A voice-over artist, professional singer, jingle writer, and copywriter, she talks about how Robin Williams inspired her to get into voice-over as well as recognizing this as and the challenge of running a small business on your own. She also tells of being headed for her very first album. Hear about her move to Los Angeles as well as why she is such a proponent of learning improv. Unlike other episodes of NHTE that feature two original songs by the guest, an e-learning song and a gaming demo are the bookends around this interview.
“When I was only about 7 or 8 I saw ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ for the first time, and I remember the opening scene where Robin Williams is singing as the parrot and later the cat, and I remember I just looked at that and I said, ‘I don’t know what that is, but I want to do that one day!’”
“(Robin Williams) has always been my muse, somebody I’ve aspired to be even one-tenth like, particularly in terms of mental acuity and just how he inhabited his characters.”
“The hardest part about voice-over – aside from the fact that it’s about ten times more competitive than on-camera acting – is that you’re running a small business on your own, you’re wearing all these different hats; you have to juggle between auditions, marketing, follow-ups, social media, (and) trying to improve your website presence.”
“I studied pretty much in every genre I wanted to learn, from promos to narration to e-learning, commercial. The number one thing is, really if you want to get started you need to at least, you need to train well enough to be demo-ready. It’s not about having a great voice so much as it is about being a great actor.”
“The thing about voice acting also is that people think, ‘Oh, it’s easy money, just stand and talking, no big deal,’ but really, in on-camera acting you can lift an eyebrow or nod a certain way (and) people know what you’re talking about. In voice-over it’s just your voice, so you have to be, it’s very physical, especially video games, it’s very physical and there’s a lot of tricks you have to learn to keep it interesting.”
“In non-union jobs you’ll book maybe one in 20 auditions. In union jobs you’ll book maybe one in 50 auditions. But really you’re just casting a net – casting a net and trying to get some fish to come out. In the meantime you have to be getting yourself known.”
“In an ideal situation, everybody who wants to get into voice-over seriously should take improv classes.”
“Improv is amazing because it gives you the ability to ad-lib, but to plan your ad-libs.”
“The crazy statistic is, it takes between eight and twelve attempts to connect with a new client before they start to contact you.”
“More than anything I’m just listening to, is this somebody that I believe and trust because voice-overs is very intimate, it’s very one-on-one.”
Classify Yourself E-learning song
Gaming demo