Welcome to episode 175 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 part of my 10th anniversary feature! As I mentioned in the last episode, the Voice Acting Mastery podcast is now officially 10 years old! I released my first podcast episode in July of 2011 and I wanted to take these two episodes to celebrate that important milestone. I’ve always tried my best in this podcast to share the most practical and useful information I could on what it takes to succeed as a professional voice actor and I hope the content I’ve provided in this podcast has in some way helped each and every one of my listeners.

For these episodes, I asked my listeners to either call in or e-mail me a voice message letting me know how the Voice Acting Mastery podcast may have influenced their own acting journey or any other part of their lives! I received a flood of messages and I’m grateful for each and every one of them. I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the occasion if I shared some of the messages I received and responded to them here on the podcast.

In the previous episode, I shared 3 messages from listeners who talked about how the podcast helped their mindset when it came to approaching voice acting. It allowed me to expand on their ideas and share some important mindset goals including how to approach auditions without stressing about them afterwards, the importance of doing your best to express a character rather than impress a casting director, and why there is no such thing as a “right” way to perform a character.

In this episode, I’m going to be sharing 3 calls that focus more on the practical approach one can take to pursue a professional voice acting career. I think it will be a good compliment to the previous episode.

I’d like to start with a message I received from Riley, a young voice actress from Louisville, Kentucky.

When Riley was in the 7th grade, she watched a Netflix documentary about the voice over industry. It so inspired her that she became obsessed with researching what it would take to become a voice actor. One very wise thing she did was to surround herself with other actors and creative artists by attending a local performing arts high school and then continuing her artistic education in college.

I emphasize how valuable it can be to participate with a community of creative artists, even if the only way you can collaborate with them is online! I’ve learned just as much, if not more from my fellow actors as I have from my acting teachers!

Our second call is from Paul in Los Angeles.

Paul feels like the podcast was the friend in the industry that he always wanted, but never had in real life. Paul shares some of his professional acting journey with us and it’s clear that he’s been able to combine both professionally competitive acting skills with an entrepreneurial business spirit. I congratulate him on his ability to manage those two sides of his career and say how much I wish I had had teachers that helped me learn more about the business side of an acting career. I emphasize how much I try to share my business acumen in the podcast and how heartening it is to hear that Paul has found my podcast so helpful in his journey!

Our last call in this episode is from Afaz in Greece!

Afaz wants to thank me for both the detail I pursue in my interviews with industry guests, as well as my commitment to making sure I explain any confusing or esoteric terminology. I thank her for her compliment. It’s always been a high priority of mine to make sure my podcast remains accessible to anyone who is curious about voice acting, regardless of whether they are already familiar with acting jargon. Often teachers will suffer from something called “the curse of expertise” where they will forget what it was like when they were a novice in the industry. I’m glad that Afaz appreciates all the work I have put in to making sure none of my audience is left behind.

There’s a piece of advice that I’ve heard articulated by many different teachers including the famous physicist Richard Feynman that goes like this, “If you want to master something, teach it.” I can testify to the fact that teaching others has improved my own artistry tremendously and I advise my listeners to teach what they know to others if they truly want to achieve Voice Acting Mastery.

I’m grateful to all of my listeners who have diligently listened to this podcast over the last 10 wonderful years, and I look forward to the topics we’ll explore together in the future. Thanks again to those of you who called in and left such wonderful messages. I truly appreciate them all. Until next time, I wish you all the best in your voice acting endeavors. Take care!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #175 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 174 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

In this episode, I’d like to take the time to celebrate an important milestone.

The Voice Acting Mastery podcast is now officially 10 years old! I released my first podcast episode in July of 2011. Back then I had no idea the kind of journey I would go on through producing this podcast. It’s been an amazing endeavor, and over the past decade, I’ve done my very best to share the most useful and practical information I could on what it takes to succeed as a professional voice actor. I’ve shared my own experiences and expertise to the best of my ability, and along the way I’ve also had many opportunities to interview some of the most talented people in the industry. Hearing their stories and insights has been inspirational, and I hope that the content I’ve provided in this podcast has in some way helped each and every one of my listeners.

In addition to producing the main Voice Acting Mastery podcast, I also produced a sister podcast with some very talented people, whom I was grateful to work with. For three years, I was joined by some of my younger voice acting colleagues in creating the Voice Acting Mastery Field Report, which, if you haven’t checked out already, should still be available both at VoiceActingMastery.com and through many online podcast directories including Apple’s. While the Field Report did eventually come to an end, I’m grateful to my correspondents, Tom Bauer, Ashley Huyge, Dan Will McCann, and Maureen Price for their hard work and insightful episodes. I also want to thank my wife and partner, Izobel Freeman, who has helped support me during this entire endeavor. She designed the Voice Acting Mastery Logos for both my website and for the podcast episodes. She’s also helped edit the writing on every single episode of the podcast to make sure that it was as clear, focused, and empowering as possible. Her artistic contributions and emotional encouragement have been invaluable throughout the entire life of the Voice Acting Mastery brand and I could not have done this without her!

For this 10th anniversary episode, I asked my listeners to either call in or e-mail me a voice message letting me know how the Voice Acting Mastery podcast may have influenced their own acting journey or any other part of their lives! I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate the occasion if I shared some of the messages I received and responded to them here. I have been overwhelmed by people’s appreciation for the podcast and while I don’t have time to share everyone’s heartfelt comments in this episode, I want you all to know that I did listen to every single message and I’m so grateful for and humbled by them all. It was amazing to hear all of your stories, thoughts and thank you’s for the last ten years we’ve spent together and for any impact I, my guests, or the insights we’ve shared may have had in your life. Thank you for all your kind words. They mean so much, and I’m honored that you took the time to send them in.

In this episode, I’d like to share 3 messages from listeners who talk about how the podcast helped their mindset when it came to approaching voice acting. In the next episode, I’ll be sharing 3 more messages from listeners who explain how the podcast affected their practical approach to a voice acting career.

The first message I received from a voice actor who has actually been a student of mine in the past, Kevin Powe from Australia! He wanted to thank me for 2 pieces of advice he learned from the podcast:

First, when it comes to auditions, do them, and then forget them. Leave them in your wake as you move forward.
and Second, don’t think about projects in terms of “I really want to be credited on that.”, “I love that show” or “I love that property, so I want to be a part of it”. Instead think, “What can I bring to that?”, “How can I make that better by being a part of it?”

I expand on both of Kevin’s points and explain how one naturally follows from the other.

The second message I receive is from Sabina in Gothenburg Sweden! An important lesson she learned from the podcast was to value expressing one’s artistic message rather than trying to impress the people around you. It helped her value her own voice and her own identity. I talk about how transitioning from impressing to expressing is a common theme in almost all archetypal hero journeys and is an essential part of becoming an authority for one’s own life! By learning to express rather than impress, you’re following in the footsteps of some of the most famous mythological heroes that have come before you!

The third message is from Matt in Dallas, Texas. He’s grateful to have learned from the podcast that there is no “right” way to perform a character. Even though he studied acting in high school, and continued his studies in college, it wasn’t until he started listening to the podcast early in his college career, that he suddenly realized that there was no “right” way to perform a character. It was far more important to be truthful in one’s performance than to try and perform a character the “right” way.

I suffered from a similar misconception when I was young, so listening to Matt is like listening to a younger version of myself! I explain why the paradigm of right and wrong is such a pervasive mindset in school, but how it does not serve us when approaching an artistic endeavor like voice acting. The paradigm that I use to evaluate a performance is not if it’s right or wrong, but if it’s believable or not believable. I explain how believability activates empathy in an audience and how Matt’s desire to be truthful is one of the best ways to be believable.

In the next episode, I’ll answer some more listener calls, but this time instead of focusing on mindset we’ll focus on calls that address the practical approach one can take to pursue a professional voice acting career. Thanks again to everyone who called in and voiced their sincere appreciation for the podcast. It means the world to me and I’m grateful to all of my listeners. I hope you’ll join me again for the next episode, and until then, I wish you all the best in your voice acting endeavors. Take care.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #174 Here (MP3)

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!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #173 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 172 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 first part of my interview with voice actress and voice director, Lisa Ortiz! It’s a real honor to have Lisa on the podcast since she played the lead character, Lina Inverse, in the first anime series I ever worked on as a voice actor, The Slayers! You may also know Lisa as the voice of Deedlit in the anime series Record of Lodoss War, Amy Rose in the Sonic X Animated Series, and numerous characters in both the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh anime franchises! Lisa has also voice directed many animated series and games including over 150 episodes of Pokemon!

Lisa and I both got our start as voice actors in the late 1990s in New York City, but it wasn’t long before our paths ended up diverging! In November of 2001 I moved to Los Angeles while Lisa stayed in New York in order to pursue voice over opportunities there. For the next 18 years, we both worked as voice actors on opposite coasts of the country, until late 2019 when Lisa decided to make the move to Los Angeles herself. I’ve been eager to chat with her about what the voice over industry has been like in New York while I was gone, and what insights she can share for those of my listeners who may live closer to The Big Apple than Southern California!

We begin our discussion by reminiscing about our time working on the Slayers. Back then, the anime dubbing industry in New York City was just getting started and the two of us got in on the “ground floor” so to speak. While we both had theatrical acting training, learning how to perform in a small recording booth without a scene partner and matching the lip flap of a character on a video screen was a new challenge for us. We were often figuring out our dubbing technique on the fly and learning from each other as we went! Both of us relied on our theater training to help us find a physicality for our characters which helped our performances sound more authentic and believable. It also helped us avoid stiff or awkward line readings.

Strangely enough, pursuing a career as a voice actor might never have happened for Lisa if she hadn’t woken up one morning and found that her car had gone missing! Her efforts to track down her car, and the serendipitous adventures that followed, eventually led to her being able to audition for her first anime dubbing job. In fact, the more you learn about Lisa’s journey as a voice actor, the more you’ll hear how much serendipity has played an important role in the development of her career! Her success hasn’t all been due to mere luck, however. As the saying goes, luck is when preparation meets opportunity and Lisa has always been very committed to being as prepared as possible! Even with all her experience, she’s still eager to learn more and develop her acting skills even further. I really admire her commitment to the craft of acting. It’s a pleasure to have her on the podcast and I’m so happy that I get to share her story 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!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #172 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 171 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 second and final part of my interview with the fabulously energetic Darin De Paul! You may be familiar with his voice acting work in World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Final Fantasy 15, Apex Legends, and Overwatch. Darin’s enthusiasm for his characters comes through in all the work he does and even spills over into conventions where he often will host panels and events for the fans!

In the previous episode, Darin told us about his extensive theater career and how it eventually led him to become a voice actor. He spent many years training and working as a theater actor both in Florida and in New York City, but he had always had an interest in voice over work. When the opportunity to get involved in voice acting came about later in his career, he eagerly pursued every voice over opportunity he could while working as a theater actor on the east coast. Eventually, he and his wife Debra who is also an actress, decided to take a risk and move to Los Angeles to see if they could be successful in a larger voice acting marketplace. Within months, Darin had impressed industry leading voice directors with his vocal range and acting skills. They were eager to work with him and news of his abilities soon spread! It didn’t take long before he was working regularly in AAA video games and animation.

As we continue our discussion, Darin tells me what inspired him to become a performer in the first place. He gives me a two word answer: Peter Sellers. At a very young age, Darin was smitten with the transformative acting abilities of Peter Sellers who is probably most famous for his portrayal of the character Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series of comedy films. Sellers also worked on many other seminal movies including Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita and Being There. Sellers was notorious for his ability to play many different types of characters, sometimes in the same film! His mercurial skills fascinated Darin who wanted to approach acting with a similar sensibility. Ironically, Darin’s father, who ran an upscale clothing store for men that catered to some on-camera celebrities, once proclaimed that no son of his would become an actor! However, once his young son showed a genuine interest and commitment to acting, he changed his tune and was very supportive of Darin’s desire to become a performer.

After this, Darin and I talk extensively about the different kinds of theater and acting that he was exposed to. It’s fascinating to hear about all the talented performers and inspiring theatrical productions that he saw. Darin and I share a love of the theater and of the special magic that can happen on stage between actors and a live audience. Performing in the theater requires a level of imagination and spontaneity that is incredibly valuable in the world of voice acting! But Darin took this one step further! He actually trained in European Clown technique with David Shiner! This is the kind of clowning you might see in the world famous Cirque du Soleil, where actors adopt a persona, get themselves into some sort of predicament on stage, and then have to improvise their way out of the problem. I found my own European clown training to be some of the most challenging and rewarding acting instruction I ever received and Darin feels the same!

After we discuss our experiences studying European clowning, I then expound on my theory that one of the reasons the performances of the voice actors in the game Overwatch are so compelling is because each of them are in some way embodying their essential internal clowns. This brings an emotional authenticity to their acting that is deeply satisfying to the audience. Afterwards, Darin and I wrap up our discussion with Darin’s advice to the aspiring voice actor. We go very deep into the nuance and joy of performing in front of a live audience and I’m eager for you to absorb all you can from Darin’s amazing journey as an actor!

As I mentioned in the previous episode, I also want to thank Debra Cardona, Darin’s wife, for acting as recording engineer for Darin as we did this interview. I’m so grateful for her assistance!

Also, it turns out that the 10th anniversary of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast is rapidly approaching! It’s hard to believe, but it’s true! I released my first episode way back on July 1st, 2011, and I sincerely hope this podcast has been helpful to you. 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!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #171 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 170 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

For today’s episode, I want to share with you the first part of my interview with the incredibly enthusiastic and completely inimitable Darin De Paul! Darin took the voice acting world by storm the moment he arrived in Los Angeles in 2013. You may know him as the voice of Blackhand in World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor, Emperor Valkorion in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Arden Izunia in Final Fantasy 15, Revenant in Apex Legends, and one of my personal favorites, Reinhardt in Overwatch. Darin’s passion for voice acting is infectious and he has become a fixture at many different fan conventions, including BlizzCon where he often hosts panels and events.

As we begin our discussion, Darin recounts to me the unique and serendipitous journey he took into the world of voice acting. Darin began his acting career in the theater. He spent many decades acting both in Florida where he was born and raised, as well as in New York City. While his focus was on stage performance, he had always had a fascination with character voice acting work. Unfortunately, most of the people he spoke to in New York told him that the majority of voice over work in the area was for commercials, not characters. This didn’t deter him however. While working on a show at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, he met a man who ran a loop group. For those of you who don’t know, a loop group is a group of actors who are hired to provide the background voices in films and television shows. This particular loop group was about to work on the animated film, Ice Age, and Darin was eager to participate! He auditioned and was accepted. Because of his extensive theater background, Darin was able to improvise many different voices for the film and came away from that experience excited to do more. However, it took him quite a while to find an agent who would be willing to represent him as a voice over talent. Eventually, an agency did take a chance on him and sent him out to audition for a monster character in a commercial for an airline. He booked the job and has been hooked on voice acting ever since!

Even with his newfound success, it still took many years before Darin and his wife, Deborah who is also an actress, finally decided to take the plunge, leave New York and fly to Los Angeles to see what voice over and acting opportunities they could find in Southern California. It was a fortuitous decision. Within 6 months of landing in LA, Darin took a voice over class with Andrea Toyias at Blizzard Entertainment, impressed her with his abilities, and began working on projects with her. His voice over career has done nothing but expand since then.

What I love about talking with Darin is that you can feel how much appreciation he has for the craft of acting. He didn’t get into acting because he wanted to become famous. After all, pursuing an acting career in the theater is definitely not a path to great celebrity or vast riches. Instead, Darin’s love for characters and story inspired him to become an actor for the sheer artistic satisfaction of it. He just loved it so much. That passion for acting coupled with a deep commitment to continually challenging himself to grow as an artist, took his theatrical acting career in so many interesting directions, which you’ll hear about in this episode! Nowadays, Darin draws on the wealth of his diverse theater experiences when voice acting characters. I hope that listening to his journey will inspire you to broaden your own acting skills so you can apply the rich experience you gain to the characters that you voice, just like Darin does!

One last thing. Debra, Darin’s wife, was kind enough to be the sound engineer for Darin’s interview so you may hear her voice in the background from time to time. They often help each other out when one of them has to record something for an audition or an acting job. I’m so grateful to Debra for helping make this interview happen! So without further ado, here’s Darin.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #170 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 169 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 multi-talented, Zehra Fazal! Zehra has worked on well known animated shows including Young Justice, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. She’s also worked extensively in games including Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Borderlands 3, and Apex Legends. Zehra works as an on-camera actor as well and has been featured in shows like How to Get Away with Murder and Lucifer. As if that weren’t enough, Zehra is also fluent in Japanese and her studies in Japanese language and culture eventually led to her interning at the Takarazuka Revue, a famous all female theater troupe in Japan. Zehra brings a wide range of acting experience to all of her performances and I’m so grateful to have her as as guest on the podcast!

In the previous episode, Zehra shared with us how she got started as a performer. Ever since she was little, she had always been fascinated with language. This helped inspire her not only to audition for and perform in plays at her school’s theater, but she also participated in speech and debate contests as well. Eventually, her appreciation for comics and animation led her to a convention for the Disney animated series, Gargoyles, where she gave an impressive performance in a staged radio play that took place at the event. The producer of Gargoyles, Greg Weisman, suggested that she might have a future as a voice actor. While she appreciated his compliment at the time, it wasn’t until many years later, once she had graduated college and worked extensively in theater in the Washington D.C. area, that she eventually decided to move to Los Angeles in order to pursue both voice acting and on-camera acting.

In part 2 of our discussion, I ask Zehra what inspired her to become an actor in the first place. She acknowledges that it wasn’t so much a conscious decision on her part, but more of an irresistible compulsion! Being the youngest of 4 daughters, Zehra had to master verbal communication skills at a very young age, just to get a word in edgewise! She also had to learn to empathize with the adults around her which helped her relate to others on a deeper emotional level. This allowed her to bring more authenticity to her acting since she had become good at seeing the world through other people’s eyes. We also discuss the challenges she faces being a woman of color trying to pursue acting in a primarily white cultural environment. Then we do a deep dive into her passion for the Takarazuka Revue, a theater troupe that has not only been deeply inspiring to Zehra but was also hugely influential on the god of anime and manga himself, Osamu Tezuka. After that, we wrap up our talk with Zehra’s advice to the aspiring voice actor. I truly appreciate Zehra’s honesty and vulnerability and I’m excited to share more of her story with you!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #169 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 168 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 so excited to share with you the first part of my interview with the multi-talented, Zehra Fazal! You may know Zehra from her voice acting work as Nadia Rizavi in Voltron: Legendary Defender, Halo in Season 3 of Young Justice, and Mara in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. In games Zehra has played the voice of the Guardian in Destiny 2: Beyond Light, Amara the Siren in Borderlands 3, and the AI Announcer in Apex Legends. Zehra also performs on-camera and has appeared in shows like How to Get Away with Murder and Lucifer. In addition, Zehra is fluent in Japanese and spent part of her college years studying in Japan. Her passion for the Japanese language and for Japanese theater eventually allowed her to intern at the Takarazuka Revue, a very famous all female theatre troupe that had a big influence on Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of anime and manga! As if that weren’t enough, Zehra has also written and performed numerous one woman shows including a musical comedy about her experiences growing up as a Muslim-American of South Asian descent.

In the first part of this interview, Zehra shares with us how she got started as a voice actor. She grew up in Indiana, the youngest of 4 sisters. All of her older siblings were very intelligent, articulate, and self-possessed which meant that Zehra had to be very precocious and sophisticated in order to be able to get a word in edgewise! Her parents emphasized the importance of academic achievement, but they had an appreciation for the arts as well. One branch of her family tree had actually been heavily involved in the Indian movie industry known as Bollywood. Since communication was such an important skill to have in her family, Zehra became fascinated with talking. She got involved in speech and debate contests and also performed in many of her high school plays.

Since she was a fan of animation and comics, Zehra initially thought she would go to college to study drawing with the goal of eventually becoming a graphic artist or animator. However, a visit to an animation convention as a high school graduation present, helped change the direction of her career path. In 2001 she attended the Gathering of the Gargoyles, a convention to celebrate the Disney animated series, Gargoyles which had drawn so many fans to its mature storytelling and sophisticated themes. One of the events at the convention was a staged radio play where fans of the show would audition to play parts in an original script that the show’s producer, Greg Weismann, had written especially for the event. Zehra auditioned and was cast as the NY Detective and lead female character from the Gargoyles series, Elisa Maza. After the radio play, Greg complimented her on her performance and suggested that she seriously consider pursuing voice acting in the future. While she didn’t think much of it at the time, Greg had planted a seed in her mind that would flower many years later!

Zehra’s journey towards a professional acting career is full of interesting twists and turns. At many points along the way, it was not always clear which direction she should go next. However, she always did her best to follow her fascination and inspiration even if it took her down paths that may have seemed tangential or not obviously related to pursuing a career as an actor. But I’ll let Zehra tell you all about her serendipitous and synchronistic adventures!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #168 Here (MP3)