By Jae-Ha Kim
St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other outlets
February 27, 2024
Voiceover actress Debi Derryberry is best known for voicing the cartoon character Jimmy Neutron. But she is also a musician. Her latest children’s album, “Gotta Go Green,” will be released on March 8. “’Gotta Go Green’ is a collection of songs specifically targeted to caring for our environment, climate change, carbon footprint … basically, saving the earth,” said Derryberry, 63. “Songs come to me at unpredictable times, sometimes while I’m driving. So I can honestly say that I did work on the album on the road!”
A resident of California’s Toluca Lake, she connects with fans on Instagram, X and Tiktok (username: @debiderryberry). She also is active on Facebook.
Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
A: As long as I’m with a great travel buddy – most always my wonderful husband, Ian – and doing something interesting, that is what makes it a favorite. I love beach vacations the most because I get to scuba dive. Hawaii, Barbados, Cozumel, etc.
Q: How do you separate work from vacation trips?
A: My work is so enjoyable that I can’t really call it work. I am a voice actor, singer, musician and songwriter. When I am on vacation, I bring my computer and travel recording rig for voiceover auditions and jobs. The only difference is that I might be a bit more selective as to what I audition for while on vacation. If a song comes to me, I usually record it on my iPhone and finish it when I return home to my guitar.
Q: What untapped destination should people know about?
A: Definitely Barbados! I’m smiling right now thinking about it. What a lovely and interesting place! Especially the south and west coasts. I have traveled to Barbados twice now to the same place because I loved it so much. I love the warm weather, the blue water, the scuba diving, the food and mostly the wonderfully kind, intelligent and lovely people.
Q: What was a trip you took as a child that stands out?
A: My parents had a motorhome that we would drive from our desert hometown of Indio, California, to San Diego, where we stayed on Mission Bay. It was right on the water and we had our family so what could be better? We also went to the beach in Mexico, where our rental home was right on the sand. My best memories are beach vacations.
Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
A: I’ve learned that people are different, but the same. It’s important to realize that even if a local custom or food seems very different or odd to me, it is a normal part of life to the people who live there.
Q: If you could only pick one place to eat, would you prefer a food truck or fine dining?
A: I’d choose fine dining. I am a stickler for cleanliness and while it may not always be true, it seems that a fine dining restaurant might stand a chance of being cleaner than a food truck.
Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A: Santa Barbara, San Diego, San Francisco, Napa and Ojai! It doesn’t take too long to get there from Los Angeles and they all have spectacular food. For me, weekend getaways are mostly about [who] I travel with.
Q: If you’ve ever gone away for the holidays, which was the best trip?
A: Southern England with my husband to see family. We sat in front of a fireplace and played guitar, sang, drank wine and listened to the wind outside. We slept so wonderfully and ate a lot of roasted vegetables!
Q: Do you speak any foreign languages?
A: I speak Spanish almost fluently and I can understand a bit of Hebrew. I do pick up languages quickly, but wherever we’ve traveled, I’ve found that there is someone who speaks either English or Spanish. And I use Google Translate a lot!
Q: What are your five favorite cities?
A: Los Angeles, London, Bridgetown (Barbados), Jerusalem and San Diego. But there are so many places I have not been that this list is ever changing!
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A: There are so many places that I want to go! Fiji, Rome, Greece, Costa Rica, Philippines, Japan. I want to scuba dive in warm waters all over the world!
Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A: Essentials include my instant non-coffee powder drink (Pero, made from chicory), a foot hammock for the airplane since my feet don’t reach the ground, a tiny neck pillow for sleeping, my Kindle, phone, computer, Airpods and all the chargers, workout clothes, purse-sized hand sanitizer and favorite hand cream.
Q: What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?
A: My guilty pleasures are usually food related. Clotted cream and scones, desserts, and sometimes caffeinated coffee! Another guilty pleasure is sleeping in way past my normal 5 a.m. workout time.
Q: What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?
A: I research the best places to scuba dive, companies to dive with, and best parts of the country/island for diving. I also check out how to get around the city – bus, metro, car, train – weather, attractions and getting advance reservations. When we went to Amsterdam, we made our reservations for the Anne Frank Museum months in advance.
Q: What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A: Best memory is breakfast at the Westin in Cozumel at their restaurant overlooking the crystal-clear water with thousands of colorful fish swimming below us. Worst memory is catching a sinus infection in Portugal and feeling so terrible that I had to stay in bed and not hike to Castelo dos Mouros.
© 2024 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
