Voice over acting. Is it worth it?

[docdan63]

I've been thinking about career choices lately, and this kid at my college a few years back heard me laughing and doing impressions, and said I should be a voice actor or at least give it a shot. My friends have told me that too. I have a pretty big vocal range, and, as odd as it seems, everyone that doesn't know me or have talked to me for the first time on the phone (not knowing I was a male) says mam to me. Everyone, no joke. And I can sing pretty decently. I keep watching family guys, and the simpsons, and I'm wondering, is standing in a studio with a glass of water for up to 6 hours a day for a cartoon or video game really worth it?

[KrayZ33]

why not?

it can be a lot of fun.... it's like acting in a theater sometimes, you really should give it a try.
I don't see a problem with that job, I imagine it to be a lot of fun because you have to identify yourself with different characters all the time... you really have to know the characters you give your voice... and I think voice acting is also important to breathe life into an anime/game character, it's an important role

As I said, it's a bit like acting. I would love to do something like that since german voice actors are normally pretty bad, at least for animes... (if you ever watched Chobits in german you know what I mean... hell I bet I could do it better ^^)

If you like acting and to use ur voice, then you should really look into it, but I think you have to be a live wire to do such a job, because you have to animate and amuse people with your voice .. so you have to be convincing as well

[Death BOO Z]

agreed. I think it's probably a blast of a job. worth a shot.

try checking local actor agents and asking them about it, or any cinema school graduate guy could hook you with some studios that deal in this shit. that's in case you can't find any voice actor agency at IMDB or something.

Other way, try doing something really stupid and put it up on the internet, then you'd get invited to south park to play yourself, and it's smooth ride from that point onwards.

[XanBcoo]

I've been thinking about career choices lately, and this kid at my college a few years back heard me laughing and doing impressions, and said I should be a voice actor or at least give it a shot. My friends have told me that too. I have a pretty big vocal range, and, as odd as it seems, everyone that doesn't know me or have talked to me for the first time on the phone (not knowing I was a male) says mam to me. Everyone, no joke. And I can sing pretty decently. I keep watching family guys, and the simpsons, and I'm wondering, is standing in a studio with a glass of water for up to 6 hours a day for a cartoon or video game really worth it?
Zac Bertschy gets this question just about every week on his Anime News Network column (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2008-09-12) and his answer is always the same: Unless you have actual experience acting, then it's probably not worth your time. There's about 500 people on youtube who can do impressions, so you're probably nothing special. Talent agencies are going to be looking for talent. They won't simply say "Oh hey, this guy can't really act, but he has a nice sounding voice. Let's give him a job!". Most voice actors did not just walk into their success, and were all real actors before they went into voice work. They spend years honing their craft, so you'd have to be prepared to work for it and be pretty devoted to theatre. I'm talking appearing in several plays, creating a voice demo and waiting 3 years for somebody to listen to it and decide to have you VO a 15 second radio spot.

It's also not a full time job by any means, so if you're thinking about a steady career for the future, VO work is not gonna be your thing, unless you have one of those "one in a million" voices, which I sincerely doubt you do. There's always the blind luck angle, but it's probably not a good idea to rely on that.

As I said, it's a bit like acting.
To reiterate, it's not a "a bit like acting" it is acting.

Edit: So I guess my advice would be to start working at it now and get your name out there, because it's definitely not something you can just walk into.

[Animeniax]

Just give your resume and a script to assertn. He'll know who to send them to.

A buddy of mine told me about trying to get a job doing voice-overs for Funimation in Dallas, TX. Basically you go to their studio, line up with the 100 other guys trying to win a job, they'll let you read some lines, then you go home. I think he said one of his friends actually got hired, but it's not steady work like Xanbcoo said, so stick with playing video games if you want to make the millions.

[Sapphire]

There really aren't many good American voice actors. Hopefully you can bring something to the table!!!

[XanBcoo]

There really aren't many good American voice actors
This is just untrue.

[KrayZ33]

This is just untrue.

yup...

but It is partly true if we talk about animes only though, at least I'm not always convinced by them... however there are good ones, too

for example Appleseed Ex Machina is a lot more enjoyable in English than in Japanese (or German)

and I prefer installing games in English if possible.There are only a few games where I enjoyed VA of my own language as much as the english voice actors

however, most (modern) animes are really a lot better with the japanese VA...

[Animeniax]

The original DBZ voiceover cast was amazing, but they were Canadian. When they moved to Texas the new cast sucked. They tried to emulate the originals, but failed miserably.

[Kraco]

I'm not a huge gamer but many games (in English) have pretty good and solid voice acting. That's at least one area where English speaking voice actors can feel completely proud of themselves, no matter what is said about dubbed anime.

[Animeniax]

I actually like the English voice cast for DBZ more than the Japanese ones, where Goku sounds like a girl.

For big screen movies like Shrek and the Lion King, do you all prefer not to know who the voice actors are, or do you like to know? I could never like the dubbed Princess Mononoke because I could tell it was Gillian Anderson doing the voice of the mother wolf. Terrible work.

[Kraco]

The only Miyazaki movie I've watched dubbed is Nausicaa, and I thought it had a jolly good English crew. You can't help but recognize Patrick Stewart, but what does it matter? He's a fine actor. But I guess Ghibli movies in general are a different story, both in Japan and abroad.

[Buffalobiian]

The only Miyazaki movie I've watched dubbed is Nausicaa, and I thought it had a jolly good English crew. You can't help but recognize Patrick Stewart, but what does it matter? He's a fine actor. But I guess Ghibli movies in general are a different story, both in Japan and abroad.

I could say the same thing about Laputa. Disney put together an awesome crew.

[KrayZ33]

n1
I had to laugh at the picture when I started to read the links^^

so self-contradictory

edit: ohhh wheres my wow-ad :(

[Assertn]

I read this thread as:
Over-reacting: Is it worth it?