Ashley Tisdale switches gears to voice 'Sabrina'

[October 12, 2013]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ashley Tisdale said she's delighted to voice the title character in Hub TV's new "Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch." But her 3-year-old niece has her beat.

"She's super excited about it," Tisdale said. "She saw the 'Sabrina' poster in my house and said, 'Aunt Ashley is Sabrina!'"

For Tisdale, her role in the animated series debuting 9 a.m. EDT Saturday is an acting treat.

Sabrina is "such a cute, quirky character. She's really cool and popular in 'witch world,' but when it comes to her human world she's klutzy and completely opposite," she said. "It's fun to play with both sides."

There's another advantage to the show, Tisdale said: Voice recording sessions don't demand playing dress-up and she can even work in sweats.

The live-action series "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," which starred Melissa Joan Hart as a high school student who discovers she's a witch, aired from 1996-2003.

Tisdale's voice-acting skills, honed in projects including "Phineas and Ferb," allow her to continue playing characters Sabrina's age or even younger. But the former "High School Musical" star now is 28, recently engaged to rocker Christopher French (they're in "the beginning stages" of wedding plans, she said) and runs her own production company.

Among other projects, the company is producing a pilot for ABC Family, Tisdale said. She's also keeping on-screen roles in the forefront, playing Rebel Wilson's sister in freshman sitcom "Super Fun Night" and taping an episode next week of "The Crazy Ones," the new Robin Williams comedy on CBS.

She sounds a bit awed talking about Wilson, who's wearing writing, producing and starring hats for her ABC sitcom. That is both daunting and inspiring, said Tisdale, adding, "You're so proud of her because she's doing it."

Williams is another role model, said the actress who began working as a preteen.

"I grew up watching every Robin Williams movie ever made, so this is so exciting," she said. "It's cool to be able to work with people you've looked up to and enjoyed and can learn from."

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Online:

http://www.hubworld.com/

[Associated Press; LYNN ELBER]

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