If you don’t immediately recognize Betsy Sodaro’s face from her countless TV and film appearances, odds are you recognize the voice. Currently stealing scenes as Nancy, a basement-dwelling ghost who died of cholera on CBS’ hit comedy “Ghosts,” Sodaro’s voice packs an extra punch to her already assassin-like skill with a punchline. Simultaneously raspy, yet childlike with a joyful cadence, it’s become so much her signature that in one recent “Ghosts” episode, where Rose McIver (as Samantha) was “possessed” by Nancy and spent an entire episode doing an imitation so uncanny many viewers assumed it was dubbed (it was not.)
Like Morgan Freeman, Sodaro’s voice is so distinctive that it can often proceed recognizing the actor. Yes, that eye mite in the commercial for XDEMVY medication is indeed her. Both she and her characters are prone to outbursts of enthusiasm (“Ooh!”) or disgust (“Ugh!”) that are becoming as iconic as Homer Simpson’s annoyed grunt, and her language is frequently peppered with words like “rad” or “crazy cool.” Combined with her expressive face, Sodaro often conjures images of an animated character – so it makes sense she’s in-demand as a voice actor, recently lending her talents to such shows as “Exploding Kittens” and “Tiny Toons Looniversity.”
“Ghosts” fans can rejoice – Nancy will be seen in the final two episodes of the season, starting tonight on CBS. Here’s some things to know about the scene-stealing actor.
She auditioned for a different role on “Ghosts.”
It might be hard to imagine, but Sodaro originally read for the role of the hippie cult-member Flower, played by Sheila Carrasco. Sodaro admits her take was very different from Carrasco’s naïve and forgetful character. “I was definitely more of an aggressive hippie,” she says with a laugh. “My take was more like Nancy – I don’t know that my range is too big. Sheila is just killing it.”
After the show was picked up, the producers offered her the role of Nancy; while she isn’t certain it was written for her, she did pick up on some similarities immediately. “I was like, ‘Whoa! This is, like, how I talk! This is awesome!” At the time, she was told the character might be back for more episodes – but that’s something actors are frequently told. “I felt lucky just to do one episode,” she notes. “From the start, it has always been such a kind set and such a safe space to make big choices and feel comfortable. Sometimes you guest star on a show and worry you’re just in the way or annoying somebody.”
She’s created quite the backstory for Nancy.
Part of the genius of the program is how it takes certain archetypes (a Viking named Thor, a stockbroker bro) and plumbs unexpected depths. The Cholera Ghosts all began as pretty much an entity of nameless specters covered in sores who aren’t accepted in the main house, but that didn’t stop Sodaro from building a whole character biography.
She started with justifying why a 19th Century woman would speak in such a modern way. Because most of the Cholera Ghosts are obsessed with the water heater, she had the idea that in the 1990s two repairman were frequent visitors. “I saw them sort of as Bill and Ted, these two cool, laidback dudes,” she reveals. “And she kind of clung to them and listened to them talk about surfing and absorbed their whole lifestyle.” Suggest that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter should play the repairman in a flashback on the show, and Sodaro literally gasps. “I just got chills!”
Sodaro began performing at an early age.
Sodaro grew up obsessed with the standards, from “I Love Lucy” to “The Simpsons” – she even has a season pass to Universal Studios Hollywood so she can hang out in Springfield. Her father Craig is a teacher and a children’s theater playwright who often writes under the pen name Sam Craig, and his plays have been produced all over the world. He would also teach a summer theater class for kids, which Sodaro participated in. She continued acting through high school, realizing she wanted to study it in college.
“Saturday Night Live” was the original goal.
Sodaro originally attended Marymount Manhattan College simply to be in New York; the goal was to end up on another of her favorite shows, “Saturday Night Live.” She laughs now at the memory of her hubris. “I figured I’d go to college but probably drop out to do ‘SNL’ in a couple years. I absolutely thought: Lorne Michaels will walk by while I’m ordering a sandwich and think I’m funny and I’ll get on the show!”
She found she didn’t care for the pace of New York and transferred to a smaller college in Colorado where her love for theater really blossomed. After college, she spent a year in Sacramento doing improv and eventually moved to Los Angeles as Upright Citizens Brigade was blowing up. “My friend and I decided we were going to work whatever crappy jobs we had to just to take classes and get on that stage.” Those jobs included working at Target (“Which sucked”), the Disney café next to the El Capitan Theater and, ironically, Universal Studios when they still had the “Backdraft” attraction. She spent more than three years working a “rad job at a little company that stored sets and props for shows” while teaching and touring improv.
Sodaro did submit tapes and do showcases to audition for “SNL” but started to realize she was enjoying the dynamic of UCB and improv. “I learned there was this whole other world of comedy that I think I personally thrive in more,” she notes. She still performs regularly, including every second Friday of the month at UCB with her team Bangarang, and frequently guests at shows like “Assscat!”
