career. “I was never one of those people who wanted to be famous,” she reflects. “I just wanted to make a living doing what I loved.”

Nika’s aversion to the spotlight started early, remembering herself as a “hider” at Fay. “When I did a play, I would run out the back door at the end of the show because I hated the idea that people were gonna tell me that I was amazing…or that I wasn’t!” Even though she lacked an actor’s ego, Nika possessed a natural gift for impressions. After college, she moved to Los Angeles, thinking that her career trajectory might lead to sketch comedy shows like Mad TV or Saturday Night Live. Instead, a manager steered her toward voiceover work. Nika hadn’t even realized cartoon acting was a viable career path, but when she booked a role on her very first audition for Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold! her career took off. “All of a sudden, I was booking voiceover work left and right,” she says. “I was crazy busy with it, and I was like, wow, I guess this is meant to be!”

For Nika, the real magic is in creation. While producers sometimes hand her a character sketch to work from, just as often they come to her with a blank slate, hiring her because of her reputation as a vocal chameleon. They trust her to find the perfect voice for a character that exists only on paper until she steps to the microphone. “People think voice acting is about the sound of your voice, but if you don’t have the ability to change your voice, you can’t have a long career,” she notes. “There’s only so many times you can do the same voice again.” 

For Nika, building a character isn’t an analytical process; it’s an intuitive one. She prefers to stay open to the universe, trusting a gut instinct to tell her exactly what a character should sound like. Because contemporary studios animate to a voice track rather than requiring actors to match a scene already drawn, Nika often has the creative freedom to define a character’s personality, set the rhythm, and drive the story. 

While choosing a favorite character for Nika feels like selecting a favorite child, a few characters have changed her life in different ways. About 20 years ago, Nika was hired by Dave Filoni, now President and Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm, to create Asajj Ventress, the first Star Wars villainess, for the animated series The Clone Wars. Joining a franchise with such an avid following introduced Nika to the world of fan conventions, which she often travels to, signing autographs and meeting fans to talk about the show. “It’s a crazy and wonderful experience because you realize how much these characters mean to people and how much joy they’ve brought to their lives.” 

In addition to being part of the Star Wars and Mickey Mouse universes, Nika has also voiced Luna Loud on Nickelodeon’s The Loud House for the past ten years. It’s a role Nika treasures, not only because it lets her return to her early love of singing, but because of the character’s cultural impact. “She’s this incredible ball of love who gets to sing, and she’s also one of the first characters in animation to have a girlfriend,” Nika notes. “They didn’t make a big deal of it, but it was something that ended up meaning a lot to kids in the audience who hadn’t been represented before.”

Nika balances the artistry and creative challenge of voice acting with a second successful career as a professional poker player competing on the World Series of Poker tour. The two pursuits, wildly different at face value, are more closely linked than one would think. “I don’t gamble, so playing poker for me is like playing chess,” says Nika. “I can read people—and acting and poker are both about figuring out why a person would do what they’re doing.” 

Today, Nika splits her time between the Hollywood Hills, Las Vegas, and a mountain retreat in Lake Arrowhead alongside her husband and teenage daughter. Despite her success, she is still eager to keep stretching her talents, eyeing larger-than-life projects like an iconic Disney villainess or another big project with global resonance. Her drive to create never stops. “I’m always searching for ways to be better,” she says. “Thinking that I’m only 99% there isn’t from a place of insecurity, but more from a place of, man, I can get better! That’s so exciting, and that’s what drives me.”