VAM 226 | Interview with Alejandra Reynoso, Part 1
Welcome to episode 226 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 excited to present to you my interview with the very talented Alejandra Reynoso! In the world of animation she’s probably most famous for playing Flora in Winx Club for Nickelodeon and Sypha in the popular Netflix animated series, Castlevania. In games she’s played Gallica in Metaphor: ReFantazio, Neon in Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Dawnbreaker in DOTA 2. In anime she’s Monica Everett in Secrets of the Silent Witch, Hitomi Takamine in The Medalist, Asa in the series of Mononoke films, and the lead character Liko in the new Pokemon Horizons series!
I first came across Alejandra and her work when we were both cast in Pokemon Horizons where I play the adventurous Pokemon professor, Friede. I heard Alejandra’s performance as Liko and found it hopeful, idealistic, and endearing. Then, I was pleasantly surprised when right after Pokemon Horizons, we were both cast in the anime movie Mononoke: Phantom in the Rain where she voiced one of the main female leads, Asa, and I voiced the Medicine Seller. In that film, Alejandra played a grounded, confident young woman who was negotiating the complicated politics of the Japanese Imperial court. After hearing her in both roles, I was really impressed by her acting range and I knew I had to get her on the podcast!
The beginning of Alejandra’s acting journey almost sounds like it was lifted from a Hollywood fairytale! Her father worked as a film projectionist in Los Angeles and she would often accompany him to work in order to spend time with him and watch movies. When she was only 9 years old, an agent saw her playing in the lobby of the movie theater and thought she might do well as a child actress in commercials. Initially, Alejandra’s parents were nervous about her becoming an actress. They were all too familiar with the pressures put on child actors and they worried it would affect their daughter negatively. However, they didn’t want to restrict Alejandra from doing something that might bring her satisfaction, so they decided to ask her if she’d like to take acting classes to see if it would be something she’d enjoy.
Alejandra was open to the idea, and started studying at a school for child actors. It wasn’t long before she had caught the eye of another agent who wanted to represent her for commercial and on-camera work. After working with that agency for around 6 years, her agent then recommended her to their voice over department which was looking for young talent. Alejandra happened to book the very first audition the voice over department sent her which was for the animated show GI Joe: Renegades, where Troy Baker played her father. Alejandra instantly fell in love with voice acting and realized she wanted to make it her primary focus!
After graduating college, she had to make another choice about what career path to follow. She had been offered a job at a technology company who wanted her to work in their marketing department. While it seemed like a reliable choice, she lacked enthusiasm for the opportunity. She couldn’t stop thinking about pursuing an acting career instead. Fortunately, her parents supported her decision, so she notified her agents and told them that she’d be back in LA soon and was available for auditions. Her agents then sent her an audition for a character named Sypha for a new Castlevania animated series which she booked. It was an auspicious sign! It was as if the universe was endorsing her decision to pursue acting!
Much of Alejandra’s journey to becoming a voice actor can seem so serendipitous as to be almost magical, but if you listen closely, you’ll begin to detect the methods and principles that were supporting her on her path. The actions each aspiring voice actor must take in order to be professionally successful will obviously be unique to every actor, but the fundamental skills and mindset underneath those action journeys is very consistent. Pay attention to the things Alejandra did and the mindsets she adopted in order to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. I think you’ll find it very helpful as you pursue your own voice acting goals!
VAM 223 | Want To Book More Work? Learn To Think Like A Producer.
Welcome to episode 223 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
One of the most common questions I get asked by voice actors, especially when they’re early in their career, is how they can book more work. Once an aspiring voice actor starts to develop their skills to the level where they can be competitive when auditioning for projects, they quickly realize that they will audition for many more characters than they will ever be hired for. The goal is to increase one’s booking ratio, which is calculated by figuring out how many auditions you tend to submit before you finally book a part. SAG-AFTRA statistics have shown that working actors, who are professionally competitive, tend to audition for 30 parts before they book a single job. Competition in the entertainment industry is fierce and voice actors early in their careers may feel like they audition for hundreds of parts before booking anything.
Every voice actor wants to increase their booking ratio. After all, it’s always more enjoyable to be cast as more characters rather than fewer. If an actor is industrious, they’ll focus on sensible things to improve their booking ratio, such as improving their acting skills, expanding the kinds of characters they can play, updating their marketing materials like demos and websites, and networking with industry professionals to make sure they are kept in mind when someone is thinking of actors to call for their next project.
And yet, I have noticed that many aspiring voice actors don’t pursue these activities with a practical mindset. Rather than focusing on improving their objective skills and marketability, they tend to approach the audition process like a test of personal approval. They may use language like, “How can I get casting directors to notice me?”, or “Who do I contact so I can get a job?”, or even, “If only someone would give me a chance, I’m sure I would be successful.” At the core of all of these statements is a common mindset: the actor is looking for approval from an authority figure. This mindset is often bolstered by TV shows that capitalize on this kind of wish fulfillment. Shows like American Idol, The Voice, America’s Got Talent, and others, can set an expectation in people who are unfamiliar with the entertainment industry, that the secret to becoming a success is to get the right people to approve of you.
In this episode, I want to suggest that a better way to improve your chances of getting cast, is not to look for approval from a producer, but rather, to start thinking like a producer. What is a producer looking for? What do they need to make their project successful? What sort of collaborators are they eager to find? If you start thinking like a producer, it will begin to shift your mindset. You’ll be less likely to pursue getting approval, and you’ll be more likely to start thinking in terms of what you have to offer a project and why they should hire you over everyone else auditioning for the same part.
As you start to think more like a producer, you’ll realize what sorts of actors you’d like to hire to bring your project to life if you were producing one. As you begin to imagine those ideal acting collaborators, you can start to model your own behavior as an actor to try and satisfy what producers are looking for. You’ll realize how important it is to be able to accurately evaluate your skills as an actor, and also to know which types of characters you can believably and competitively play. You’ll start to appreciate that if you can anticipate a producer’s needs, you can make their life easier. And if you make their life easier, they’ll be far more inclined to hire you for their project. They’ll do this both because you’re perfect for the role they’re looking to cast, and because you’re a reliable actor who’s easy to work with.
Thinking like a producer is a great way to reverse engineer the casting process so as to demystify it for you. No longer will you be wondering what the producers are looking for and if they approve of you. Instead, you’ll have walked in the producer’s proverbial shoes, if only in your imagination, which will help you approach the industry in a much more practical and effective way. So let’s spend this episode learning how to think like a producer!
VAM 217 | Interview with Mara Junot, Part 2
Welcome to episode 217 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 the vocal shape-shifter, Mara Junot! As I mentioned in the previous episode, Mara identifies as non-binary, but accepts both “she” and “they” pronouns. For the purposes of this podcast, I will be using “she/her” when referring to Mara so as to avoid pluralization confusion during these episodes. You may know Mara’s voice acting work in animation on shows like Curious George, Boss Baby: Back in the Crib, Blaze and the Monster Machines, and Arcane. In Video Games she’s been in Destiny 2, League of Legends, Mortal Kombat and Marvel Rivals. In Anime she’s worked on Ishura, Tezuka’s anime, Pluto, and Mara and I are both cast in Pokemon Horizons.
In the previous episode, Mara explained how she got started as a voice actress. She originally started in voice over as a radio DJ, and thought that was going to be her dream job. However, because of management changes at the station, and her own desire to grow artistically, she decided to leave radio and pursue voice acting full time. After spending 16 hours a day on average researching and studying voice over, she began to build a career for herself working remotely, first in Louisiana, then later in Colorado. After booking a role in the hit animated series Arcane, she realized she needed to move to Los Angeles to take her career to the next level.
In this episode, I ask Mara what inspired her to become a performer in the first place. She shares with me a vision that her mother had of Mara standing on a stage, speaking to a large audience who was enraptured. This idea of Mara using her voice to uplift others became a guiding principle in her life. She and I then talk about how important it is to have a good work/life balance as a performer. Mara has found it too easy at times to overcommit and burn herself out! She’s a big believer in naps, which I endorse heartily as well!
We then go back in time to when Mara first performed in the theater as a child, and how an experience she had on stage which could’ve been very embarrassing, actually helped her feel more empowered as a person and as an artist. It’s a formative story from her youth, and discussing it on the podcast helps Mara realize just how much it has influenced her artistic journey ever since! She then shares with me her advice for the aspiring voice actor, and how important it is to be patient with yourself as you pursue an acting career. Mara is a big believer in finding your authentic self and sharing that in your performances. Finding and revealing your true self can take a lot of introspection, self-honesty, training, and courage. The world is full of actors who seem to have become overnight successes, but if you ask them about it, you’ll find out that they’ve actually been practicing their craft for years! Mara encourages you to be good to yourself as you grow as an actor. She is courageous not only in the pursuit of her career, but also in how willing she is to share her own trials and tribulations as an artist. So without further ado, here’s Mara!
VAM 216 | Interview with Mara Junot, Part 1
Welcome to episode 216 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 the vocal shape-shifter, Mara Junot! Before we begin, I want to acknowledge here that Mara identifies as non-binary, but accepts both “she” and “they” pronouns. For the purposes of this podcast, I will be using “she/her” when referring to Mara so as to avoid pluralization confusion during these episodes. Now, you may be familiar with Mara’s work in animation where she’s played Marlene in Curious George, R&D Baby Simmons in Boss Baby: Back in the Crib, Superhero Narrator, Tiger Statue, and Betty Blueprint from Blaze and the Monster Machines, and Shoola in the hit show, Arcane. In Video Games she’s played Ikora Rey in Destiny 2, Evelyn in League of Legends, Sindel in Mortal Kombat and Storm in Marvel Rivals. In Anime she’s played Elea the Red Tag in Ishura, Helena in Tezuka’s anime, Pluto, and Mara and I have the great pleasure of working together on Pokemon Horizons where she plays Orla, the chief engineer of our airship the Brave Olivine.
In this episode, Mara and I begin our discussion with the question I ask all of my guests: how did she get started as a voice actor? Mara’s path to voice acting is a bit unique because she actually began her career on the microphone as a Radio DJ! She was living in a town called Houma in Louisiana, about an hour southwest of New Orleans, working a corporate job that she hated. She then found an opportunity to audition for her local radio station. She reached out to a friend of hers who had some experience in radio, and he helped her put together a recording demonstrating her DJ skills. The station liked what they heard, and she was fortunate enough to get hired to host one of the shows on their county music station. She eventually expanded into DJing at two other stations owned by the same company: a classic rock station, and a soft rock station. Working as a radio DJ was a dream come true for Mara and she thought she was on top of the world!
Unfortunately, after about 7 or 8 years, Mara began to feel like she had stopped growing. She was working all the time, but didn’t feel like there was any more career advancement for her in radio. There was also a change of management at the company which resulted in some personality conflicts amongst the employees, and Mara realized she needed to switch careers.
She had always enjoyed acting as kid in school, but had never felt comfortable embracing what she thought was the acting lifestyle. Mara is an introvert who values her privacy. She didn’t know how to pursue acting without having to become a public figure. That’s when she realized that voice acting might be a way for her to pursue her acting ambitions, retain a sense of anonymity, and still work from her current location in Louisiana. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she was determined to figure out a way to make it work.
Mara began by finding out everything she could about pursuing a voice over career. She scoured websites for information, she started signing up for pay-to-play sites like Voice123.com where you can pay a membership fee to get access to auditions for certain types of voice over work. She even listened to this podcast to help her find out more about the industry! Early on, Mara knew that she wanted to become a household name in voice over. She wanted to have similar name recognition to someone like Morgan Freeman. She also understood that such an ambitious goal would require a lot of commitment. She would spend all day studying voice over, sometimes 16 to 18 hours a day, doing everything she could to expand her knowledge and her skills.
All of that hard work started paying off. She began getting work, building up a list of repeat clients, and discovering that she could in fact have a career in voice over outside of her experiences in radio. However, in order to become as recognizable as Morgan Freeman, there were some major hurdles she had to overcome. Initially, she had to learn to overcome her reluctance to meet with industry people in person, especially at big voice over conferences. Once she overcame that hurdle, she then realized that in order to get her voice acting career to the next level, and work on the types of projects she had always dreamed of, she was going to need to move to Los Angeles. After moving to LA, she still had more work to do: looking inward to come to grips with who she really was as an artist, and how best to share her authentic self in her performances. It’s a compelling and heartfelt journey, and I’m grateful to Mara for being willing to share such very personal details with us. Let’s get started!
VAM 215 | Interview with David Errigo Jr., Part 2
Welcome to episode 215 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 back with the second part of my interview with the ridiculously talented David Errigo Jr.! David has worked on animated shows like Tiny Toons Looniversity, X-men ’97, Phineas and Ferb, and Ridley Jones where he was nominated for an emmy for his performance as the character Dudley! In video games, he’s been in Disney Speedstorm, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, and Shin Megami Tensei V and V: Vengeance. In anime he’s worked on Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Tezuka’s anime Pluto, and the new production of Ranma 1/2!
In the previous episode, David shared with me how he got started as a voice actor. In Middle School he began taking acting classes and singing in his school choir. He studied acting in college, taught acting at a Children’s theater company after college, did a tour as an actor on a Disney Cruise Ship, and worked at regional theaters around the country acting and singing in plays and musicals. When he finally got to New York to pursue a career on Broadway, he discovered his love for voice acting in animation and realized that’s what he was meant to do in life. He knew then that he would need to move to Los Angeles in order to work on the kinds of animated shows and games that fascinated him. By 2016 he had arrived in LA and was making as many connections as he could to further his voice acting goals. With his prodigious talent, his breadth of experience, and the connections he had developed in the entertainment industry during his time as a stage actor, it didn’t take long before he signed with an agency and was working on some of the most high profile projects in Hollywood.
In the second part of our talk together, I ask David what inspired him to become a performer in the first place. He refers again to his experience watching his father’s face light up at a Bruce Springsteen concert and how that made David want to bring that level of satisfaction to as many people as possible through performance. I dig a little deeper to try and discover why it was so important to him to inspire that level of delight in others. This opens up a number of fascinating topics about how rewarding it can be to bring joy to other people, as well as how David’s father taught him values that helped shape who David is as a person and as an artist. We then discuss David’s fascination with mimicking the voices he heard in the cartoons from his childhood. He considers exposure to those shows to be vital to his voice acting education.
David has said in previous interviews that his brain is “beautifully broken”. I ask him to explain what he means by that. He tells me that he feels compelled to study, classify, and internalize cartoons and the voice acting performances in them. He just can’t help himself. He knows that the brains of many of his colleagues work the same way and the knowledge they’ve amassed is invaluable when they’re portraying their own characters. After I ask David for his advice for aspiring voice actors, he then actually applies his extensive knowledge of cartoons, by combining it with his impressive acting skills, to demonstrate in real time the difference between simply imitating the voice of a character, and actually embodying that character and portraying them in an authentic way. Listen closely, because’s David’s performance is not only an impressive display, but it’s also a mini-master class in professional voice acting. I’m truly honored that I get to share it with you!
VAM 214 | Interview with David Errigo Jr., Part 1
Welcome to episode 214 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 eager to share with you the first part of my interview with a voice actor who has played many iconic characters in animation, video games, and anime: the super talented and emmy-nominated, David Errigo Jr.! His roles in animation are numerous including Hampton J. Pig, Plucky Duck, and Arnold the Pit Bull in Tiny Toons Looniversity, Mojo, Leach, Gladiator, and Banshee in X-Men ’97, Ferb in Phineas and Ferb, and he was nominated for an emmy for his portrayal of Dudley in Ridley Jones! In video games, he’s played Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Disney Speedstorm and Disney Dreamlight Valley, Victor Krum in Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, and both Gustav and Oberon in Shin Megami Tensei V and V: Vengeance. In anime he’s played several characters in Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon, Detective Henry in Tezuka’s anime Pluto, and Boy Ranma in the new production of Ranma 1/2!
In this episode, we begin our conversation with David telling me how he got started as a voice actor. He recounts to me the story of when he was working as a theater actor in New York City, and he had an interview with a Theatrical agent. During the interview David expressed interest in voice over and the agent decided to introduce David to a voice over agent in the same office. David and the voice over agent hit it off, and David was ecstatic to begin auditioning for voice over work.
I then ask David to go back in time a bit in order to explain to me how he began pursing acting in the first place. When David was young, he was not initially interested in performing. He thought he might become a visual artist, but while attending a Bruce Springsteen concert with his Dad, he glanced over and noticed the immense joy and excitement that he saw on his father’s face. David wanted to inspire that same kind of joy in others and he believed the best way he could that was by becoming a performer.
So he immediately started taking acting classes at his school and also joined his school choir. He continued to study acting and to perform in shows throughout college. After graduating, he worked numerous acting jobs including: a 6 month tour with a Children’s Theater company, he did summer stock theater, he performed at the Arizona Broadway Theater, and he even did a tour performing on a Disney cruise ship! All of this theater work inspired David to eventually move to New York City to pursue his acting career in the Big Apple.
While he was in New York, he not only had the opportunity to meet with a voice over agent because of his theater experience, but he also was able to audition for animated projects that were being recorded in the city. Going on his first voice over animation audition was so exciting for David that he called up his father afterwards and told him that he believed that he had found what he was meant to do in life. All of his hard work and passion had lined up with his fascination and he knew deep down that he wanted to be a voice actor.
He realized that moving to LA was a necessity, especially since his obsession was animation. Through serendipitous means, he was finally able to move to the west coast and pursue a voice acting career in Hollywood, where he has succeeded admirably. David is a fantastic combination of both wild enthusiasm and rigorous discipline. He can be playful and practical at the same time, and his ability to combine these seemingly disparate aspects into a cohesive whole has contributed greatly to his success. His journey is a wonderful lesson for all of my listeners, and I hope you learn just as much from him as I did!