Voiceover is a funny business. When you tell someone that you’re a voice actor, normally the first three responses are, in this order:

1. What is voiceover?
2. (after explaining) Oh! Well what have a heard you in?
3. And, “hey do a voice!”

When I got into voiceover, I had dreams of being on cartoons like the ones I used to watch like Dragonball Z or the Simpsons. It was animation or nuthin! I mean, if you’re gonna do voiceover, you gotta “do a voice”, right? Well, the industry is funny that way. Not everyone is cut out for that genre that they set out to be in. There are so many areas that you can work in voiceover: Commercials, E-learning, Narration, Animation, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Mediation, IVR, promo the list goes on. Each one of those areas has many sub-areas under it. Why pigeonhole yourself into one little niche? My advice is to try it all and see what sticks. The market will tell you where you will be successful. See where you get the most work, then focus on that area the most.

I do a fair share of commercials, character work, podcasts, and audiobooks. I have also discovered that I have a knack for doing the voice of Santa. I recorded some samples of me Ho ho ho-ing and doing how I felt a jolly Santa would sound, and people responded. Each November and December, I have done a lot of work voicing projects as St Nick. I’ve done some commercials, but the majority of the work comes from parents who want to either surprise their kids for Christmas or to give them a stern warning that they are straying off the nice list and to shape up. I find that those types of jobs are the most rewarding. I had one where two kids, one of whom was autistic, were surprised with a new kitten after a particularly hard year. It’s that kind of magic that I have the ability to spread that makes all the rejection emails and dead ends in marketing worthwhile.

I am not a singer as many of you will attest to after listening to my parody song “The Sounds of Summer”. I did an audition today where I got to sing as Santa the song Jingle Bells. You know, it actually didn’t sound too bad. It’s fun to find somewhere where you belong and can flourish.

What areas of voiceover have you found that are working for you that you didn’t expect? Let me know in the comments. Until then, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.