Pictured is Haley Kloess of Columbia, who serves as the voice for a character named Jade-Amber (left) in the animated family comedy “I Bee-lieve You Can Fly.” (submitted photos)

A Columbia woman serves as the voice of a lead character in an animated family comedy set to be shown at Comic-Con International in San Diego this week.

For 22-year-old Haley Kloess, a recent graduate of the University of Southern California who majored in theatre, acting is something that has come naturally from a young age.

“I have been acting since I was very little, and I did a lot of musicals, plays and short films around the St. Louis area while I was growing up,” Kloess said. “I always thought voiceover acting seemed really fun as well, and I got a couple of chances to do commercial voiceovers when I was younger.

But I was so excited when I finally got the chance to explore voice acting for animation.”

Kloess provides the voice for Jade-Amber, a sassy, stuck-up giraffe in “I Bee-lieve You Can Fly.” The cartoon also serves as the pilot episode for a full series currently in the works.

From the founder of Los Angeles-based animation startup Flydra Creative, Jabril Mack, and his team, “I Bee-lieve You Can Fly” was selected out of hundreds of films from all over the world to screen at Comic-Con as part of its Children’s Film Festival. Comic-Con brings comics creators, science fiction and fantasy authors, film and TV directors, producers, and writers, and creators from all aspects of the popular arts together with their fans.

“I first got connected with Jabril during my freshman year at USC when I auditioned and did a voiceover for an earlier project of his that I saw a flier for, and then he contacted me again a couple of years later asking if I wanted to be involved in this project,” Kloess said. “I of course said yes! I love that his projects are humorous but have a lot of heart.”

Kloess went to Immaculate Conception School in Columbia before attending Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, from where she graduated in 2012. The daughter of Ken and Karen Kloess, Haley has an older brother named Ben.

“Haley stole the show!” Mack told the Republic-Times of her work on his cartoon. “I really wanted to have a likable ‘bad’ character and I instantly thought of Haley. Even though she’s the nicest person, I love her in mean roles because there is just something so endearing about Haley’s voice. She is also always down to experiment and have fun.”

Mack said there were times during the recording session when he had Kloess take her character “all the way to 10 in terms of silliness,” and she jumped right into it.

“Some of that side of Jade-Amber made it into the film and gets the biggest laughs,” he said. “It’s always hard to find an actor that can play mean and silly and everything in between, but Haley nails it.

Audiences of all ages really like her character despite her being a total jerk and it’s a testament to her talents.”

Kloess said she entered the voiceover studio with ideas and then collaborated along with the creative team to try different intonations and possibilities.

“We recorded my voiceover without yet having the animated footage, meaning they would later draw the picture to match how I said it, rather than vice versa,” she said.

Something that changed her plans for the character’s voice was that Mack suggested the giraffe might have braces, so Kloess modified the voice to sound a bit lispy occasionally.

“They gave me ideas for new ways to try saying the lines, and I got to be silly and do a bunch of crazy voices,” she said. “It’s so fun, because you can get really into it, and even though only your voice is being recorded, a lot of times you have your whole body involved in order to get the right kind of energy and enthusiasm. I’m sure I looked really funny while recording it.”

Kloess said she really enjoyed her character.

“What’s so amusing to me about (Jade-Amber) is that she is quite pompous and totally has the idea she is better than everyone else, but at the same time, she is portrayed in a somewhat dorky manner,” Kloess said. “I think people are able to like her, even though she is a bit mean-spirited and villainous, because of these silly qualities that make it clear she is possibly not as big of a threat as she thinks she may be.”

Kloess said she is excited that a project she was involved in is gaining so much attention.

“It is an honor to have a film shown at such a well-known event, and I am so happy that many more people will get to see it,” Kloess said. “It truly is a project with a lot of laughs, smiles and inspiration, and can be enjoyed by a wide range of people.”

For more on “I Bee-lieve You Can Fly,” visit online at http://flydra.com/BaileyandClark.