What is it like being a voice over actor?

Question

I will start going to voice over school this year so that I get the training to change my career. For those of you who are voice over actors, what is this life? I'm so curious to find out.

Oops, typo, I meant to ask "What is this like?"... wink

Answer 1

I work as a voice actor.
However, I do not have full time work, or even part time work. It's more like 1-2 sessions a week.
I would recommend having a second job until you get enough work as a voice actor.

I very much enjoy the work. I mostly do phone prompts, though I have done voices for animated characters, video games, user manuals, promotional films, etc.

Studios or clients call me and arrange a recording time. While driving to the studio, I do some voice exercises. When I get there, I meet the client and am sure to be very polite, professional, and alert to all their needs.

If the script has grammatical errors, I point them out and ask permission to fix them.

I always ask what in style the client wants me to read. If they ask me to change the way I read something, I never argue, and I immediately do my best to implement their requests.

It's nice getting paid a good salary for doing something I enjoy. It's also a COOL job to have.

One thing that is a little bit incovenient is that my office is in my home, and when I answer the phone I always have to sound good -- and hope that my kids are not screaming and beating each other up in the background!

In any event, for a lot of useful information, see: http://www.voiceacting.com/vo101/

BTW, I work in Israel, where English-speaking voice actors are in demand, so I don't need an agent or belong to a union. I understand that in the States, you would usually belong to a union.