VAM 181 | Interview with Amanda C. Miller, Part 2
Welcome to episode 181 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with Amanda C. Miller! Amanda has worked extensively in animation, video games, and anime including Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, and the Dangan Ronpa video games. In American animation, she’s worked on Netlix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Kid Cosmic, and DC Super Hero Girls. Amanda also works on-camera as an actor and behind the scenes as a writer and producer of her own web series! Having recently moved to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue acting opportunities there, she brings a unique perspective on how to manage an acting career where she works both in Atlanta and on remote voice acting projects in LA.
In the previous episode, Amanda explained how she broke into voice acting. While she initially intended to pursue a career as a theater actor in New York city after graduating from college, she changed her career trajectory after taking a voice acting class with veteran voice actor and director, Tony Oliver. His feedback encouraged her to pursue voice acting in Los Angeles instead. Amanda moved to LA, interned at Bang Zoom studios, and quickly learned what it took to work professionally as a voice actor. There was no magic “break through” moment where she was suddenly discovered. In fact, she didn’t win the 2009 AX Idol voice acting competition held at Anime Expo, but was only a runner up. That didn’t stop her. She continued to develop her abilities as a voice actress. Her success is due to the fact that she can deliver consistent, believable, and professionally competitive performances over and over again.
In this episode, we dive into what inspired Amanda to become an actor in the first place. Amanda was a very shy and sensitive child who moved around a lot due to her father being in the military. While she couldn’t control her circumstances or her surroundings, she did develop a rich imagination. She would create characters and stories where she could explore different emotions, relationships, and situations. Her fantasy life definitely helped inspire her acting pursuits! We also talk about what it’s been like for her to play a beloved character from her childhood, Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal anime series. We then get into a discussion about how you can find satisfaction in the face of the uncertainty and volatility of an acting career. At the end of our talk, Amanda shares with us her advice to the aspiring voice actor including how important it is to find value as a human being regardless of how successful you are in your career! So without further ado, here’s Amanda!
VAM 180 | Interview with Amanda C. Miller, Part 1
Welcome to episode 180 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
I’m very happy to present the first part of my interview with the multi-talented Amanda C. Miller! Amanda has played many famous characters in animation, video games, and anime including Boruto in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal, and the characters Junko and Toko in the Dangan Ronpa video games. In American animation, she’s played Flutterina in Netlix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and Jo in Kid Cosmic, the new animated series from Powerpuff Girls creator, Craig McCracken! Amanda also works on-camera in films and web series, including the comedic web series, Ghosts ’n Stuff, Inc. where she co-produced and wrote many of the episodes! I’m excited to get her perspective on the voice acting industry as well as what it’s been like for her starting her career in Los Angeles and having now moved to continue her career in Atlanta, Georgia.
Amanda had an international upbringing. A self-proclaimed Air Force brat, Amanda was born in Germany and spent much of her childhood traveling back and forth between Germany, Florida, and Maryland, eventually settling down in Maryland after she was in the 7th grade. She started participating in her school’s theater program during middle school and high school and had every intention of graduating college and moving to New York to do Broadway theater. However, while in college at the University of Maryland, she had the opportunity to take a voice over class with Tony Oliver from Bang Zoom recording studios. After the class, Tony told her that she had real potential as a voice actress. She decided that instead of pursuing acting in New York after graduating college, she would move to Los Angeles to pursue voice acting opportunities there. She applied for an internship at Bang Zoom, was accepted, and began to learn about the voice over industry during her time there. This eventually gave her the opportunity to start auditioning for voice over work. As she repeatedly demonstrated her ability to perform characters at a professionally competitive level, she gained access to more voice over opportunities which allowed her to pursue union voice over work and to eventually land an agent.
I enjoy talking with Amanda about her journey because like me, she was a very shy child. She was not gregarious and outgoing as most people expect actors to be. Instead, what drove her to perform was the desire to bring characters and stories to life, not to get attention from others. She understood that in order to achieve continuing success as a professional actor, she had to apply herself diligently to doing the “boring work” as she puts it of being able to give consistently believable performances as well as being reliable and easy to work with. She also did her best to network with fellow actors and reach out to studios to market her skills to them. She even emailed yours truly back in 2009 when she took an acting class with a classmate of mine from Graduate Acting School. My classmate had suggested that Amanda reach out to me directly to ask about the voice over industry in LA! Amanda’s ability to be courageous in connecting with industry professionals coupled with her sustained commitment to honing her acting skills has truly served her well and I’m eager to share her story with you!
VAM 179 | Interview with Feodor Chin, Part 2
Welcome to episode 179 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
This is the second and final part of my interview with Feodor Chin. You can hear Feo’s voice over work in games like Overwatch, Ghosts of Tsushima, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. He’s worked on the Regular Show for Cartoon Network, and on-camera he’s worked on TV shows such as Nash Bridges, The Mindy Project, and Jane the Virigin. He’s also narrated or contributed narration to over 100 different audiobooks!
In the previous episode, Feo outlined the steps he took to become a professional actor. There was no single moment when he “broke into show business”. Instead, Feo diligently studied to improve his acting skills and then consistently took the actions necessary to find acting opportunities. This included regularly marketing his skills to producers and casting directors who were hiring actors. This is the unglamorous homework that it takes to book regular work as an actor. No one in the industry suddenly discovers you and then paves a path to success for you. If you want to get paid to voice act, you need to master your art, research your industry, and then market your professionally competitive skills to producers who are looking to hire top notch acting talent for their projects. Feo never shied away from putting in all the behind-the-scenes work that was necessary to help him become a working actor both in voice over and on-camera.
In the final part of our discussion, I ask Feo what inspired him to become a performer in the first place. In the previous episode, Feo had mentioned that in high school, he had seen Dustin Hoffman’s performance as Willy Loman in the movie, Death of a Salesman. Hoffman’s acting had made a huge impression on Feo, so in this episode, I ask Feo to outline in more detail what exactly was so compelling about that performance. Feo explains that after watching Hoffman perform, he became fascinated with diving deep into the emotional life of a character. He talks about the satisfaction he gets from fully embodying a character, especially when a character’s psychology is incredibly rich or nuanced.
After that, we discuss Feo’s background in improv and sketch comedy. He explains to me the differences between full improvisational performances and the sketch comedy writing that he works on most often. We then talk about how we both apply our improv background to the challenges we face as voice actors, especially when we’re given very little information about a character or the story they come from, and yet are still expected to deliver authentic and believable performances. We also discuss the challenges Asian-American actors face in the entertainment industry and how Asian representation in media has changed over the past 20 years or so. We wrap up our discussion with Feo’s advice to the aspiring voice actor, and how important it is to be open to different career opportunities because you never know where you’re going to find success.
VAM 177 | Interview with Jennifer Hale, Part 2
Welcome to episode 177 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with the Goddess of Video games, Jennifer Hale! I joked with Jennifer about that nickname in the last episode, but all joking aside, it’s true that Jennifer holds the Guinness World Record for being the most prolific voice actress in video games! You may be familiar with her work in games like Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, Halo, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and Overwatch! In animation, she’s worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Legend of Korra, Wolverine and the X-men, as well as voice matching Cinderella in numerous Disney animated shows and games.
In the first part of our interview, Jennifer described how she became an actor. If you’ve already listened to the previous episode, you know how much hard work she put in to pursuing her acting career. She made sure to take advantage of every performance opportunity that came her way, even if it meant working behind the scenes! All of that experience was invaluable to her as she pursued her acting goals. While from the outside it may seem like her journey was very serendipitous, it was also a demonstration of the classic aphorism that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Jennifer was constantly striving to improve her skills so that when opportunities came her way, she was able to capitalize on them fully.
As we continue our conversation in this episode, we discuss how to nurture your own internal voice of inspiration. Jennifer faced many difficulties growing up and she didn’t always have someone with more experience to advise or guide her. This meant that she had to nurture in herself the ability to find her own way through life’s challenges. This internal guidance has served her well and in this segment she shares what she does to help her listen to the quiet voice inside that’s always doing its best to lead her to happiness and satisfaction. We also talk extensively about money and finances. It’s always been important to Jennifer to have mastery over her own financial well being. While many actors shy away from learning about economics, Jennifer embraces the subject whole heartedly. It’s admirable how she is able to demonstrate her mastery not only in the discipline of acting, but also in the world of business. She shares with me how she approaches financial literacy and how important it is to smash the false dichotomy that actors can’t be good with money or that business people can’t be creative. We wrap up our discussion with Jennifer’s very clear and specific advice to the aspiring voice actor.
Jennifer definitely has some heartfelt wisdom to impart in this episode and I’m eager to share her insights with you!
As I mention in the episode, Jennifer has two websites that offer more information and assistance.
One is her Patreon page which helps with financial education called the Haven which you can access at the link below:
https://www.patreon.com/jenniferhale
The other is SkillsHub.life, an online community by actors and for actors that allows members to access working creators and entertainment industry professionals who offer short, customized coaching opportunities to help you address a variety of topics, from improving your artistry, to managing your business strategy.
I hope you find those websites useful!
VAM 176 | Interview with Jennifer Hale, Part 1
Welcome to episode 176 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
I’m honored to share with you the first part of my interview with a true giant in the world of voice acting, Jennifer Hale! Jennifer has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific video game voice actress! You may be familiar with her work as the Female Commander Shepard a.k.a. FemShep in the Mass Effect game franchise, Naomi Hunter in Metal Gear Solid, Sarah Palmer in Halo, Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Rivet in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and one of my personal favorites, Ashe in Overwatch! In animation, she’s played Avatar Kyoshi in Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra, Jean Grey in Wolverine and the X-men, and she also does the voice for Cinderella in numerous Disney animated shows and games.
One of the reasons I was so excited to get Jennifer on the podcast is not only does she have top notch acting skills, but she also has a passion for understanding the business side of the voice over industry. I’ve mentioned this in earlier episodes of the podcast, but if you want to consistently book work as a voice actor, it is vital to not only have professionally competitive acting skills, but also to have a solid understanding of the economic dynamics and business pressures of the industry. Such practical and financial knowledge will help you position yourself better in the voice over marketplace and also help you understand what you need to do to promote yourself as effectively as possible.
In this episode, we begin our discussion with Jennifer telling me how she broke into acting. It turns out she faced many challenges when growing up. She moved around a lot as a kid and was regularly made fun of at school. It didn’t help that her mother was often a single parent who wasn’t very enthusiastic about raising children. Facing such instability in her personal life, Jennifer’s survival technique was to become extremely independent and self-sufficient. She had to grow up quickly and take personal responsibility for her own journey through life. For example, the night before she had to audition at a performing arts high school, her mother went out to spend time with friends at a bar. Since there was no one to watch Jennifer if she stayed home, her mother took her along and had her sit in the parked car outside the bar until about 1 in the morning. Stuck in the car and having nothing else to do, Jennifer proceeded to memorize a monologue that she then performed eight hours later at 9am when she finally did arrive at the auditions for her high school. That’s an incredible amount of pressure to have to manage as a young person, but somehow Jennifer found her way through the difficult and daunting circumstances she faced. Her story is one of amazing resourcefulness and courage.
Jennifer is the first to admit that these hardships took a toll on her psychologically. She also mentions how important it was for her to get therapy in order to find a way to process these experiences in a healthy manner. However, the challenges she faced when she was young also helped sharpen her desire for freedom and independence. Lacking external guidance from her mother, Jennifer began to rely on her own internal compass when trying to figure out how to proceed in life. She speaks often about being taken over by the muse or some other inspiration that guided her in moments of challenge or crisis. That guidance would motivate her to take advantage of any acting opportunity that presented itself to her no matter how small. She always did her best to capitalize on those opportunities to the fullest. This meant that she gained many kinds of creative experiences as she was growing up. She not only worked as an actress, but she also worked behind the scenes as a production assistant helping film crews to make commercials and other content. This wide range of experience in the entertainment industry helped her greatly as she moved forward in her career. It also honed her internal guidance which eventually led her to the world of voice acting.
As I mention in the episode, Jennifer has two websites that offer more information and assistance.
One is her Patreon page which helps with financial education called the Haven which you can access at the link below:
https://www.patreon.com/jenniferhale
The other is SkillsHub.life, an online community by actors and for actors that allows members to access working creators and entertainment industry professionals who offer short, customized coaching opportunities to help you address a variety of topics, from improving your artistry, to managing your business strategy.
I hope you find those websites useful!
VAM 173 | Interview with Lisa Ortiz, Part 2
Welcome to episode 173 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!
As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:
http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast
Welcome to the second and final part of my interview with voice actress and voice director, Lisa Ortiz! Lisa has worked on such seminal anime series as Record of Lodoss War, The Slayers, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the Irresponsible Captain Tylor. She’s also played many characters in Pokemon in addition to voice directing over 150 episodes of the show! Lisa and I started voice acting in anime in the late 1990’s, but whereas I moved to Los Angeles in late 2001, Lisa has only recently moved to LA in late 2019 after having spent the previous years pursuing voice acting and voice directing in New York City! I’ve been eager to get Lisa on the podcast to share her East Coast perspective on voice acting for those of my listeners who may reside closer to the Big Apple than to Southern California!
As we dive deeper into our discussion, I ask what inspired Lisa to become a performer in the first place. It turns out we both got into acting for very similar reasons! Lisa’s primary motivation for pursuing acting was to understand people better. She was shy when she was young and found acting to be a useful way to help her understand other people’s psychologies and motivations. I too was an incredibly shy person who didn’t always understand the emotional physics of how people related to each other. Role playing as different characters in different situations gave me a safe space to explore both my own psyche, as well as the psychology of other people so I could relate to them more effectively.
Another huge influence on Lisa was the public library system. Her family lived on Long Island in NY when she was young and they didn’t have a large budget for entertainment. Lisa’s mother would often take her daughter to the library where Lisa was able to explore not only literature, but all the audio and video resources in the library as well, including recordings of famous Broadway shows! The public library was an invaluable resource to Lisa. It allowed her to learn about storytelling in ways that never would’ve been available to her without it. Access to such a wealth of literature, plays, and music, whetted Lisa’s appetite for more and inspired her to apply her knowledge of story to performing on stage.
As our conversation comes to a close, Lisa shares with me her advice for the aspiring voice actor, including how important it is to develop good vocal technique in order to avoid damaging the very fragile instrument that is your voice! She also stresses the importance of finding a physicality for your character. Rooting your performance in your body will always help your acting sound more authentic and less pre-meditated. Lisa’s got some great insight into the actor’s process in this episode, and I’m eager to share her wisdom with you!
Also, it turns out that the 10th anniversary of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast is rapidly approaching! I released my first episode way back on July 1st, 2011, and it has always been my goal to provide the most concise and useful content when it comes to this topic that we all love.
In honor of the podcast’s 10th anniversary, I would so appreciate it if any of my listeners would be willing to call in and leave a message about how Voice Acting Mastery has influenced your own acting journey or any other part of your life. I’d like to feature some of these messages and respond to them in the 10th anniversary episode in July.
You can leave a voicemail by calling 323-696-2655. Please remember to state your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from before leaving your message. Thanks again for listening and as always, I wish you all the best in your voice acting endeavors. Take care!