Elissa Knight

As the voice of EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) on the Oscar-winning animated adventure "WALL-E," actress Elissa Knight had an unexpected introduction to the spotlight. While working as an assistant at the heralded animation studio Pixar, she was called in to provide scratch track, a sound recording for the animator's use that is utilized as a placeholder to establish a production's pace. However, Pixar has become known for growing attached to their scratch tracks, and has often cast their own employees to voice their beloved characters. This is how Knight made her film debut as Tia, one of the Mazda Miata sisters, in the racing-themed comedy "Cars" in 2006. One day, Knight was called in to record a few short lines of dialogue for a new project that she hadn't seen the script for. She gamely provided different reads of a few words, including "WALL-E," "EVE," and "directive." Director Andrew Stanton had been struggling to find a compelling approach to the vocals for "WALL-E"'s robotic heroes, and ultimately had Knight's vocals electronically manipulated to create the unique timber of EVE's voice. In short order, Knight went from walking the halls of Pixar to walking the red carpet as the visually dazzling tale of robot love hit theaters in '08. While "WALL-E" went on to earn a long list of accolades, including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, Knight happily returned to her job at Pixar.