Voice Actor

Nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in Studio Ghibli’s 2021 animated film Earwig and The Witch, Vanessa is best known for playing Hera in Star Wars: Rebels, Wonder Woman in DC’s Harley Quinn, Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Canary in Young Justice, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Rick and Morty. In the world of video games, she is Sheeva in Mortal Kombat 11, Olga in Metal Gear Solid 2, and Jan Ors in Star Wars: Jedi Knights II. A gamer herself, she live streams regularly on her Twitch channel. She announces TV promos for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HGTV, VH1 and MTV. She narrates shows for ESPN, Lifetime, E!, TLC, and Tennis Channel. Raised in a show business family by Joan Van Ark of Knots Landing and John Marshall of KNBC News, her first acting job was with Julie Harris playing her mother’s role (Valene Ewing) as a child. Vanessa’s award-winning sculptures earned her admission into Princeton University. After acquiring a Masters in acting from NYU, she performed stand-up at The Comedy Store and The Improv, as well as sketch comedy at the Acme Comedy Theater. One of her many performance essays was published in Anna David’s book True Tales of Love and Lust from the story-telling event by the same name. Vanessa’s monthly column in the Star Wars Insider magazine tracked her intergalactic fangirl experiences. As a former “plus-size” model, she created a one-woman show Got Phat? -which ran successfully in both LA & NYC. She later won Uncabaret’s The Other Network Comedy TV pilot competition for her TV adaptation entitled Plus Me.