For many years in Hollywood there was an invisible, unspoken agreement between studios and performers: one in which actors would live a high-risk, high-reward lifestyle; and in exchange for living an irregular lifestyle with no guarantees, the studios would make living that lifestyle a sustainable one for actors.
Posts filed under Voice Acting
My answer to “How do I become a voice actor?”
Today marks 4 years since I moved to Los Angeles to further my Voice Acting career and earlier this month I also celebrated 10 years since my first trip to the USA, which was my first voice-over adventure and the first big step in my VO career. In my time here in America I have been fortunate enough to work on many wonderful projects, accomplish a number of my goals, make many of my dreams come true and achieve successes that I once would have considered impossible. I'm even at a point where I have people who admire my work ask me about how to become a voice actor.
So I thought I would celebrate all these milestones by sharing my thoughts on what I feel it takes to become a voice actor and what you can do to make it happen…
How to ask professionals for advice
Throughout this year, I've received a number of emails asking for VO advice. I'm flattered and grateful people feel I can help them with voice-over and most of these messages have been wonderful but one or two have lacked in some basic courtesy and politeness. So I just wanted to share some thoughts on politely asking for advice, based on the things I used to do when writing to voice actors and things people have done when writing to me that I have liked…
Beau's Voice Acting Adventures… AND WHY IT ALL TIES INTO Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
This past weekend, on Saturday 26th June 2021, I celebrated 3 years since I moved to the USA from England to further my voice acting dreams! On social media, people may have even seen me post about this special anniversary with an accompanying image from the classic Nintendo GameCube game "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door". In fact, before moving to America and for my first few anniversaries, I done posts with a picture from the game. But why? I thought it may be fun to explain…
How my faith in Voice123 was restored… before they made me lose it AGAIN
Several years ago, after finishing a year-long Premium subscription to Voice123, I wrote a blog post discussing my experience, a review expressing what I personally liked and disliked about the site, why I knew pretty early on that it wasn't for me and why I would not be renewing my subscription. I acknowledged however that one day, I may be in a situation where I may need to try it out again. The blog post became incredibly popular and drives a lot of traffic to my site - if you are interested in reading it, you can do so by clicking here: my original Voice123 blog post.
Last year I relocated from a small town in England to Los Angeles to further my voiceover career and to make my voice acting dreams come true. I already had laid a lot of groundwork in the USA, having befriended many voice actors and so on, but I knew that whilst I was building things up here more in America, I wanted to use a pay-to-play website to help keep me busy. After looking into numerous options, I very reluctantly decided to give Voice123 another go… that “one day” had finally come.
Why keep video game voice actors a secret?
I always find it funny when I watch a trailer for an upcoming video game, recognise a voice and yet the voice actor is not allowed to reveal that they are indeed that character. It makes me wonder: why keep video game voice actors a secret?
Voice Acting and Fame
Voice actors are not renowned for being famous. If your goal in life is to be well-known, to be a celebrity, there are a million better ways to accomplish that than by being a voice actor. It truly is a craft and a business where it is wise to do it because you love it.
If you showed 100 people a picture of Homer Simpson and asked them to identify who he is, how many people do you think would correctly identify him? I don't have an answer for this but I think 90 or more people would probably be able to "guess" correctly. That's 9 out of 10 people or greater. I feel this is quite a fair estimate for the main character of one of the most iconic television shows in history. But if you asked 100 people who voices Homer Simpson, how many of them do you think would know this? Well this time, I might have an answer…
My love for TV shows with reused action sequences
I say this absolutely sincerely and without irony: I love TV shows that reuse action sequences.
I imagine that a lot of people, if they heard that a show reuses footage, could easily jump to some conclusion that it is lazy or being cheap or that the show won't be good. However, I feel there are many benefits to doing it.
The Final Step to Mastering an Accent
Though mastering different accents is not a necessary undertaking on the path to becoming a successful voice actor (or any other kind of actor) it is still a cool and fun skill to have. Being able to convincingly and consistently perform another accent will open doors for you and widen the range of opportunities available to you.
Naturally when trying to learn an accent, you must know what that accent truly is and to be able to listen back to yourself objectively to know whether you are doing it justice. There are abilities you'll want to master along the way, such as being able to perform the accent at different volumes and with different emotions. But there is one way I feel that you can know for sure that you can confidently say that you can perform an accent. Ready to hear it?
5 Ways Cartoons Have Improved
With time, everything changes and cartoons are no exception. The creation of animated shows has transformed vastly over the decades – with artistic, acting and storytelling styles evolving enormously. Though it is debatable as to whether on the whole cartoons are now better, there are things that I don't really see in cartoons anymore that I feel (and I think most people also feel) make them a whole lot better. So here are 5 cartoon improvements:
Why I NEVER want to subscribe to Voice123 again... but still may have to
I have just finished my first (and hopefully last) Premium subscription to Voice123. At the cost of $395, what this generally entailed me to is for the past year I would get auditions from their "Smart Cast" system and would be more likely to get more private auditions than non-paying members. Literally weeks into my subscription however, I had my doubts about whether the site was right for me and soon after that I knew in my heart that after my year was up I would not want to go through it all again. Wondering why? Read on...
Why I think Columbo is a terrific show for actors to watch
I think Columbo is a really terrific show. What I also firmly believe is that the show is a useful resource from which much can be learned, notably by actors. Weird idea, I know, but hear me out as I explain why I feel watching this show is hugely beneficial.
The Evolution of Video Games, Voice Acting, SAG-AFTRA and Fair Wages
I’m weird. I have been a gamer almost all of my life, however the world of modern voice acting in video games is a realm that is actually somewhat new to me despite having been aware of and experiencing voice acting in video games since the late 90s.