The Wild World of Voiceover Acting

The voice-acting job pool is about as parched as the full-on acting job pool, which is to say, severely dehydrated. Everyone wants to land a Micky D’s ad that goes national or make intentionally blasé conversation to dub over a restaurant scene in which Johnny Depp eats a sandwich and says something plot-significant.

Almost everyone cites “British accent” on their resume but almost no one can accurately follow up on that. Anybody halfway literate probably can land an audiobook deal, but the producers of bestsellers will audition like there’s no tomorrow. The woman who narrated Fifty Shades of Gray probably had to leap institutional hurdles that were sky-high and on fire. But ultimately for voice-over artists, business isn’t too dissimilar from the rest of the muted beige work-a-day world: It’s pretty much who you know.

The Village Voice’s Heather Baysa went to a seminar for aspiring voice-over artists to learn about the biz and rub elbows with industry vets like the voice of Hulu, the guy who played 47 different actors in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles original series, and the man responsible for the Law & Order intro.

Apparently like anywhere else, networking is key and puberty can ruin you.

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