I remember watching both the film and the show growing up, always excited to see Jimmy’s latest inventions and the antics he and his friends would get into.
One of the most memorable duos was Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex, voiced brilliantly by Debi Derryberry and Carolyn Lawrence. While the cast reunited for an American Cinematheque 25th anniversary screening of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, it was a perfect time to catch up with the stars who brought Jimmy and Cindy to life.
(Debi at the 2001 premiere of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
Debi (Jimmy): We started out doing what they call interstitials, which are like these 10-minute little snippets. We did the voices, and then we received these VHS tapes. As I watched the tapes, I thought, “This is cool animation! I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It’s so high tech!”
Then they changed the name from Johnny Quasar to Jimmy Neutron and said we were doing a movie.
Carolyn (Cindy): I wasn’t in the mix that early on; they hadn’t yet cast Cindy for the movie. I was brought in to do a scratch track because they hadn’t hired who they wanted.
They were super, super clear that I was just a temporary voice. But the more they listened to me while editing and working, I think they grew accustomed to hearing me as Cindy. That’s my theory!
Debi: There’s this camaraderie that forms between Cindy and Jimmy, and Carolyn was brilliant with the snarkiness she brought to that role. Carolyn and I have been close ever since. We can’t move away from each other! We live within walking distance.
Debi: I’m most comfortable speaking like a child. Speaking like a grown-up is more of an effort for me. Most of my work before Jimmy Neutron had been little girl voices.
When my agent sent me this audition for a little boy, I thought, “How am I going to do a little boy audition?” I don’t have that gravel, or texture, as we call it in voiceover. Actors like Tara Strong [Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents] have that texture, but I don’t have that naturally.
I went into the audition, and I thought, “I’ll just try my little boy voice,” where I kind of talk out of the side of my mouth, but I don’t use texture, and it doesn’t hurt. And that’s the voice they picked!
Carolyn: Cindy was easy for me. I just fell right in. If the writing is really good, I can fall into a character, and I don’t have to think about a voice. It just naturally happens because of the way something’s written.
We also functioned so well as a group. Recording together was so fun — there was real magic between all of us.
Debi: While we were recording the movie, there’s a scene where Jimmy is trying to turn a lump of coal into a diamond to give to his mother. I was a pre-med student, and I took a lot of chemistry classes. I knew that coal could turn into diamonds because it has this perfect structure.
I’m also a singer and a songwriter. I was in Nashville for three years pursuing country music, and now I do children’s music. Well, at the time, this country song was in my head — John Anderson sings, “I’m just an old chunk of coal, but I’m gonna be a diamond someday.” It’s a really great song!
I told [director] John Davis about this song, and lo and behold, they licensed it and used it in the movie! So when you’re watching that movie, and you see Jimmy flying with the coal, and you hear that song, that was my little addition.
Carolyn: I love that part! That’s one of my favorite things about animation, those moments that have heart, those moments where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, these animated characters actually started to make me cry!”
Debi: The music is such a big part of that. Charlie Brissette was one of the many contributors who just composed some brilliant stuff for the movie.
Carolyn: The movie also works so well because it was so forward-thinking in terms of technology. It was like the perfect marriage between technology and storyline.
I hope they know how lucky they are to have hired Debi, because she can pronounce any word. I was always amazed. I would think, “Thank God I never got this kind of role, because I can’t pronounce anything!”
Debi: My dad was very unhappy that I didn’t go to medical school — but I knew how to say the big words in Jimmy Neutron because I had studied them for many, many years.
Carolyn: What is still exciting to me is that we were the first movie ever announced in that category. Historically, we will forever be the first one ever announced, even though we didn’t win! [Shrek won]
Debi: We didn’t get to go to the awards show, but we did go to a very fancy dinner. It was at a fancy place down in Hollywood, and [former CEO of Paramount Pictures] Sherry Lansing threw the dinner for the nominees. I had never been somewhere that fancy.
I remember I had my back to the door, and my ex-husband said, “You know Paul McCartney walked in.” I said, “No, he didn’t. You’re joking with me!” I turned around, and there was Paul McCartney with Heather Mills, and we all got a picture together.
Carolyn: Cindy’s so sassy, right? I love that Jimmy and Cindy have a tender moment on the island in “Stranded.” That was my favorite episode.
Debi: Me too! When people ask me my favorite episode, that’s the one. The writers loved the intellectual competition between Cindy and Jimmy. That was the really fun part about recording together — they would just turn on all the mics and say, “Go.”
I am not the best improvver in the room, but sometimes I’ll come up with something and be very proud of myself. There was this sense of creativity that we felt. The editors and writers would take in what we would do, and sometimes we’d see it come back in a later episode.
Carolyn: I also love that you could always tell Cindy actually cared for Jimmy. It never felt too mean. It was always like this mix of competition and love.
Carolyn: I loved how much joy Jeff had in his performances. Anytime he did something that was obviously funny, he would chuckle to himself. I just thought it was the best thing in the world, the joy. It was infectious. He was so funny, without even trying at all. He would just walk in the room and be funny and brilliant.
Debi: He did such a great job. I remember Jeff had this tendency to come in a little late. One time I pulled him aside, with love, and I said, “Jeff, we are so lucky to have this cool voice-over gig and a series, and we need to show up and be there on time.” Long story short, it didn’t make a bit of difference! Jeff was Jeff, and when he showed up, he brought the funny.
Like Carolyn said, he would just start laughing, because he would come up with these things that you’re like, “How did he think of that? Where did that come from?”
We would all just laugh together. We will miss him very much, and we wish his family all the love in the world.