Learn

LIVE PERFORMING IS THE BEST TEACHER. FORMAL TRAINING OR WORKSHOPS MAY HELP TOO, BUT BE CHOOSEY!

Read Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt’s “Voice Over, Voice Actor” book.

Highly recommended for much more detailed info and insight into voice acting than I have here. Yuri and Tara are both terrific working voice actors and have put together a very thorough resource here. Read this!

Listen to all of Rob Paulsen’s “Talkin’ Toons” podcasts.

It’s available on iTunes for free. Most of the currently working VO greats talk about their careers and lives (new ones are added all the time). Great insight and lots of fun to listen to! Rob is a delight– an enduring talent who will always work. Learn from him and his friends! Heads up: This is uncensored!

An acting degree is not required to be a professional actor.

Training with a good acting school can be invaluable to gaining technical and emotional control as an actor. But beware: Some drama programs can be an expensive waste of time and money. The academic world too often teaches a sheltered, even lopsided, view of the performing arts and ignores the business side of the career. A student can emerge from acting school saddled with massive debt, no business sense and an inflexible idea of what being a performer can be.

Beware the teachers/programs that charge big money only to cut you down or string you along forever.

Sadly, a newbie often lacks the life experience needed to spot and defy false gurus. Don’t let anyone cut you down personally and never be afraid to tell an “experienced” or well-respected hack to go jump off a cliff for the right reason. That said, an honest and accurate professional opinion is worth gold. Research your prospective teacher.

Study the voice-over demos and promotional materials of your competition:

Listen to the demos of currently working voice actors posted on their agents’ websites. Your promotional materials must be as good or better as theirs. Never submit mediocre promotional materials. The best demos are brief, avoid redundancy, and above all show you can act– not just “make voices.” Have convincing promotional materials ready (a good demo on a decent website) when seeking representation (an agent) so you are good to go and appear professional to your prospective agent. Remember an agency’s voice-over, commercial and theatrical departments may well be completely separate. Signing with one department doesn’t necessarily imply signing with all departments within an agency.

Soak in the current entertainment landscape and its history:

The more familiar you are with both the history of entertainment and current pop culture the better. It will make it easier for you to diagnose an audition and dial-up the right tone and pace for your performance. Take it all in: plays, musicals, tv shows, movies (old and new) video games, books, comics, and especially cartoons– all networks as well as feature animation, if you are aiming at that area of voice-overs. Know Shakespeare. Know the archetypes of modern pop culture, for these provide the shorthand that directors will use to tell you what they want. Your grasp of this also helps reassure them that you understand what they are going for.

Choose recommended classes carefully:

Go with well-recommended, experienced teachers who actively cast and/or work, if possible. There is no shame in paying for an audience with “the gatekeeper,” if they are constructive and can bring you results. This won’t be cheap, but their time can be well worth it. If you are paying to see casting directors, make sure you are ready to make a good impression. The goal of any acting class is not to need that class anymore. Connect with other students who are headed where you want to go or who may be a few steps ahead of you and willing to help. I especially recommend improv training, but make sure it’s a good program not just an endless “comedy mill” money pit. Some well reputed programs look good on a resume’, but that’s about it. 

You want to be a (voice) actor? Start acting!

Classes and study can be fine but the best teacher is experience (it’s even better when you are paid to learn!). Get on a stage, get in front of an audience: Do plays, musicals, puppets, stand up, theme parks, open mic night, radio, home made video projects– anything! The possibilities in the digital age for exercising and finding your creative powers are endless. Get performing!

In answer to a number of inquiries: Sorry, but I don’t have region specific advice on “who to study with” in areas outside of Los Angeles. The path should be the same, though– do some research, audit if possible, get recommendations, check the teacher’s or class’s resume´.