A Queens native has been tapped to voice the title character in the popular children's cartoon "Dora the Explorer."
Fatima Ptacek, 11, will be heard as Dora when the cartoon premieres its seventh season on Nickelodeon Monday, Jan. 30. "Dora the Explorer" is the most-watched preschool program on television, according to the network.
"Dora is proudly bilingual and uses her knowledge of English and Spanish to communicate with her friends, overcome obstacles and reach her goals," according to a press release from Nickelodeon.
"I don't do a special voice for Dora," Ptacek told the New York Post. "I just do me. I don't change my voice at all -- I'm just a little more energetic. I'm fluent in English and Spanish, and so is Dora."
Ptacek, who is also a child model, said she went in blind for the Nickelodeon audition last year, but quickly caught on when she read the script.
"While I was reading lines I realized it was for Dora, because I recognized them from episodes I had seen," she told the Post.
The sixth-grader, who attends school in Sunnyside, signed a three-year contract with Nickelodeon.
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Ptacek made headlines in 2010 after earning $250,000 a year for her work in commercials, print ads and television work.
A daughter of a retired NYPD detective from Queens and an accountant from Ecuador, Ptacek is fluent in English and Spanish, and is studying Mandarin Chinese.
On an appearance of New York Live in May 2010, Ptacek said she wanted to "finish her career as a professional actress," but had her eyes set on going to Harvard first.
"My main goal is Harvard because I want to be a lawyer," she said.
Asked on New York Live if she had advice for other kids her age, Ptacek said, "Keep yourself unique."
