Want
to become a voice actor? First you have to be an actor. Find a
community theater, work on radio dramas. Learn the craft, develop the
versatility that actors must show in the recording booth. But don't
expect to be an immediate success or to be able to make a living from
anime dubs. This often-repeated message got an airing on Nekocon's
Saturday, from a panel of actors who included (left to right) Angora
Deb, Greg Ayres, Monica Rial and Chris Patton. The actors said they've
gotten E-mail from fans who say they want to pull up stakes, move to a
place like Houston, where ADV Films is headquartered, and audition to
be an actor. It's possible to get a role that way, the panelists said,
but it's no way to make a living.
Deb,
the only New Yorker on the panel, started as an improvisational actor
who did other voice work until she stumbled into anime dubbing. "I
didn't try at all," Deb said. "I didn't know what anime was - I thought
it was a person. I was doing an industrial film, and an actor said I
should try anime. I tried it and it snowballed. Out of the last two or
three years, it's gotten to the point I don't have to audition. They
call and say, `I have a role, can you do it?'" Deb can testify to the
pay for anime dubbing not being the best, despite the difficulty of
creating a good performance based on matching previously-created
animation. She's handled dialogue replacement and commercial voice work
that consists of only a few words - or a few syllables - which pays
far, far better than months of anime dubbing.
In
the New York or Los Angeles markets, aspiring voice actors need to have
agents and prepare demo tracks to have even an outside chance for a
role. In Houston and Austin, ADV Films has been known to advertise in
area newspapers and have open casting calls. The auditions are intended
to weed out those who can't meet the grade, which isn't the same for
anime dubbing as for stage or film performing. Rial said the tough part
of the dub industry is to find people who can both act, match up with
onscreen lip flaps, and handle the pressure of the recording booth.
Some people are great actors but put them in a booth and they sound
weird, or they don't sound weird enough."
Ayres
and the rest of the Texans on the panel have extensive stage experience
(Ayres has had leads in Houston performances of Rocky Horror Picture
Show and Cabaret), "Get out there and perform," Ayres said. "There's
local theater, there's radio, you can always get involved with the
improv troupe. Sharpen your skills and have fun, and you may find when
you do that, you like stage more." Ayres' career at ADV has grown to
the point that he's gotten some big roles, including the part of Kaoru
in the "director's cut" re-release of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV
series, but he got to the point of regularly getting lead roles after
years of taking smaller parts in ADV dubs - work that convinced the
company that he was reliable and versatile.
Patton,
who got cheers when he mentioned his work as the strait-laced soldier
in Full Metal Panic, said that his performance - and others in ADV
Films dubs - are based on a combination of dub direction and the
original Japanese performance. For the Metal Panic guy, his demeanor
and bearing in the artwork pretty much determined that Patton would
develop a clueless and deadpan delivery, but other acting hints can
come from the way the original was acted. "We're never encouraged to
imitate the original, but sometimes you can take cues from them," said
Patton. But what sort of experience can prepare you for roles like the
ones Patton plays in Legend of the Mystical NInja, where he plays an
"...egg critter and a little fat dude who looks like he wears panties
on his head. Whenever he needs to save the world, he wants food."
Want
to become a voice actor? First you have to be an actor. Find a
community theater, work on radio dramas. Learn the craft, develop the
versatility that actors must show in the recording booth. But don't
expect to be an immediate success or to be able to make a living from
anime dubs. This often-repeated message got an airing on Nekocon's
Saturday, from a panel of actors who included (left to right) Angora
Deb, Greg Ayres, Monica Rial and Chris Patton. The actors said they've
gotten E-mail from fans who say they want to pull up stakes, move to a
place like Houston, where ADV Films is headquartered, and audition to
be an actor. It's possible to get a role that way, the panelists said,
but it's no way to make a living.
Deb,
the only New Yorker on the panel, started as an improvisational actor
who did other voice work until she stumbled into anime dubbing. "I
didn't try at all," Deb said. "I didn't know what anime was - I thought
it was a person. I was doing an industrial film, and an actor said I
should try anime. I tried it and it snowballed. Out of the last two or
three years, it's gotten to the point I don't have to audition. They
call and say, `I have a role, can you do it?'" Deb can testify to the
pay for anime dubbing not being the best, despite the difficulty of
creating a good performance based on matching previously-created
animation. She's handled dialogue replacement and commercial voice work
that consists of only a few words - or a few syllables - which pays
far, far better than months of anime dubbing.
In
the New York or Los Angeles markets, aspiring voice actors need to have
agents and prepare demo tracks to have even an outside chance for a
role. In Houston and Austin, ADV Films has been known to advertise in
area newspapers and have open casting calls. The auditions are intended
to weed out those who can't meet the grade, which isn't the same for
anime dubbing as for stage or film performing. Rial said the tough part
of the dub industry is to find people who can both act, match up with
onscreen lip flaps, and handle the pressure of the recording booth.
Some people are great actors but put them in a booth and they sound
weird, or they don't sound weird enough."
Ayres
and the rest of the Texans on the panel have extensive stage experience
(Ayres has had leads in Houston performances of Rocky Horror Picture
Show and Cabaret), "Get out there and perform," Ayres said. "There's
local theater, there's radio, you can always get involved with the
improv troupe. Sharpen your skills and have fun, and you may find when
you do that, you like stage more." Ayres' career at ADV has grown to
the point that he's gotten some big roles, including the part of Kaoru
in the "director's cut" re-release of the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV
series, but he got to the point of regularly getting lead roles after
years of taking smaller parts in ADV dubs - work that convinced the
company that he was reliable and versatile.
Patton,
who got cheers when he mentioned his work as the strait-laced soldier
in Full Metal Panic, said that his performance - and others in ADV
Films dubs - are based on a combination of dub direction and the
original Japanese performance. For the Metal Panic guy, his demeanor
and bearing in the artwork pretty much determined that Patton would
develop a clueless and deadpan delivery, but other acting hints can
come from the way the original was acted. "We're never encouraged to
imitate the original, but sometimes you can take cues from them," said
Patton. But what sort of experience can prepare you for roles like the
ones Patton plays in Legend of the Mystical NInja, where he plays an
"...egg critter and a little fat dude who looks like he wears panties
on his head. Whenever he needs to save the world, he wants food."
