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<ul class="summary-list"><li>As temperatures rise in Arctic regions like <keyword id="6367287" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="siberia">Siberia</keyword>, researchers have observed "zombie" wildfires: blazes that smolder underground in the winter and return to the surface in the summer.</li><li>Zombie wildfires can combine with new blazes, making fires stronger and more widespread.</li><li>Fires in the Arctic region burn peat and other carbon-rich materials, pumping hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. </li></ul>In Eastern Siberia last year, summer fires roared across the plains. The fires burned more than 6.4 million acres in July 2019 alone, more than 2 million of which continued to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/huge-wildfires-in-russias-siberian-province-continue">burn through August</a>. Winter's cold and snow appeared to extinguished these fires — at least on the surface. But new research suggests they might not have died completely; instead, the flames may have smoldered underground, insulated by snow and fed by carbon- and methane-rich soil. Then this summer, the same fires seem to have reignited on the floors of Siberian forests after the snow melted. The blazes' dormant period has earned them a nickname: Zombie fires."We have seen satellite observations of active fires that hint that 'zombie' fires might have reignited," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), said in a <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-scientists-discover-strong-signals-reigniting-fires-arctic">press release.</a>"The anomalies are quite widespread in areas that were burning last summer," he added, referring to areas of increased <keyword id="28762" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="fire">fire</keyword> activity. But Parrington noted as well that the observations have "not been confirmed by ground measurements."Copernicus researchers have been monitoring the Siberian fires' emissions and intensity, and think these zombie blazes might have joined forces with new summer blazes this year. Already, 2020 has brought one of Siberia's worst wildfire seasons on record, <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/44107/siberia-climate-hotspot-wildfires-russian-cities-smoke/">according to Greenpeace</a>. An area larger than Greece has burned.<h2>The Arctic is warming far more quickly than other regions </h2>Wildfires have survived through Arctic winters and reignited in the summer before, according to Parrington. But these recent zombie fires are cause for concern because <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword> is leading the Arctic region to warm at twice the average rate of the rest of the world. Siberia is at least 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) above its long-term average this year.In May, some regions saw temperatures 46 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/21/arctic-temperature-record-siberia/">according to the Washington Post</a>. Then a major heatwave in June led temperatures in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, possibly the highest recorded <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/reported-new-record-temperature-of-38%C2%B0c-north-of-arctic-circle">within the Arctic Circle</a>.<div type="image" title="In this handout photo provided by Olga Burtseva, children play in the Krugloe lake outside Verkhoyansk, the Sakha Republic, about 4660 kilometers (2900 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 21, 2020. A Siberian town that endures the world's widest temperature range has recorded a new high amid a hear wave that is contributing to severe forest fires. Russia's meteorological service said the thermometer hit 38 Celsius (100.4 F) on Saturday in Verkhoyansk, in the Sakha Republic about 4660 kilometers (2900 miles) northeast of Moscow. (Olga Burtseva via AP)" height="2000" width="3000" msid="78028950" hostid="261"></div>Such heat thaws and dries out soil, which makes it easier for fires to spread and leads them to burn more intensely and for longer. Zombie fires, in turn, add a "cumulative effect" to newer fires, Parrington said."The warmer it gets, the more fire we see," Mike Flannigan, a fire researcher at the University of Alberta who has studied zombie blazes, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/05/28/zombie-fires-burning-arctic-siberia/">told the Washington Post</a>.<h2>Zombie fires release tons of CO2</h2><div type="image" title="FILE - This Sunday, June 21, 2020 photo provided by Olga Burtseva shows an outdoor thermometer indicating 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) around 11 p.m in Verkhoyansk, Sakha Republic, about 4,660 kilometers (2,900 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia. A record-breaking temperature of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) was registered in the Arctic town the previous day in a prolonged heatwave that has alarmed scientists around the world. (Olga Burtseva via AP)" height="3630" width="2723" msid="78028953" hostid="261"></div>Giant fires in the Arctic release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In 2019, fires within the Arctic Circle pumped out 182 million metric tons of CO2, dwarfing the previous record of 110 million metric tons emitted in 2004. (A metric ton is about 2,200 US pounds.) Then in the first eight months of 2020 alone, the fires released 244 million metric tons of CO2, <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/copernicus-reveals-summer-2020s-arctic-wildfires-set-new-emission-records">according to CAMS.</a> That's more than any other year on record in the Arctic, and more than the entire country of Vietnam released in 2017."In this part of Siberia, the signs of climate change are already here. It's not some distant future. It's now," Amber Soja, a research fellow at NASA and National Institute of Aerospace, <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146879/heat-and-fire-scorches-siberia">told NASA Earth Observatory</a>.These CO2 emissions come from the burning of vegetation that covers Arctic permafrost and frozen peatlands. Peat — a type of soil composed of broken-down organic material — is like superfuel for fires because of its high carbon content. Vegetation ordinarily shields the soil from sunlight, but if it burns, the soil loses its shield and warms further. As peat thaws and burns, its stored carbon <a href="https://eos.org/articles/experiments-reveal-how-permafrost-carbon-becomes-carbon-dioxide">gets converted into CO2</a>.The world's permafrost contains over 1 trillion metric tons of carbon, according to a recent analysis by researchers at the <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020GL087085">American Geophysical Union</a>. Current climate change models don't even factor this carbon into their projections, which means <a href="https://eos.org/articles/experiments-reveal-how-permafrost-carbon-becomes-carbon-dioxide">they're likely underestimating</a> how quickly the climate could change. <h2>Zombie fires could make ice melt even faster</h2>In addition to releasing CO2, fires in Siberia <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-ice-melting-is-2070-worst-case-2019-8">deposit soot on Greenland's ice sheet</a>, which darkens its surface. Darker ice absorbs more heat, leading to faster melting. <div type="image" title="greenland" height="998" width="1500" msid="78028955" hostid="261"></div>The icy regions of Greenland and Antarctica hold more than 99% of the world's fresh water, but these ice sheets are melting rapidly. Last year alone, Greenland alone lost 532 billion metric tons of ice.

'Zombie' fires smoldered beneath Arctic ice all winter then reignited, causing one of the region's worst fire seasons in history

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Siberian town of Verkhoyansk hit 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday, following months of record-breaking heat in the <keyword id="59606" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="arctic">Arctic</keyword> Circle.</li><li>Last winter was the hottest in Siberia since temperatures were first recorded 130 years ago, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there's a 75% chance that 2020 could be the hottest year on record.</li><li>If not for <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword>, Siberia's <keyword id="3175510" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="record-breaking-temperatures">record-breaking temperatures</keyword> would be "a one in 100,000 year event," one scientist said.</li></ul>The Arctic Circle hit temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday. If verified, it would be the region's hottest day on record.The Siberian town of Verkhoyansk reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 32 degrees higher than normal temperatures, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arctic-hottest-temperature-ever/">CBS News reported</a>. The same day, extensive fires blazed east of Verkhoyansk, <a href="https://twitter.com/kilkennyweather/status/1274440991852892161">satellite images show</a>. On the East Siberian Sea, north of the town, those images showed open water instead of ice.The Siberian town, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow, Russia, is historically one of the coldest places on Earth. Last November, temperatures dropped to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arctic-hottest-temperature-ever/">almost -60 degrees Fahrenheit</a>.Siberian temperatures have broken records in the past several months, however, and last winter was "the hottest in Siberia since records began 130 years ago," Marina Makarova, chief meteorologist at Russia's Rosgidromet weather service, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/17/climate-crisis-alarm-at-record-breaking-heatwave-in-siberia">told The Guardian</a>.In late May, Khatanga recorded 78 degrees Fahrenheit, CBS <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> reported. Two weeks later, Nizhnyaya Pesha reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The month of May was 50 degrees higher than average in western Siberia. If not for man-made climate change, Siberia's record-shattering heat would be "a 1 in 100,000 year event," Martin Stendel, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, <a href="https://twitter.com/MartinStendel/status/1270382142049091584">said on social media</a>.Searing, record-breaking heat is also occurring in the United States.Caribou, Maine, hit <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSCaribou/status/1274051975596793857">a record 96 degrees Fahrenheit</a> on Friday and stayed in the 90s through Saturday. Nearly 2,000 miles away in Miami, temperatures have only reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit once since 1896, when the city began recording temperatures, according to CBS News.<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/27/meteorologists-say-2020-on-course-to-be-hottest-year-since-records-began">Meterologists said earlier this year</a> that 2020 is on pace to be one of the hottest years ever. "It is virtually certain that 2020 will be a top 10 year," <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202003/supplemental/page-2">the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said</a> in April, and there's a 75% chance it could be the hottest on record.Climate change will be felt most severely in the Global South, especially among the poor and working class. But the United States "is projected to receive the second most devastating economic effects of climate change," <a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/were-not-in-this-together-chaudhary">wrote political theorist Ajay Singh Chaudhary</a>, executive director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Climate change will deepen global inequality and conflict, he warned.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/davos-guests-private-jets-climate-crisis-2020-1">Davos says it is focusing on the climate crisis, but its billionaires and world leaders are still arriving on private jets</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/australia-prime-minister-fires-climate-change-emisisons-2020-1">Thousands of Australians are calling for their prime minster's resignation. He's vowed to keep exporting coal, despite the link between fires and climate change.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/doomsday-clock-moves-closer-to-midnight-than-ever-2020-1">The 'Doomsday Clock' has jumped closer to midnight than ever as nuclear weapons and climate disasters turn the world into a 'pressure cooker'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/jane-fonda-climate-protests-fire-drill-friday-2020-1">Jane Fonda explains why she's willing to get arrested in the fight against climate change</a></li></ul>

The Arctic hit its hottest temperature on record, more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa">NASA</a> and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/noaa">NOAA</a>) announced Wednesday that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recording-breaking-weather-linked-to-climate-change-2019-11">2019</a> was the world's second-hottest year on record.</li><li>The US saw 14 "billion-dollar <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/natural-disasters">disasters</a>" last year, causing a total of $45 billion in direct losses.</li><li>Most of that damage came from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/record-flooding-changing-davenport-iowa-mississippi-river-2019-10">heavy rainfall</a> tied to warming.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/alaska">Alaska</a> saw its hottest year on record, with extreme drought and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arctic-on-fire-satellite-images-from-space-2019-8">fires raging across the Arctic</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Last year was the second-warmest the world has ever seen.Major natural disasters, many related to rising global temperatures, cost $45 billion in direct losses in the US alone.Those are the findings of a joint report about the 2019 global climate that NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released on Wednesday. The data shows that last year's record temperatures were second only to 2016's."The decade that just ended is clearly the warmest decade on record," Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-noaa-analyses-reveal-2019-second-warmest-year-on-record">press release</a>. "Every decade since the 1960s clearly has been warmer than the one before."The cause is well established: Fossil fuels contain high concentrations of carbon, so when we burn them for energy, they release carbon dioxide gas (CO2) into the atmosphere. That gas traps the sun's heat, raising average temperatures across the globe."It doesn't really matter which way you cut it," Schmidt said in a press conference. "The fact is that the planet is warming."<h2>14 disasters in the US caused over $1 billion in damage each</h2>In addition to global temperatures, NOAA tracks weather and climate events that result in over $1 billion in losses. The agency calls these "billion-dollar disasters."In 2019, the US saw 14 of these events, at a total cost of $45 billion.Floods were the most expensive, accounting for $20 billion of that total. The damage primarily came from three flooding events along the basins of the Missouri River, Mississippi River, and Arkansas River.All three of those billion-dollar floods were triggered by heavy rainfall.Across the US, 2019 was the second-wettest year on record."A warmer atmosphere is a thirstier atmosphere," Deke Arndt, NOAA's chief of global monitoring, said in the press conference.That's because warmer air can carry more moisture. In dry areas, that means warmer air sucks more moisture out of the soil, drying out vegetation and raising the risk of wildfires. In wetter areas like New England, it means that warm weather systems hold - and dump - more rain."We are definitely seeing trends in the instances of big rain," Arndt said. "We're seeing the largest events getting larger. We're also seeing the larger events more responsible for a larger portion of the annual rainfall budget."Other billion-dollar disasters last year included Tropical Storm Imelda, Hurricane Dorian, and wildfires across California and Alaska.<h2>Wildfires raged across Alaska in the state's warmest year ever</h2>The high US temperatures were most pronounced in Alaska, which saw its hottest year ever.Climate scientists had previously observed that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world; but the new data suggests that could be a severe underestimate."It looks like it's now much closer to three times as fast," Schmidt said. "Eventually that will happen in the Antarctic as well."Amid the hot, dry conditions, <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/cams-monitors-unprecedented-wildfires-arctic">unprecedented wildfires</a> spread across the Arctic circle in 2019. Alaska's Department of Natural Resources had to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/as-fall-begins-in-alaska-wildfires-linked-to-warming-rage-on-2019-8">extend the state's fire season</a> by a month as hundreds of blazes continued raging past the normal expiration date. Some blazes even broke out within the Anchorage city limits. The city <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Anchorage-enters-extreme-drought-557887021.html">declared</a> an "extreme drought" in August 2019 for the first time in the two-decade history of the US Drought Monitor."I've been here 40 years, and this is the most extreme fire condition here that I can remember," John See, a wildfire expert at the Anchorage Fire Department, told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/as-fall-begins-in-alaska-wildfires-linked-to-warming-rage-on-2019-8">Reuters</a>.In June alone, Arctic wildfires released 50 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - the equivalent of Sweden's total annual emissions. That's more carbon than Arctic fires released during every June from 2010 to 2018 combined, <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/cams-monitors-unprecedented-wildfires-arctic">according to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)</a>. The July wildfires released <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/arctic-wildfires-continue-blaze">another 79 megatons</a> of CO2.<a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/arctic-wildfires-continue-blaze">The group said</a> these were the longest-lived Arctic wildfires ever recorded.Fires in Alaska and Siberia also <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/world/as-wildfires-scorch-greenland-its-ice-sheet-is-on-track-for-a-record-melt-season">deposited soot</a> on the Greenland ice sheet, which darkened the surface and caused it to absorb more heat, contributing to its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-ice-melting-is-2070-worst-case-2019-8">record melting</a> over the summer.<h2>The 2020s will probably be even warmer</h2>NASA and NOAA scientists sometimes model what the climate would look like without human activity, using computer simulations to remove the effects of fossil fuels, agriculture, and forest clear-cutting. "When we do that and we estimate what temperature patterns would be just because of those [natural forces], we end up with a massive discrepancy," Schmidt said. "That tells us that the natural forcings are not capable of explaining the trends that we've seen since the 19th century."In the next decade, these climate trends <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-in-the-next-decade-2019-11">are expected to get worse</a>. Even if all countries stick to the voluntary goals set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the world <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/v">would still emit</a> the equivalent of 52 to 58 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030. (This is measured as an "equivalent" in order to factor in other greenhouse gases, like methane, which is <a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/methane-other-important-greenhouse-gas">84 times</a> more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.)So far, most countries are not on track anyway."It would be almost certain that the decade will be warmer than the previous, almost certain that we will break at least one annual record in the process," Arndt said.

The US saw 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2019 - the world's second-hottest year ever

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Life in Diomede, <keyword id="12020240" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alaska" source="Orion">Alaska</keyword>, is unlike anywhere else in the United States.</li><li>Just 2.4 miles from <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s <keyword id="13507653" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="big-diomede" source="Orion">Big Diomede</keyword> Island, the city of 83 people can see the border from the shore.</li></ul>Geopolitical relations between Russia and the United States are often seen through the lens of geography, with both countries projecting power across multiple time zones on opposite sides of the Earth.As the world's two biggest nuclear powers — and as Russia's offensive against <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> enters its sixth month, placing US-Russia relations at an all-time low — fears of an armed conflict evoke images of long range missile strikes and proxy wars in far flung regions, or for Baby Booomers, "duck-and-cover" drills at school.Yet in the middle of the <keyword id="12554870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bering-strait" source="Orion">Bering Strait</keyword>, there are Americans who can literally see Russia from their homes."We're the back door of the country — or the front door, rather," Edward Soolook, a 55-year-old lifelong resident of Diomede, told Insider in a phone interview.Russian troops stationed on Big Diomede Island, situated 2.4 miles away, will yell in English at any boats venturing too close to their shoreline. They've even been known to fire off the occasional warning shot, Soolook said — adding he's never personally heard a warning shot."We're safe, as long as we sleep good at night," Soolook told Insider, noting that Soolook told Insider that life on the island hasn't changed dramatically since Russia invaded Ukraine. "We keep the eyes and ears."The city of Diomede, Alaska, on <keyword id="13507652" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="little-diomede" source="Orion">Little Diomede</keyword> Island, has a population of 83 people, according to the 2020 census.Big Diomede Island features a similarly barren landscape to Little Diomede Island but also a small Russian military base and a crashed Soviet Lisunov Li-2 aircraft from 1972.Big Diomede is in a timezone 21 hours ahead of Little Diomede, but both islands have clear views of each other, and the Alaskan city faces directly across toward the cliffs of the bigger island.<h2>Frontier of the frontier</h2>Little Diomede remains unknown to most Americans. But that's changed a bit in the past several weeks.In the burgeoning subgenre of Google Maps-themed TikTok videos, for example, a post by map_nerd about the islands already has more than 1.6 million likes on the social media app. Virtual travel to Little Diomede remains the best route there. Unless you charter or commandeer a boat when the ocean isn't frozen, there's only one way to get to Diomede — helicopter.Pathfinder Aviation offers helicopter trips to and from Diomede from Nome, on Alaska's western coast. These include emergency flights, which the company says are available 24-hours-a-day. A representative for Pathfinder declined to comment for this story.Bering Air, which also declined to comment for this story, ceased flights to Diomede after a storm broke up the frozen landing strip in 2018. "We hope to resume service in the future!" the company says on its <a href="https://www.beringair.com/about/our-destinations/little-diomede/">website</a>. The 2018 is rather unprecedented in the history of the islands and has remained ever since, according to <a href="https://alaskamagazine.com/authentic-alaska/wildlife-nature/alarm-bells-for-little-diomede-island/">Alaska Magazine</a>. "Climate change is real, and it is demanding that we the people must learn to live around new seasons, weather, ice conditions, and even the loss of our culture," Opik Okinga, Diomede's environmental coordinator, told the magazine. "Soon, we won't see the manners we practice, the practices that our ancestors gave us to survive." For more than 3,000 years, the Ingalikmiut people have navigated the islands and surrounding ice sheets, conquering the conditions and rocky surfaces to live off of the fish and other natural resources in the Bering Strait.

Meet Little Diomede Island in Alaska, the 'eyes and ears' of the United States just 2.4 miles from Russia

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Colleen O'Shaughnessey has voiced Tails since 2014 and reprises the role in "<keyword id="13577903" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sonic-the-hedgehog-2" source="Orion">Sonic the Hedgehog 2</keyword>."</li><li>Insider recently spoke with the <keyword id="13597428" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="voice-actor" source="Orion">voice actor</keyword> about the film, and what it meant to be cast in it.</li></ul>At the end of the first "<keyword id="13577904" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sonic-the-hedgehog" source="Orion">Sonic the Hedgehog</keyword>" <keyword id="11897475" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="movie" source="Orion">movie</keyword> in 2020, the reveal of Miles "Tails" Prower <a href="https://www.insider.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-post-credits-scene-easter-egg-2020-2">blew open fans' expectations for the future of the film series. </a>Known in the greater "Sonic" universe as a gadget whiz and the titular hedgehog's best friend, Tails first debuted in the 1992 game "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." His brief appearance in a mid-credits scene during the first "Sonic" live-action film meant that not only was there hope for a sequel, but that it would include at least one — if not more — classic "Sonic" characters. Since that first tease, Tails has been voiced in the "Sonic" films by voice actor Colleen O'Shaughnessey. She brings with her a considerable breadth of experience, not just in voiceover work, but in voicing Tails specifically: O'Shaughnessey has voiced that character since 2014 in shows like "Sonic Boom" as well as assorted "Sonic" <keyword id="12407442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="video-game" source="Orion">video game</keyword> titles. Despite all her credentials, O'Shaughnessey's casting was notable: As <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/how-celebrities-took-over-cartoon-voice-acting/247481/">The Atlantic reported in 2011</a>, and <a href="https://collider.com/why-celebrity-voice-actors-are-bad/">Collider in 2021</a>, voice actors are frequently passed over for blockbuster animated film roles in favor of recognizable <a href="https://www.insider.com/how-celebrities-train-their-voices-for-animated-movies-2019-4">celebrity talent</a> who can hopefully draw in audiences.O'Shaughnessey spoke with Insider about what that casting meant to her, as well as recording from her closet during the pandemic and meeting Jim Carrey for the first time. Warning: Light spoilers for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" ahead.<div type="image" title="sonic the hedgehog and tails in a small red propeller plane, backgrounded by a giant eggman-esque robot with glowing eyes and mouth in sonic the hedgehog 2" height="879" width="1173" msid="90788616" hostid="261"></div>Insider: This isn't the first "Sonic" film that you've been in — you very briefly debuted as Tails at the end of the first film, in what was maybe one of the most hyped post-credits scenes I've ever experienced. Colleen O'Shaughnessey: That was crazy. People lost their minds, it was awesome. How did you initially get brought on for that cameo, and what was that response like on your end?I recorded the credit scene in, I can't remember if it was August or September of 2019, but only a few months before the movie opened. I didn't know anything about it until they called and said, "Do you wanna do it?" And I said, "Of course I do." I didn't know it was gonna be a credit scene either, they made it sound like it was more like a cameo somewhere in there. Once I was there, I realized it was a credit scene. I'm like, 'That's so cool." I didn't know it was gonna be just Tails. I had no idea, because obviously it wasn't finished yet, so I didn't know. People would send me videos of their theaters exploding in excitement, people screaming and jumping out of their chairs. Overwhelming. I mean, I knew people love Tails. I love Tails. What's not to love about him? But the extent to which they were excited, I was like, "Wow."<div type="image" title="tails in the first sonic the hedgehog film tapping on a yellow device with a screen. he's a small, fluffy, yellow cartoon-ish fox with two tails" height="645" width="864" msid="90788617" hostid="261"></div>The sequel hadn't even been announced yet at the time, but was continuing on as Tails something that was on the table? When did you learn that you'd be voicing him in the second film as well?I had no idea. I don't think they knew if they were gonna get to do a second one at that point. So they started production for the second one last year, I guess. They pumped that out fast. Everyone's got this weird COVID timeline, it's so impossible to figure out where you are in time. I did not know that I was going to get to play him until like, May-ish, June-ish of 2021. You just never know, and being a voice actor, I really just assumed they would get a celebrity to do it. And I'm so, so thrilled that they didn't. What did it mean to have this near-decade body of work as this character recognized, and be able to continue playing him in this way?It really means so much to me, honestly. It's so hard to express in words. I love what I do, and I would pick voiceover every single day and twice on Sundays. I've done on-camera stuff, I've done theater, but at the end of the day, it's voiceover for me, it's what I love. It's my passion. It is just the best job ever. But we don't typically get to that level of what this movie is. And for me to do this so far into my career is just, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do with myself because it's just so exciting. You just don't expect it, and it's not that you think you can't do it, it's that it doesn't happen. The outpouring of support and excitement from all of my voiceover peers has just been so, so exciting. They're so excited for me, they're excited for the possibility for our whole community. It just means so much to me. I love this character, and that I get to continue on with him is… I'm so happy. I think it means so much to the fans too, because they get these characters that they love, and then, their favorite character's gonna be in a movie. And when you change the actor, it changes everything, and I think sometimes it can be disappointing. So the fans too have been overwhelmingly supportive and excited. You've spoken previously about developing Tails' character over the course of the television series "Sonic Boom" and other video game titles, but what was it like stepping into an earlier iteration of this character who's just meeting Sonic for the first time in "Sonic 2"?It was very interesting, because like you said, we're meeting him at the beginning of this relationship as opposed to a relationship that's already been established. It's also a much bigger scope, it's a cinematic universe. So the performance is definitely more grounded than it's been in the past. Especially in a video game, all the energy is way up here. And there certainly are high-energy, high-stakes moments in this movie, but it's a different kind of stakes. It's not "I'm trying to win the game" stakes, it's "I'm trying to save my life" stakes. And then it was matching that up with the rest of the film, to make sure that everything is fluid and works.Working with Ben [Schwartz] and finding that relationship was actually kind of a beautiful thing, because we were just getting to know each other, and Sonic and Tails are just getting to know each other. So it all made sense. <div type="image" title="ben schwartz and colleen o'shaughnessey standing on both sides of a person wearing a tails from sonic costume. schwartz, on the left, is raising his eyebrows and pointing at tails, while o'shaughnessey is smiling and has her hand on tails' chest." height="2111" width="2815" msid="90788619" hostid="261"></div>You two are going back and forth a ton in this movie as Sonic and Tails. You both have improv backgrounds, so were there any particularly memorable moments recording with him that didn't make it into the film?The best thing was recording that scene in Siberia. It was so much fun, and they just let us go. We kept really true to the script for a couple of passes, and then they were just like, "go for it." Especially the parts in the middle where we're bumping into each other, we got to just really go for it, and it was so much fun. Like you said, we both have an improv background, so it was easy. He's just so wonderful, and when you have a super pro like that who you get to work off of, it just makes your job even easier, you know? How many takes do you think the two of you did just spitballing there?Oh my gosh, I don't know. Probably five or six maybe of the full thing, and sometimes we'd break it up, and I think I did go back in a few times to add a couple things here and there once they animated. But yeah, it was so fun. You're like, "over this way," "no, that way," or "whoops!" You've been recording at home and a bit in the studio during the pandemic and on this film. Has that ever resulted in any funny mishaps with your family?I have two giant dogs who luckily are sleeping right now, but a leaf blows by and they're like [mimics barking], so there's that. I have two cats who love to sleep in my closet, and my booth is my closet. My husband is actually currently building me a fantastic booth space, but it's not done yet, so I'm still in the closet. Sometimes he needs socks, so it's like "Oh, please hold for sock retrieval."And then for whatever reason during the pandemic, everyone in the neighborhood had their gardeners coming on the same day at the same time, so it was impossible. I would schedule around my gardener, but then all the surrounding neighbors, all I hear is leaf blowers and lawnmowers. Luckily I'm not in a flight path or anything, but every once in a while then, "oh, they decided to jackhammer the street in front of my house."And then of course the technical difficulties that we all have faced. I mean, man, talk about the voiceover community coming together. Everybody was helping everybody. Shout out to sound engineers, because my god, they went above and beyond. First, it's hard because there's a delay, so every single line has to be moved. And then they're having to be the IT guy for every actor because we've never used all of these different programs and things before, and they don't know what computer we're using. They were so helpful, but they had to be like, 'Well, let's try turning it off and turning back on." That's the go-to, right? Like, "Whoops, I didn't actually plug the microphone into my computer, I don't know why you can't hear me." There was a huge learning curve, because I can do what I can do, but I am not a sound engineer. People go to school for that sort of thing, and I did not. There's too many cords, too many interfaces. I didn't even know the word interface, or preamp. I'm like, "I'll take the combo please."They would have these Zoom meetings for anybody that wanted to join in and they would give us ideas of good microphones, good preamps. And giving us in-betweens, like, "if you only have five bucks, you can get this one," or "if you wanna spend a lot you can get this other crazy one," or "you can get these ones that are in-between."But I'm so grateful that we were able to do it. We were like the only ones working, right? Everything was shut down. There was no production happening except for voiceover. <div type="image" title="the cast of sonic the hedgehog and director jeff fowler with people in costume as knuckles, sonic, and tails on the blue carpet at sonic 2 family day" height="2637" width="3517" msid="90788620" hostid="261"></div>What was it like coming full circle and getting to meet the rest of the cast and crew of this film closer to the premiere?It was so great. I met everyone in person for the first time at the family day on the Paramount lot, and I'm so happy that Ben [Schwartz] was there, because we were just like, "You're here, you're in person!" Just hugs galore with every single cast member, they were so lovely. I went up to Jim Carrey to introduce myself, and I just assumed he didn't know who I was. So I was like, "Hi, I'm Colleen, I play Tails." He grabbed both of my hands, and he's very tall and I'm very short. So he grabbed both of my hands and he bent over and went, "I know." And it was so sweet. He had the sweetest smile on his face, and I was like, "I'm gonna cry." And I know he said something after that, and I'm sure I said things too, but I have no idea beyond that what either of us said.But everyone could not have been more welcoming. James Marsden gave me a hug like we've been friends for years. He introduced me to his kids, I introduced him to mine. It's just been glorious. I finally got to meet Idris [Elba] on Tuesday [at the premiere]. I love him and I love his Knuckles. So good, he made me laugh out loud multiple times. <div type="image" title="knuckles the echidna in the sonic the hedgehog 2, with red lightning surrounding his fists and a serious expression on his face" height="879" width="1173" msid="90788621" hostid="261"></div>Were there any moments working on this film that are going to stick with you?I know I mentioned the Siberia scene. But the scene after, there's a couple of those really tender moments that I think are gonna stick with me forever. I don't want to spoil anything for anybody that hasn't seen it yet, but that little Sonic and Tails moment is just really beautiful.And when you get to flex those actor chops and really bring a tender moment, and especially then to see it on the big screen, the first time… I mean, tears. It was just so beautiful.I wanted to cry when he put his tails over Sonic while they were lying by the fire. Oh my god. They did those tails just so much justice. They were just big, fluffy, beautiful tails. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" is currently in theaters.

The voice of Tails in 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2' says she nearly cried when she finally met Jim Carrey — and explains why she's 'thrilled' they didn't cast a celebrity in her role

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