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What's more, she can pick one character's voice and sustain it for as long as it takes to get the job done. That's talent, folks.
"When I was a kid, I watched Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mighty Mouse - that era," she said. "I never even thought how they were done, that those were live people doing the voices. I really didn't think much about it until I started doing the process myself."
At the invitation of her friend, novelist Peggy Webb, Sampler served as a judge for the 2009 Tupelo Film Festival. After the festival, I got to travel to Webb's place to spend some time talking about the voice over business, the kind of job you'd get if you were very good in a past life.
"It's not just words," she said. "You have to breathe, get excited, run, trip, fall, all of it, whatever's on the screen. 'Huh?' 'Whoa-oh!' 'Hai! Hai! Hai!'"
A Texas native, she went to Hollywood to be an actor. She succeeded, landing a long-running job as Renee on "Days of Our Lives" and playing Donna on "Another World." She also guest starred on "Hunter," "T.J. Hooker" and "The Incredible Hulk," among others.
Speaking of the "Hulk," Sampler was at a birthday party and spent much of the night talking to a guy who planned to turn "The Incredible Hulk" into an animated TV series.
"I said, 'I can't believe that. I do animation,'" Sampler said, "but I didn't do animation."
She had done voice over work for radio and TV commercials, though, and she got the job.
"If I hadn't fudged the truth," Sampler said, "I might never have been in animation."
She's appeared in both "Madagascar" films, "Rugrats," "Digimon," "Stanley" and many more. She's also lost her voice after screaming all the way through the "Evil Dead II" video game.
"Work begets work. You constantly audition and hope for the phone calls that say, 'We want to use you,'" she said. "When that happens, I have no idea about the character I'll play, a boy, girl, an animal, infant, college age, teenager, old woman, the hero, the villain. It could be anything."
She's continually on the lookout for interesting real-life characters to help bring fictional ones to life.
"I go through life observing," she said. "I don't try to do people's voices. It's more than that. You try to hang onto and remember what attracted you to them, and see if you can apply it to a character."
I think she's got one of the best jobs in Hollywood, and Sampler's pretty happy about it, too.
"I love surprises and I love to be challenged," she said. "It's a thrill. It's fun. It's so satisfying. You can be anything that the mind can create.
"You try to get in touch with your inner child and play," she continued. "I mean, here's an opportunity to bring your imaginary friends to life."
M. Scott Morris is a Daily Journal entertainment writer. Contact him at (662) 678-1589 or scott.morris@djournal.com.