It's the fun part. It's the part people compliment at parties. And it's the part that books you exactly nothing on its own, because a brilliant voice attached to nobody is a sound effect.
I've been telling actors the same two things for twenty five years.
Voice acting is not about your voice. The words on the page do not matter.
People look at me sideways when I say that. Here's what it means. Don't think of the lines in a script as sentences. They're MOMENTS. Moments that are actually happening, and your character just happens to be speaking IN that moment. So before you ever open your mouth, we answer who you are, where you are, what's going on, what you're thinking, what you're feeling, and what you're physically doing.
Answer those, take a breath, then speak. The voice comes LAST. It shows up on its own once everything underneath it is true.
This guide is that whole approach, written down.
Thirty four pages, ten sections, and three archetype lists.
It opens with Meisner, because "acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances" is the only definition you need and every note you'll ever get from a director lives somewhere inside it. Then WHO am I, WHERE am I, WHAT the #*%! is going on. Then Head, Heart, Body, and why connecting those three is the difference between a character and a very good impression of one.
From there it's the actual work:
Believing, and the inside out. Getting your childhood imagination back, committing at 1000 percent with no embarrassment, and why suspension of disbelief is your most powerful and most tenuous ally. This is the puppetry section, because twenty years of puppets taught me this faster than anything else.
The room you're walking into. Network, casting director, showrunner, and the running document you should be keeping on every single one of them.
Building the character. The speed read. Reading the specs OUT LOUD as the character. External drive, internal drive, and the secret only you know.
92 archetypes across female-sounding, male-sounding, and cross-cast lists, with animation reference examples, plus the three-bucket self-audit that tells you which ones you already own and which ones are your next year of work.
The scene. Missing puzzle pieces, beats marked with slashes, theater of the mind, and the moment before.
The voice and the body. Mouth, jaw, size, clothing, posture, status, age. Where the sound actually comes from.
Comedy, pacing, and stakes. Cartoon characters are extremes. When they're upset they're not upset, they're DEVASTATED. This section is how you play that honestly instead of loudly.
Improv and takes. The cherry on top, the button, ABCs, and the one condition that justifies a second take.
A twelve point checklist to tape inside the booth and run before you hit send.
Voice actors at any stage who want to stop guessing at animation auditions. It's written to be somebody's only go-to in written form, so if you're starting from nothing you can work it top to bottom. If you've been at this a while, the archetype lists and the checklist will earn their keep for years.
I'm Nate Begle. Voice actor, audio producer, writer, director, puppeteer and VO coach, twenty five plus years in, full time since 2003. Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street, Disney, Universal. My coaching students book Paw Patrol, Spider-Man, SuperKitties and Batwheels, and they do it by understanding the assignment and connecting truthfully, not by having the prettiest voice in the room.
Serious craft. Serious passion. Serious FUN.
This guide is yours FREE. If you book 1:1 coaching with me focused on animation and character work, I'll send you this entire guide at no charge. It's the exact material we'll be working from, so you'll have it in your hands before we ever get on the call.
Book a session →
It's the fun part. It's the part people compliment at parties. And it's the part that books you exactly nothing on its own, because a brilliant voice attached to nobody is a sound effect.
I've been telling actors the same two things for twenty five years.
Voice acting is not about your voice. The words on the page do not matter.
People look at me sideways when I say that. Here's what it means. Don't think of the lines in a script as sentences. They're MOMENTS. Moments that are actually happening, and your character just happens to be speaking IN that moment. So before you ever open your mouth, we answer who you are, where you are, what's going on, what you're thinking, what you're feeling, and what you're physically doing.
Answer those, take a breath, then speak. The voice comes LAST. It shows up on its own once everything underneath it is true.
This guide is that whole approach, written down.
Thirty four pages, ten sections, and three archetype lists.
It opens with Meisner, because "acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances" is the only definition you need and every note you'll ever get from a director lives somewhere inside it. Then WHO am I, WHERE am I, WHAT the #*%! is going on. Then Head, Heart, Body, and why connecting those three is the difference between a character and a very good impression of one.
From there it's the actual work:
Believing, and the inside out. Getting your childhood imagination back, committing at 1000 percent with no embarrassment, and why suspension of disbelief is your most powerful and most tenuous ally. This is the puppetry section, because twenty years of puppets taught me this faster than anything else.
The room you're walking into. Network, casting director, showrunner, and the running document you should be keeping on every single one of them.
Building the character. The speed read. Reading the specs OUT LOUD as the character. External drive, internal drive, and the secret only you know.
92 archetypes across female-sounding, male-sounding, and cross-cast lists, with animation reference examples, plus the three-bucket self-audit that tells you which ones you already own and which ones are your next year of work.
The scene. Missing puzzle pieces, beats marked with slashes, theater of the mind, and the moment before.
The voice and the body. Mouth, jaw, size, clothing, posture, status, age. Where the sound actually comes from.
Comedy, pacing, and stakes. Cartoon characters are extremes. When they're upset they're not upset, they're DEVASTATED. This section is how you play that honestly instead of loudly.
Improv and takes. The cherry on top, the button, ABCs, and the one condition that justifies a second take.
A twelve point checklist to tape inside the booth and run before you hit send.
Voice actors at any stage who want to stop guessing at animation auditions. It's written to be somebody's only go-to in written form, so if you're starting from nothing you can work it top to bottom. If you've been at this a while, the archetype lists and the checklist will earn their keep for years.
I'm Nate Begle. Voice actor, audio producer, writer, director, puppeteer and VO coach, twenty five plus years in, full time since 2003. Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street, Disney, Universal. My coaching students book Paw Patrol, Spider-Man, SuperKitties and Batwheels, and they do it by understanding the assignment and connecting truthfully, not by having the prettiest voice in the room.
Serious craft. Serious passion. Serious FUN.
This guide is yours FREE. If you book 1:1 coaching with me focused on animation and character work, I'll send you this entire guide at no charge. It's the exact material we'll be working from, so you'll have it in your hands before we ever get on the call.
Book a session →
