There’s been a seismic shift in all voiceover genres. Roughly eighty percent of current casting specs whether for commercials, corporate narrations, eLearning, or explainers reference a “real person” as the sound of the character they’re looking for.  They want the voice over to sound as natural as possible – as if the thoughts were springing to life in your brain moments before they spill forth from your mouth. So it is our job, as voice actors (actor being the important word here) to find and use our authentic voices while performing the role of “real person” that they’re wanting to appear in front of the microphone. 

Naturalism In Acting Is Not New

The concept of naturalism in acting is not new. In fact, the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski introduced the concept a hundred years ago in his teaching. He believed that the best way to embody believable and realistic characters was to simply be yourself, because “the person you are is a hundred times more interesting than the best actor you could ever become.” His “system” of acting was to forget anything representational and have the actors search inside themselves for experiences that they can bring to the scene they’re portraying. To draw upon conscious thought to provoke subconscious emotions and behaviors that can then inform and fill the words being acting with realistic and believable reactions.

My favorites, Uta Hagen and Sanford Meisner expanded on it. In fact, if you look back over time what was heralded as natural acting sixty years ago compared to thirty years ago and today is continually moving further and further along the spectrum of vulnerability and authenticity. 

Naturalism Vs Realism – Both Lead To Authenticity

Is naturalism the same thing as realism? Some scholars do argue the point, but for the purpose of our discussion, I think one is built on the other. And both are the path to authenticity – which is the true destination.

So what is authenticity? Keeping it real. Our challenge as voice actors is presenting someone else’s words, stories and messages as if they are our own in an authentic way. I have seen some people call that lying (more on that in a minute). But I think that’s the wrong way to look at our craft. Yes, we are playing out someone else’s truth, and at the same time being told to make it our own and that can cause frustration and confusion – especially when, for example, the truth belongs to a nurse or a doctor and we’ve never been either.

But authenticity is honesty. And before we get into authenticity in acting, let’s just look at it in life for a moment. With possible exceptions, these days, authenticity is lauded as being essential to personal interactions and leading teams. More and more businesses are looking for employees who bring their honest, authentic and creative selves to work every day. Brands look for the most ethical way to stay true to their mission and create valuable customer relationships by embracing the “engagement model” with authentic interactions. And in our own private lives, we react differently depending on the circumstances and the people we’re with – the same authenticity that we can bring to our acting.

As actors, we are trained in the art of putting on and wearing different “masks”, while authenticity and its pursuit seek to remove all of them. And what makes good acting great is seeing that last sentence, not as a contradiction, but as two sides of the same coin – you need them both to make it whole. So we must start first with being authentic and honest with ourselves. This doesn’t mean we need years in psychoanalysis (though I am a big proponent of maintaining good mental health which personally has included several tune ups over my lifetime). It means we simply have to be able to answer questions like “how would I feel if I were…” or “when I’m feeling happy/sad/excited/angry” what do I do”? It’s important to establish your own identity (not always easy to do for us performer types who thrive on what others think of us) and know what you might do/say/feel in the environment of the scene you’re playing. Even if it’s a one-liner like “Mmm that tastes good” in a commercial.

Telling the truth in an imaginary circumstance is the logline of acting. This is true in any setting, from audition to finished product. In every case you need to have a high level of introspection; regularly question who you are and what you believe, genuinely believe in yourself and be consistent in your words or actions (and in other’s words and actions too).

Acting Is Not Lying – It Is Telling Someone Else’s Truth, Authentically

There is a misconception among some that acting is lying. Unfortunately, I’ve even heard this from a couple of drama teachers and one actor. As an artist, I actually find that a little insulting. Because to me acting authentically is not lying, it is actually putting myself into a situation where I (not someone else but me) would say those words in a truthful way. It’s actually the antithesis of lying – good acting is more about discovering and reenacting how you would truthfully behave given a certain set of circumstances.  

The definition of a lie is: “to speak or write knowingly and wrongly that which is not true; say or do what is false with intent to deceive another who has rights in law or morals, to know the truth.” And yes, we are not, in real life, the role we are playing. But since the intent is not to deceive, but rather to inform, encourage, argue, announce, instruct, caution or entertain, among other motivations, the fact that we are not portraying our own realities doesn’t mean we’re lying. In fact, as the Odyssey piece points out, “the unique function of acting is to take reality, made from the imagination of the playwright, and express oneself as you would emotionally, physically and mentally if this made up reality were the true reality in the moment that it is made up, all for the purpose of telling a story in order to make a point. Therefore, you are in a sense, a part of a pretense. The difference between the pretense that you take on and the pretense that a liar takes on is the intention.”

And as Paul Kiernan so brilliantly states Acting Is Not Lying, “everyone can lie, not everyone can act… when an actor is doing his job he is storytelling at a level that heightens the story to a work of art. He is not lying to you because he gains nothing by lying and everything by being truthful.”  I couldn’t agree more.

When we think of character work in voice acting, obvious genre choices like animation and gaming rise to the surface. Jumping in to the concept of character work from here, “characters” (not to be confused with character actors) refers to the roles that are almost never the antagonist or protagonist. They’re the supporting roles, those that are eccentric, unusual or capture our interest in some way. Done well, they capture our attention and live in our memories. Done poorly, they fall into tropes and stylized cookie cutter 2-dimensional caricatures that don’t resonate with us.

The same tools actors use to create authentic, original characters in animation and gaming acting, form the basis for commercial and narration work as well. Does this mean that everyone is a character? Well, that’s one way of looking at it. Much in the same way that every character can (and should) be very real.

How To Breathe Life Into A Character

In order to begin to breathe life into a character, you have to understand who that character is. First look to the role and the project and dig for any clues or direction from the specifications for the job or role, from the director, or from the script itself. In animation and gaming, you’re often given more information than in medical narration, for example, but there’s always at least some clues as to who is speaking and why.

Then ask questions about how you would act/react in that role. Flesh it out. Build more than they give you. Create your backstory and your world. Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What is making you say what you need to say (aka the lines in your script). Really try to engage your imagination and live in the world you create for your character. This will help you to react organically and from an honest reflection of what you would do if you were them, in their circumstances, with their needs and motivations.

For film and theatre roles this list of questions will run deep. Actors in these areas are used to a longer preparatory period and time to live, breathe, work, eat, sleep as the character. Nothing stops us from putting this kind of work into our voiceover characters, even with far less time to do some imaginative world-building.  In fact, in my honest opinion, it can only lead us to more authentic choices behind the microphone.

Uta Hagen (another of my favs) had a list of nine questions she suggested answering for building characters in her classic “Respect for Acting”: 

1. Who am I? 
2. Where am I? 
3. What surrounds me? 
4. What time is it? 
5. What are the given circumstances? 
6. What is my relationship? 
7. What do I want? 
8. What’s in my way?
9. What do I do to get what I want? 

Tools For Building Voice Over Characters

I teach a shortcut version of Ms. Hagen’s list specifically geared for voiceover acting in my private coaching sessions with special direction on how to make these choices really come alive for you despite being alone within the confines of your small padded recording space.

One of the ways to enliven your choices is to engage your senses. Yes, you are working in the medium of sound but (as long as the mic doesn’t pick it up) you should bring physicality to your role. Start with how this character might feel – are they tired, excited, do they slouch, are they ramrod stiff with fear? Then also use other senses like touch, taste, and smell. And then, much like you used to do when you were little, visualize what is going on around you. To paraphrase Jen Craine from the NY Film Academy, really immerse yourself in what the character is experiencing. Then because you are prepared, take a moment and focus. 

To find inspiration for these moments in the booth, make sure you’re taking time to look around you as you go about your daily life. Use one of the sharpest tools in the actor’s kit – your powers of observation – and study human behavior all around you. Remember how people sound, talk, behave, and react to each other and bring this play into your own work.

Lots of my students ask for references to acting classes and books. Here are three more of my favorite books on character work:

Building a Character Constantin Stanislavski

The Actor’s Guide to Creating a Character: William Esper Teaches the Meisner William Esper, Damon DiMarco et al.

Tools and Techniques for Character Interpretation: A Handbook of Psychology for Actors, Writers, and Directors Robert Blumenfeld

Are you good at doing impressions? Do you find yourself getting laughs at parties with impressions of your family members, friends, maybe a boss? Is there a celebrity or two that you love to impersonate? This ability to truly capture the speaking mannerisms of another person, whether celebrity, icon or leader is a real opportunity for work in voice over. Audition specs often use celebrity references to suggest a certain style of speech or cadence a voice seeker is looking for in a delivery. But on occasion, often in games, but in other genres as well, buyers are looking for as close to the actual celebrity voice as possible. This is referred to as a “sound alike” and the more your impersonation is perfected, the more you can sell your penchant for imitation. Let’s take a closer look at what makes a good impersonation.

Impersonation Is A Study of Human Behavior

Though the obvious first step in is to focus on the voice, the pitch range, and the vocal mannerisms, the art of impersonation is really a study of human behavior. To truly capture how someone else speaks, we must first understand their pitch, cadence, and vocal qualities and then also try to capture the unspoken parts of speech, body language, subtext, attitude, and viewpoints.

Since it’s a logical place to start, let’s talk about pitch first. If you’ve studied music, especially singing, at some point you’ve probably noticed the musicality of our speaking voices. Like songs written in certain keys, our baseline voices gravitate to a certain key as well. One musician, taken by my husband’s voice (which happens to be quite lovely) noted that it was in the key of E which is rather unusual for a speaking voice. The first step in working on a sound alike will be to hone in on the key of their voice and start from there. Then notice the range of pitches they employ – are they up and down the scale with lots of highs as low, or do they hover around 2 or 3 notes in their vocal range?

Once you’ve found that key or pitch, then begin listening to the cadence and volume. The rhythmic flow of the words. Most people have a signature sound. Places where they naturally pause, where they might run certain phrases together. It may reflect an overall attitude, a comfort, or discomfort level. Pay attention to their energy when speaking. Do they project? Are they intent on being heard above all else? Or are they soft-spoken?

Do some serious observing of your subject. What is going on with their body when they speak? Where are their shoulders? Are they tense? Do they shrug? What are they doing with their mouth? Where are their lips? Pay attention to how they carry themselves physically. Is their physicality loose and languid, or are they stiff and rigid?

What facial features do they have? For example, Tom Hanks’ upper lip doesn’t move as much as the rest of his face, and Steve Buscemi often speaks with teeth bared, lips pulled back. Don’t forget to pay attention to their eyes – do they squint when they’re speaking like Clint Eastwood, or are they more of an unblinking Betty Boop? Does their jaw come forward when they speak, or do they have an over/under-bite? Though you are working to perfect their voice, study their body and face as it will absolutely inform your performance.

Sound Alikes Require Acting Chops

Once you’ve got the physicality down, now you need to polish up your solid acting chops.  It’s time to start existing in the world as your subject would. What is their general demeanor? Are they timid? Quirky? Always joking? Serious as a heart attack? 

Cadence and volume mixed with body language are often indicators of emotion. Make note of how your subject of impersonation expresses joy, sadness, frustration, or anger. Do they have a default setting? Does the volume go up and the pace increase? Or are they a slow burn who gets quiet and deliberate in their speech when emotions are high? How wide is the range of emotions they display, or are they closer to a deadpan delivery?

Look at the world through that person’s eyes until you feel you’ve connected with some aspect of them. What’s their viewpoint? Then use your acting skills to identify it, identify with it and identify it in yourself. This will help you capture their subtext and attitudes which also inform their speech.

Tips For Practicing Sound Alikes and Impersonations

Like the old joke about the best way to Carnegie Hall, the best way to perfect an impersonation is to practice, practice, practice. Here are some tips for how to effectively do that. 

If you’re newer to impersonations, start with people that you like or admire and make a list of your favorites. It is much easier to study, understand, and get a feel for the personality of someone you like than it is to choose someone you don’t like. Mimicry is flattery, after all. Additionally, empathy allows you to study your subject without judgment and with an eye to exploration and understanding.

Listen to the general sound of voices, their range, and tones. Try to identify where the sound of their voice originates – is it from the chest, the throat, or the nose? Rather than repeat the words someone says, try singing the melody of their speech to help find the musicality of it and the pitch range. 

One of my favorite tools for studying an impersonation subject is an online interview.  These are my favorite because the sample you get is not a person in a performance but in a more natural and informal(ish) setting. I suggest finding one, then selecting some key phrases from the interview, and slap them on an mp3. Listen, and study. Record yourself performing those phrases and then listen back and ask yourself are you close? What is off? How can you adjust it? A great resource for impressions and sound alikes is Jim Meskimen’s You Tube series who himself is a master impersonator. 

Animation is one of the most well-known genres in voice acting. The appeal of being the voice of a beloved cartoon character or the main character in a game is very attractive, especially to newcomers to voice over.  Fun and exciting as it is, there is a certain preparation and specific approach to animation that takes discipline as well as exploration and creativity. Although I’ve booked a number of animated roles in my career, it is not the mainstay of my work. As I recently began teaching Voice Studio in the Theatre Department of my city’s college, I wanted to solidify my animation knowledge to transfer that to my students. So, I spoke to some colleagues at the top of the animation game and got some great insight. And of course, I wanted to share this with you.  

In Part 1 I talk to casting director turned coach and booth director, Everett Oliver, who’s insight from casting Men in Black, X-Men Evolution and his work on The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Jackie Chan Adventures among other shows has given him a unique perspective. Another consultation came from friend/colleague Richard Dumont, a talented actor-turned-director who (helped cast) and directed over 500 episodic animated series and is now also a gaming director (Assassin’s Creed, Open Season, Avatar). Here’s what they had to say:

Insights From Everett Oliver On Preparation For Animation Actors

“The biggest problem I see with actors is that they don’t prepare – they think they can just go ahead and just be the character,” says Everett. For inspiration on character creation, he suggests looking around your own life and to the people you know as well as. watching animated shows  Then, draw from those performances’ bits and pieces of personality, quirks, and behaviors that you can combine together to make new characters. No need to limit yourself to the land of the living. Watch both actors that are living and actors that are deceased and take a little bit here and a little bit there to cobble original characters.

“Stop worrying about your voice and really hone in on your acting.” Everett points out that actors physically go with their voice automatically – “that’s the first instinct, that’s technical, but it’s so much more than that – they’ve got to bring in the organic to make it pop, make it real. As a casting director – you’re listening for consistency in the character – every character has the capability of multiple notes – they will sing, run, jump, whisper, yell, etc in character. So explore how the character you’ve created does that before you bring that character to work” (whether for an audition or a show you might be in).

Also, pay attention to your energy level – it has to stay up – although sometimes you can correct a drop in energy by picking up your pacing. A special Everett tip to keep in mind, he’s noticed, “when auditioning for casting on the East coast, you’re going to want to respect punctuation more than on the West coast where you can ignore it – which is more in line with natural speech.” Though he’s quick to also reinforce following any instructions given by casting. “You can also listen to demos from any agency in NY or LA. They all have demos of actors who do animation. Listen and explore what styles are on their rosters.”

Everett also says if you want animation to be your game, be comfortable in several genres of animation. You should have the ability to be cartoony or natural, be adept at embodying the performances of an action-adventure (Star Wars type), or an adult swim (dark humor),  and know what specs fit you as a performer – are you the hero or the villain?  Or do you have both buried inside?

Insights From Richard Dumont On Immersing Yourself In Animation

For Richard Dumont, if you want to voice animation, make a study of it.  He suggests you really immerse yourself in the world of animation.  Take a look at old animation from the 50’s and every decade thereafter and look at the genre changes and shifts. Compare animation made for film vs that made for TV. Pick a series through the decades. Like Bugs Bunny, Rocky & Bullwinkle for the 50’s, The Jetsons, The Flintstones,for the 60’s, etc. Pick long standing iconic shoes like Scooby Doo, or Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, the Simpsons, Family Guy, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and study them.  When you’re watching them think about how animation has changed over time. Who was the audience for these shows? What was their attention span? What was the humor like in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s compared with now?

Richard says, “You’ve got to do the Pre work. Listen to the characters, hear the development. Take a show like The Simpsons, look at an episode from the first season and look at one from the current season – see the character development that’s happened. The shifts and changes in the same character. For example Homer in the early episodes vs. how Homer has evolved. You know, Dan Castelano actually started doing this character as Walter Matthau, literally doing a Walter Matthau imitation on the Tracy Ulman show but had to change it because he felt there wasn’t enough range there.”

Once you’ve purposefully watched as much animation as you can, Richard says then you can start with character development, but play to your strengths and develop them from what you already do well naturally. He also says you must have a funny bone. “You need a good sense of humor to be able to bring out the comedy in animation.” This is also something that can be cultivated through watching others. Find the people who make you laugh and make others laugh and then imitate their pacing, their rhythm, and how they set up or deliver a punchline.

As a side note, when I spoke to Richard, he mentioned he is casting a game right now where he went through 540 auditions – demos. I’ll say that again, 540, just for the one game he is directing currently. Needless to say, he knows what is good and what is bad in the first few seconds of listening. So, be well versed in what works. 

Bonus – A Great Video To Watch On How Actors Train Their Voices For Animation

I also wanted to tell you about this fun video put together by Insight that features the wonderful coaches Rudy Gaskins and Joan Baker who speak about all the preparation that goes into the performances of animation with pros like Phil Lamar, Nancy Cartwright, and celebrities including Will Arnett, Chris Pratt, The Rock, and others.  Joan demonstrates some key warm ups for getting the mouth, tongue, lips and jaw, and body ready for performing animation voice over. (And go ahead and try that last tongue twister – it’s harder than you think!)

Voiceover Narration for Non-profit Organizations

I’d like to dispel a poor bit of “advice” that keeps surfacing in the VO world: to shy away from voiceover for non-profit organizations. This guidance is, in part, because the remuneration is often low or lower than corporate work or commercial voice over work. But there are several reasons narrating for nonprofits can be beneficial. By avoiding non-profit organizations, you may be missing out on voice-over narration that can be extremely rewarding, occasionally financially, but more often the reward is measured in other ways. Before you write them off your marketing plans, check out other benefits this work offers.

Why You Want To Narrate For Nonprofit Organizations

Rates

It is generally true that nonprofit organizations try to keep their video communication budgets as low as possible to be able to put the money they accrue to further their agenda. In the union world a public service announcement, for example, might pay out half the rate of a regular commercial or narration. However, not all of the work pays low rates. You can always bid for this kind of work at your regular rate. If you are exactly what they are looking for or they’ve been given a healthy budget and need to disburse funds accordingly, your rate may not be compromised. There may also be benefits in providing pro-bono narration work that can be reported as a donation on your taxes, talk to your accountant and see if you can get a charitable tax receipt in lieu of payment for work done.

Experience

For better or worse, there will be fewer people competing for this work because the price offered is generally lower. This means you may have a better chance of booking the work since the talent pool vying for it is smaller. And because less competition, also means more opportunity to build a relationship with these organizations with your marketing. Working with nonprofits can open opportunities for referral business as well.  The universe of non-profit organizations is smaller than the general corporate population and often as part of their mandates, they spend time building relationships with other non-profits and corporations. Being a trusted resource in this arena can be a very good way to build your client list.

Association

An important asset to any business, but especially in non-profit work is relationship building. And developing partnerships in a B2B2NPO (business to business to non-profit organization) may yield big benefits. For example, you may be doing a favour for an agency when you narrate for a non-profit. Chances are the agency is also doing a part or all of the work pro bono. If they ask you to participate, you have an opportunity to be seen as part of their team and benefit from that association.

You also get the benefit of being associated with the nonprofit itself. A few of the more recognized charitable organizations I have done voiceover narration work for include the American Red Cross, Easter Seals, United Way, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, B’nai Brith, Americares, the Nature Conservancy, Patient Access Network Foundation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Rotary International, Smithsonian Institution. 

Purpose

“Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and the inward man be at one.” Socrates may not have been specifically referencing non-profit narration, but there is a definite value to aligning what you care about with what you do. He also said, “Let him who would move the world, first move himself” and finding non-profit organizations that align with your values to narrate for can give your voice over work an extra dollop of purpose. You may not be able to afford giving a donation, but this may be a way you can contribute. Being a part of something larger than your own business and doing good in the world is a benefit that shouldn’t be undervalued. At the beginning of the covid 19 pandemic, a lot of people became very stressed very quickly. A narrator on multiple mediation apps, I created and narrated a couple free guided meditations for friends, family members and people in my business community to help ease the anxiety. Although not aligned with a non-profit, this offering brought me an extra sense of giving back

Work/Life Balance

There’s a great deal of satisfaction that can be gained from helping out your fellow man (or animals, or the environment, or fighting social injustice, etc..) While you’re spending time building out your voice over career, you may not have time to volunteer at the food bank, but you could offer to voice their Thanksgiving or Xmas spots as a donation. You can also align your VO business brand with a particular charity or branch of work where non-profits exist (i.e. healthcare or cancer or working with kids). This will not only benefit you in doing-good vibes, but also boost your brand recognition with other for profit corporations in the same space.