Voice Acting as a Career

Voice Acting as a Career

Voice acting, as the name suggests is the art of providing voices for animated characters, such as those that might appear in an animated film, a TV commercial, or even a video game. This industry is filled with many famous names, such as Mel Blanc, the original voice of Bugs Bunny, John DiMaggio, who plays the character Bender on Futurama and Jen Taylor who voiced Cortana in the halo video games. With that said, let’s look into the depths of what makes a voice actor a voice actor.

When you think about it, Puppeteers are the original voice actors. As early as 1000 B.C puppeteers were performing the voices for all their puppets. Walt Disney is credited with being the first modern voice actor. He provided the voice for Mickey Mouse in the first Disney cartoon "Steamboat Willie" in 1928. Mel Blanc--the voice of "Looney Tunes" cartoon characters including Bugs Bunny--is recognized as the second modern voice actor and one of the most famous. In the 1930s and 40s--before the advent of television---voice actors performed live scripted radio soap operas, dramas and comedies.

First off, let me point out that voice acting is not the most profitable business out there, with the average voice actor only making about 50,000$ a year on average. This number is not set in stone however, and depending on the roles that you might get, you could theoretically wind up earning much more than that. But first, you would need to establish yourself by working very hard in the auditions and bookings. You shouldn’t think of just one way to read the character, think of a few, and be open to the suggestions of the Casting Director or Producer. Sometimes it takes a few people working together to determine the right view for the character. The main goal for a prospective voice actor should be to have your name linked with the words "versatile" and "creative." Those two words are responsible for the majority of casting decisions made by Casting Directors,...