“Rainbow Brite” Turned 40 This Year! The Woman Behind the Voice Reveals Secret to Show's Success (Exclusive)

• Bettina Bush first voiced Rainbow Brite at was 12 years old in 1984

• She reflects on the character’s legacy as well as plans for an upcoming Rainbow Brite reboot

• Bush tells PEOPLE about her favorite parts of voicing Rainbow Brite — and why she still has devoted fans today

Back in 1984, Bettina Bush was a 12-year-old voice actress who was working on her first series, The Littles, when producers asked her to read for a new role.

“They brought in this black-and-white drawing of a girl named Wisp, and they said, ‘What do you think she sounds like?’ And I just did the voice. And then I was cast,” Bush, now 52, tells PEOPLE.

Bush ultimately brought Wisp, who goes on a journey to become the multi-colored heroine Rainbow Brite, to life. In the course of her eponymous TV series, she teamed up with characters like Twink, Starlite and the Color Kids to save their world from all sorts of darkness.

In the 40 years since Rainbow Brite premiered in 1984, the character has remained a favorite for loyal fans, and in October, it was announced that Rainbow Brite would return to screens in a new TV series and film. Bush says the question of Rainbow Brite’s enduring popularity is “so easy” to answer. “She is such a beacon of hope,” she explains. “She envelops and embodies all the positive things that set kids on fire, that get them excited.”

Rainbow Brite’s message of positivity is timeless, she adds. “If you're feeling down, look up. You might see a rainbow. Everybody feels that way,” Bush explains.

Back in the ‘80s, Rainbow Brite also led a feature film, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. But Bush says she didn’t realize how big the Rainbow Brite phenomenon was until they decided to release a Rainbow Brite album titled Paint a Rainbow in Your Heart around that same time.

At first, producers looked for a singer whose voice could match Bush’s. When they couldn’t find someone, they decided to see if she could do it. Without telling her why, they asked her to sing “Happy Birthday.” “And they said, ‘That was great. Can you sing something else?’ ” she recalls. “And so I sang ‘Tomorrow’ from Annie, because I just happened to be in the play the summer before. And they said, ‘Okay, great. Rainbow Brite is going to have an album and so we're going to need you to sing for her.' "

“When that album came out, and it was so popular, that was when I was like, ‘Okay, wait, this is kind of a bigger deal.’ ” A Christmas-themed Rainbow Brite album followed, and the character and her animated friends were turned into toys, games and countless other pieces of memorabilia.

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Bush was set on being an actress from a young age. “I remember being in a Christmas pageant when I was 4. I was a little lamb around the nativity scene, and I was super meticulous about getting my lines right,” she remembers. “And I got them right.” Acting, she says, “wasn’t a want, it was just a given.”

And both her parents were “ride or die” when it came to her dreams. Her father was Charles V. Bush, the first Black graduate of the US Air Force Academy and the first Black Supreme Court page. “My dad, because of his background ... he was very much like, you stay true to who you are, and you don't let anybody tell you who you are. You tell them who you are,” she says. “And so I came out the gate knowing who I was, and he was just going to be supportive of it, period. And as long as I kept my grades up, which I did, then there was no issue.”

“I had a lot of freedom to explore who I was and who I wanted to be,” she shares, adding that both her parents went the extra mile to make sure there was always someone in her corner as a child star.

Other series Bush ended up working on as a young actor included The Karate Kid and My Little Pony. The latter was particularly special for her because every one of the 65 episodes she was in had a new song. Bush continued to work in voiceovers as she grew up, including voicing Alisa Carmichael on Rugrats. When people recognize her voice in public, she says, it’s usually for one of two things: a series of McDonald’s commercials she did, or her work voice-matching Jada Pinkett Smith’s character Gloria from Madagascar for the video game.

Now Bush is a mom of two: daughter Cassie, 14, and son Jesse, 13. Both of them have seen their mom’s work as Rainbow Brite, and Cassie even sang her mom’s favorite Rainbow Brite song — “Make Room for a Rainbow Inside” — in a talent show when she was younger.

Bush’s next projects include a children’s book with NFL legend Keyshawn Johnson and a children’s album. Being a mom, she says, gives her a good idea of “what works for” kids and “what delivers messages that land with them.” She explains, “I think that this generation particularly needs that hope and needs to be elevated, and they need to be able to carry that along with them in their hearts for their whole lives.”

As for the Rainbow Brite reboot, she’s “really hoping” to be involved. She says, “It would be really fun to play a role, to write a song, to just be a part, to be included.”

Until then, Rainbow Brite will always be alive in her heart.

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