A beginer's guide to Voice Acting:

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from people, once they learn that I've done some voiceover work, is "How do I become a Voice Actor?".

Everyone's voice acting journey will be as unique as their individual voice is, and if you're truly invested in becoming a working Voice Actor, then I hope this blog, by the self proclaimed "VO Daddy", will be beneficial.

While there is no formal education on the subject of becoming a voiceover artist, there are plenty of workshops by reputable industry professionals like Marc Cashman, Nancy Wolfson, and Tim Friedlander which are a few examples of such aforementioned industry pros that I've either learned from directly by taking workshop classes, participating in voiceover workout groups or purchasing online content from for the purpose of expand my growing knowledge of what it takes to become a "Professional" voice actor.

Aside from taking private workshop lessons, I also enrolled myself into a Broadcasting School program in Huntington Beach and attended the TVI Actors Studio in Los Angeles California.

Voiceover is a marathon, not a sprint (I think I heard that from Marc Cashman).

That's very true considering I stared voice acting back in 1996 when I took my first workshop class at the TVI Actors Studio in Sherman Oaks California.

Long before I began taking workshops for voice acting, I did some performing on stage which can be particularly useful when transitioning to a voice acting career since you'll get to understand character development, scene studies, how to apply breathing techniques and help you establish your toolbox of characters and emotions that you can recall and apply to voice acting.

Performing in local stage plays for a community theater can be quite a time-consuming venture, and there's very little to no pay in exchange for the time invested in the community theater arena, yet the benefits of learning how to act is imperative when it comes to acting for the microphone, and the knowledge gained from those experiences is FREE!

Acting for the stage vs acting in front of a microphone is very different. Performing in a play, for example, there are sets, costumes, props, and other performers to work off of.

As a voice actor, it's you in a padded vocal or isolation booth with a microphone and a glass window, and that's if you're lucky enough to book a studio session. Otherwise, it's you and microphone in a closet in your apartment. If you happen to have a walk-in closet, you're already on your way to a successful voice acting career!

So to summarize, take workshops, join voiceover workout groups and/or purchase online content from proven industry pros, if you have the time get involved in local theater too.

You may learn that standing in an vocal booth for an hour or so to record a handful of pages with a Director, Audio Engineer and Copywriter on the other side of the glass who will inevitably make you say the same word(s), sentence or phrase repeatedly until they get the take/performance they want for their project, repetative and a little bit frustrating.

But the pay can be nice!