FREE Voice Over Tips & Insights – From a 25+ year Pro
Cold Reading: The Practice Every Voice Actor Needs and Most Skip
Here's something I've been telling my actors a lot lately: if you call yourself a voice actor... cold reading is not optional. Not for audiobook narrators. Not for commercial actors. Not for animation voice actors. ALL of you. Here's why narration teaches every voice actor something they can't learn anywhere else.
You Are Part of Someone Else's Hero's Journey. Act Like It.
Joseph Campbell spent his career identifying the universal pattern underlying every great story ever told across every culture in human history. Pixar knows it. Disney knows it. Every great video game writer knows it. And voice actors who understand it — who know exactly where their character lives inside that journey — don't just perform a character. They tell a STORY. Let's dig in.
Your "Nothing" Is Plenty.
The biggest thing standing between you and your next booking isn't your voice. It's what you think your voice needs to be doing.
The 12 Principles of Animation — And Why Every Voice Actor and Puppeteer Needs to Know Them
In 1981, two Disney animators named Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston published what has since been called the "Bible of Animation" — a book called The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. In it, they laid out 12 foundational principles that govern how great animation moves. Voice actors, they are NOT just for animators. Puppeteers, you need to take note too. Here's why — and what each principle means for the performance you bring to the mic and beyond.
So You Want to Play the Villain? Good. This Is the Most Fun You'll Ever Have Behind a Mic.
Let me tell you something about villains: they are the MOST fun you will ever have behind a microphone. The cackle. The monologue. The dramatic pause before the really terrible thing happens. All of it. But here's what separates a genuinely terrifying, memorable, bookable villain from a cartoon monster doing a funny voice — and it starts with a question most voice actors never think to ask.
The First 3 Things to Do If You Want to Do VO (Spoiler: None of Them Are Buying a Mic)
Every week someone asks me: "Where do I even start with voice acting?" I have an answer. And it's going to surprise some of you — because none of these first three things involve buying a microphone, building a home studio, or recording a single audition. Here's where the real foundation gets built.
Pick a Lane: Why Every New Voice Actor Needs to Focus Before They Diversify
I say this in almost every coaching session with a new voice actor. Usually about ten minutes in, after they've told me they want to do commercial AND animation AND audiobooks AND video games AND e-learning AND promo AND... "Pick a lane." Here's what I mean — and why it's actually the most exciting advice I give.