Why Do You Want to Be a Voice Actor?

One of the first things I ask a new demo student at their first script session with me is; why do you want to be a voice actor? Not only is this question a good ice-breaker, but it also has great significance and allows me to get to know the person more deeply than any other question.

Voice acting is not your “typical” job; for a lot of people, it is their dream job. There comes a point in many people’s lives when they realize that pursuit of their dream is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. It’s fascinating to hear about the exact moment when these students knew it was time to start living their dream!

Many students share with me that they’ve wanted to pursue a career in acting since childhood, but well-meaning parents disapproved. Others say performance anxiety got in the way, or they just didn’t know how to get started in the voice-over business. Whatever the reason, they did what most people do and got a “real” job. But the dream of performing percolated in the back of their mind for years, until they finally did something about it!

Whether you are drawn to voice acting because you’ve loved animation since you were a kid, people keep saying you have a great voice, or you love reading stories aloud, it’s important to explore the core of why you are drawn to this fascinating profession.

Casting Director Risa Bramon Garcia observes in her Backstage article, Who Are You, Anyway? that many actors put things like marketing and networking ahead of self- exploration. She believes that you have to know what your values are, what you are bringing as an artist to your work, and, “what set you on the journey to begin with.” 

Having a keen awareness of your motivations is essential to discovering the uniqueness that only you can bring to your work. Countless acting coaches emphasize the importance of digging deep into each script to uncover your specific point of view. Stella Adler stated in her book, The Art of Acting, that, ”Only you can be you. What a privilege!…we don’t need for you to imitate anybody, because that would be second best.”

Bringing you to your performances takes work! Set aside some time to jot down why you love voice acting. How old were you when you first realized that you loved performing? What was the catalyst that made you take the step to begin training? What sometimes holds you back, and what are some ways of overcoming it? What would you most love to do in the voice-over business, if there was no way you could fail?

If you are like me, you know that once the desire to be a voice actor takes hold, it’s irrepressible! Perhaps it’s because the need for self-expression is built into the human psyche. Since the beginning of time, storytelling has been central to our existence: it’s the way we have connected with others and passed on knowledge and culture before humans could read or write – and the need for storytelling is not going away anytime soon, just look at the growing popularity of audiobooks!

One key element of being a great storyteller is being relatable. People love to see themselves in the story you are telling. Whether it’s commercials, narrations, video games or another genre, doing the work of finding yourself in the character you are portraying pays off with an honest performance that your audience will relate to.

We can’t truly bring our authentic self to our voice acting if we haven’t asked the probing questions that help us understand ourselves.

Set aside some time to do this and the rest will follow!