We have found 19,460 posts across 4 actor forums:
Why are the paths to becoming a professional voice actor so limited? by mayo-clinicy • last post Aug 17th
If you want any real professional work you have to go through an agency, so if you’re starting out that leaves you with ccc, acx, fiver which is apparently looked down upon by some agents, and some pay to play sites. I wish there were more options for open auditions to various projects
MOVIE VOICE-OVER!! 2021 WHO IS HE?! by marisoldrama • last post Aug 17th
WHO IS THE VOICEOVER announcer in 2021? I've been trying to figure out who this actor is? It's a super deep male-sounding voice. He's the voice movie commercials in 2021. He currently has multiple spots for movie commercial trailers on TV for HBO MAX + In Theater's movie promos. Here: Toward the end. 0:45 seconds [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktvCS7QaHk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktvCS7QaHk) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DBwMEhYLg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DBwMEhYLg) ​ I want to know mainly because I love movie voice trailers, but I can't seem to identify this actor's voice for announcing movie commercials.
What deems someone a ‘professional actor?’ by MCKtheMan • last post Aug 17th
I’ve seen people, both in and out of the arts, define professionals differently. My mother says I’d be a professional if it was my main source of income. I always assumed that a professional was someone who was trained and/or has no issue knowing what to do when handed a script or is in rehearsal/on set. What do you guys think?
Scared I have to quit the business simply because of self-tape turn around times? by iluye1 • last post Aug 17th
Okay, so I feel like I have a really unique situation... I'm with a top tier management company in LA... a very recognizable one. I'm not a series regular or making crazy residuals on anything (yet), I work a day job while auditioning. That being said, I have to tape 3-4 times a week, for series regular roles or leads on films. Every single audition I get is 8-12+ pages of dialogue. I just signed with this manager a couple of months ago, but I've had reps before this for years. It was the same situation, the majority of what I auditioned for was all for series regulars or similar, but I have NEVER experienced the audition turn around being as fast as it is! The caliber of auditions I get is incredible, but... for example... I received 12 pages of dialogue last night at 8pm and it's due tomorrow at 9am. That's just a little over 24 hour turn-around time, and I had to work today.. (my rent depends on it). It has to be done in a British accent (I am American). I wouldn't have time to hire a dialect coach if I tried. This isnt an every-once-in-awhile thing for me, this is 3 or 4 times *weekly* where this much dialogue is due virtually overnight. I don't have time to work to pay a single bill anymore, I don't have time to sleep or to go to the doctor's or do anything with my life, really. What happened to productions easing up on us due to Covid? It has never been this bad. I dont want to complain about these opportunities, but my acting is really suffering from this. I don't have the luxury of being on one show, dealing with one character, not having to factor in my side job(s). I am struggling so hard to balance my life... I've been sick for a couple weeks but too afraid to go to the clinic because it will cut into trying to learn lines. I'm not sure how *any* actor is making this work? I'm scared to broach this subject with my manager, just because I think 90% of her other clients are series regulars already. None of them are having to work in unrelated industries to pay their bills, nor are they getting as many auditions as I am since they're contracted to shows already. She's at a top company like I mentioned... so I'm scared she just won't understand and drop me. Is there any advice you all would be able to give me? What would you do in this situation?
How to make creative choices by cryoncue • last post Aug 17th
Below is a piece I wrote that inspired a lot of conversation about making creative, strong choices. Let me know what you think. ============================= Why I was such a cruel prick “I never paint what is. I only paint what I imagine could be.” Degas Want to know how to fully explore your character - and dare to make choices that feel uncomfortable...even possibly get you in trouble - so you can DISCOVER the true ESSENCE of your character? Here’s the dealio, YOUR imagination is one of the best ways to ILLUMINATE the TRUTH of the character. The reason why your imagination is so important is because too often actors get stuck working from their “rational brain.” And what that means is...you’re not working from your instincts. Here’s the real truth: your rational brain stifles your creativity and forces you into making GENERIC and PEDESTRIAN choices. I remember having an audition for a violently abusive husband on a short lived ABC series. Anyway, once I walked into the casting office, I was told the audition would be an improvised scene... Then I was told my character is none too happy about how my wife has cleaned the house. In fact, I leave sticky notes around the house detailing how she failed to clean something properly.
I STILL don't feel adequate by Rainingsun15 • last post Aug 17th
I wrote some of this in my journal yesterday (my birthday!) and I just want to share/vent here and see if anyone else feels this way? Here's my acting story (abbreviated): I auditioned and was accepted into Chicago College of Performing Arts for class of 2024. I deferred because of the pandemic. I took my first on-camera acting class on May 6th, 2020. I trained really hard at a bunch of different studios remotely during COVID to develop my craft. I booked my first student film last August. This past year I've worked on 15 (non-student) short films. Some of them were out of state with big budgets. I've signed with two agencies. I booked a dayplayer in a feature in my area last November. This June I was in Georgia for the month shooting a lead in a mid-budget period thriller feature. This July I spent 2 weeks in Oklahoma working as a major supporting character in a coming-of-age movie. I am consistently going out for TV co-stars and mid-sized supporting roles in films. I am being seen in Atlanta for recurring guest stars fairly routinely. I am my happiest and most content self when I am working on set. I make a conscious effort to be pleasant, present, and professional (my 3 Ps lol) and never say one negative thing. I feed off of the energy and I know that acting is what I was created to do. Everything that I’ve accomplished this year is so so fantastic and objectively I know that I’m lucky to have had so many opportunities in what was basically just a year. But here I am sitting with this unshakable feeling that I'm not good enough and people don't like me/don't want to work with me. Once I wrap a project or send an audition in I always spiral into an insecure mess. Leaving set after working on a film leaves me with a few days of melancholy ecstasy followed by questions of “why did I say that to them”, “he doesn’t think I’m talented”, “was too annoying during lunch”. You guys get it. I usually end up convincing myself that I was a burden to everyone and that production regretted hiring me because I’m untalented and annoying. Don’t even get me started on the looks. Please let me know if anyone else feels this way? I’ll send in a tape where I look great because of the lighting and then when I get to set, I am convinced the director/production thinks I catfished them and look nothing like my audition video but they don’t want to tell me because it’s too late to find someone else. Another example is if I didn’t have to film a full body slate, I feel like they think I’m fat when they see me in person. Also I am personally confident in my acting abilities but I feel like the people in video village are whispering to each other that I did terribly (this is after I wrap, not during production). Social media just feeds into this. When I see former castmates interacting with each other without me via posts on Instagram, I feel like they don’t want to hang out with me because I’m too ugly, or too annoying, or too untalented. When they comment on other people’s pictures and not mine, I feel like the odd man out. Another facet to this is that even though I truly am happy when other people book projects, I feel like I’m falling behind when I see their posts. My family doesn’t really help either. When I feel the slightest bit of pride in what I’m doing, they make sure to knock me down by reminding me that I didn’t actually make any money (because I worked local hire) between my plane flight and Airbnb. They ask when I’m going to start working in TV. The few times I’ve told them about auditions, when they ask about them later and I say I didn't book, they tell me “that’s disappointing”. They really mean no harm but on top of the other stuff, it’s just a little extra salt in the wound. Lastly, I overthink every little mistake that I’ve made and beat myself up over it. For example, I accidentally posted a reel with unreleased clips on my IMDb and got a stern email by production on one of my films and on another project, I made another stupid mistake that might have lost me the ability to work with that director again too. Those are literally the only two things I can think of where I have blatantly messed up but they still haunt me to this day. I just want to stress that overall, I am content with my life as an actor. I have a great support system consisting of family, friends outside the industry, and other actors. I love my acting classes and self-taping. Like I said, being on set is like heaven for me and I can’t see a life where I don’t pursue acting until the day I die. I just wanted to vent about this part of my time in the industry. I feel like I've accomplished too much to feel this way when other people wish they could do some of the stuff that I've done but at the same time, I wish I could do stuff that other people have done. I feel like I can't even have the feelings I'm having. I guess I would just love to know if anyone else gets these feeling so I don’t feel so alienated in my experiences and if anyone has any coping techniques for when these feelings start to creep in.
Celebration - First audition opportunity for a Supporting Role! by ragesbastardson • last post Aug 17th
I've been a long time lurker and have been acting since 2012 down in Australia. This board has been one of the few place that has kept my head in the game. Australia is a very, very small market, with large barriers to auditioning for a tiny amount of roles across the states. It's super competitive. I've really wanted to make the move to UK / US / Canada and last year was supposed to be the year yet it didn't happen for obvious reasons. ​ The last few years have been exceptionally rough as I've struggled with bouncing around from not having agency to having agents who have treated me like a number, to dealing with COVID, to losing my abillity to work as a full time film maker (which pushed me into my fall back career to pay the bills). The final hardship was rejected by an Academy Award winning director from a shortlist of actors after the writer pushed me for the role as hard as he could - but still I didn't land it. I really thought this was my break out role and spent over $3k preping for the audition, and spending 20 hours a week over 6 months working on that character and script, only for the role to go to someone who spent 2 weeks working on it. The demoralising part of it really messed me up harder as I had nothing else to look forward to. No other big auditions coming my way. Despite that, I decided to create my own shot, riding off the momentum of being shortlisted, even with the heartache of rejection to keep pushing onwards for a decent agent. I probably received over 80 rejections email out of the 120+ emails I sent looking for representation. I ended up getting interest from an agent who was unavailable and asked me to contact them back in a few weeks time. After a long and rough few weeks of mental stress, dealing with life & bills, I ended up having that chat with them, which went exceptionally well and gratiously accepted them as my agent. After 1 day of joining on their books, I've received my first TV audition for an actual supporting part. This has been over 9 years in the making. At 31, I feel excited and grateful to finally be able to work hard at a serious acting opportunity for a large and important audition, after years of working on my craft. I do not care if I get this role as I've won already. It's validated a lot of my insecurities, heartache and pain that I've had to go through, with numerous times where I've contemplated quitting due to the sacrifices not being worth it. Now the final place I want to work on more is my mentality & mental health. Having the security of proper representation really takes a lot of the sting of rejection out, as I know that if I continue to work hard on the auditions, I'll be sure to continue to find opportunities. If anyone is doubting themselves right now, it's natural to feel that way. Just keep continuing. Even if you have to take a break, you're still an actor, and the work you've put it in along the way isn't going anywhere (just like when Daniel Day-Lewis takes years off acting) all your talent & instrument is there, waiting for you to come back to it.
I want feedback by DatTolDesiBoi • last post Aug 17th
So, the first thing I should clarify, is that I'm not a professional voice actor. [I just saw this video, and thought it would be fun to voice the characters.](https://youtu.be/rHu15tk8RJI) For reference, this is an animation of a fight in the manga/webcomic One Punch Man. If you want to look up the characters, look up Garou, Darkshine, Gyro-Gyro, and Puri Puri Prisoner. Since I don't speak Japanese, I tried to emulate their English Dub voices. [This is how it came out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitcc4ujeN0) What do you guys think?
How much to charge for private acting lessons? by worldtraveler9700 • last post Aug 17th
A mom approached me and asked about a lesson or two for her daughter to prepare for an audition but I don't know what to charge. I have a degree in Theatre and am a professional working actor, and 25 if that makes a difference. I'm thinking of charging $40 for an hour? Is that reasonable or am I lowballing myself? I live in the Washington DC area and am in an affluent county as many people make a lot of money due to their government work, thanks!
Armenian Voice Actress Needed ($64) by chwippy • last post Aug 17th
Our team is working on the pilot episode for an anime series we plan to pitch to some networks. One of the characters is Armenian, so we would like her VA to be Armenian as well. She is a rich and popular high school senior who is mostly likable but somewhat stuck up. The series is takes place in America and is in English, so it is NOT necessary to speak Armenian. Simply being of Armenian background is sufficient. Having an accent is okay, as long as English is fluent. The character has 16 lines in the episode, some shorter than others. The rate is $4 per line for a total of $64. Hope someone who fits the criteria is interested!
VA discord by ItsJordy__ • last post Aug 17th
To any voice actors who wanna be in a community with other voice actors join the voice acting discord! (This is NOT the discord for this subreddit!) [VA discord!](https://discord.gg/voiceactingcentral)
Blurry actors access thumbnail by skay28 • last post Aug 17th
Hey guys! So I’m trying to add new pictures to my account but the thumbnail isn’t as clear as the actual picture. When I click on the headshot and it opens up, it looks great though. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?
How to work with more experienced actors? by yellow_psychopath • last post Aug 17th
They are really inspirational and there are so many things I could learn from them, but how do I also not feel as intimidated around them and worry that I can't catch up during rehearsals?
My very first "acting" role by ebookroundup • last post Aug 16th
I have never gone to film school. The only education I have received in acting was way back in high school in drama class which pretty much consisted of goofing off. I have always wanted to see what it's like on a real movie set and lucked out as a major movie started filming few months ago. With much perseverance, I successfully landed a background actor spot on a film directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser and some others. Was very hard work but I would have done it for free or might have even paid to do it as the experience was extremely valuable and one I'll never forget. The biggest surprise was how hard actors/film crew work. I will never, ever make fun of Hollywood or Hollywood types again! The biggest lesson I learned from the experience was something along the lines of... if you want results in life put an incredible amount of detail into whatever you are doing. Whether it's a hot dog stand, a YouTube channel, a book or whatever. Don't get lazy/sloppy. The amount of detail with the set design and lengths the cast/crew went to for each scene was incredible. Scorsese doesn't fool around... no detail is too small. Do the same with whatever you are doing and you will eventually succeed.
What do i do? by Localnetflixguy • last post Aug 16th
Okay so this is not going to be a usual post like “I just got a role in a movie” so prepare yourself. so I am a 13 year old boy who is going into eighth grade in two weeks and then five months after that I’ll need to write an entrance exam to a school, and because I wanna become an actor I want to go to a school that has acting classes, but I recently realized I know nothing about acting. That is because when I was like 7 I loved watching movies and so i decided that I want to become an actor and since then I’ve never actually thought it through. Im also not American, so even if I do get into this school, I’ll have to act in Hungarian. so my questions are: 1. Should I go to the acting school or just choose a regular one and think more about it? Although, I don’t really wanna do that because when I go to university, I’ll have to pay a bunch of money and I don’t want to do that if I’m not sure about acting. 2. Should I take acting lessons on YouTube and see where I get? I don’t know if these lessons even work, but I definitely don’t want to take real life acting classes because one, my parents prolly wouldn’t want to pay for it (I mean they would pay it if I asked them but I don’t want to waste their money if yt lessons are good) and two, I’m probably too shy to act alone in front of a teacher, which leads us to question number three: 3. what do I do about stage fright? this one isn’t urgent, but I’m sure once I’ll end up having to act alone at an audition or even on an actual movie set. I could probably overcome it if i stopped panicking and actually did something, so give me tips if you know some. and last, question number 4. is acting different in different languages? so as I said in middle school I’ll have to act in Hungarian, which is probably harder, because my brain can process the things I say much faster, and I’ll start panicking about how it’s not real and im just acting and my acting will be bad. But that’s not the important part. So if I “master” acting in Hungarian will i have to do it differently in English? I know this seems like a stupid question, but I feel like it’s going to be like that. Thanks for reading! (And please don’t answer like I’m a two year old because that’s what most people do)
Why was my eco cast audition closed early? by LivinLaVidaBrooka • last post Aug 16th
Hello! I had an eco cast audition that was due today (Monday) @5pm PDT. I live in New York so I converted to deadline to be 8pm my time, but when I went to upload my video at around 7:30pm EST, the eco cast said that my deadline passed. It’s pretty disheartening after going through the process of recording and editing my video just for an audition to close early like that. Does this happen often with Actors Access? Should I just follow the timing that’s given on the page despite time zones?
To day player actors by Intelligent-Oil241 • last post Aug 16th
Since I heard that shooting lasts like 12 hours or more. What do you do to pass the time? I doubt your character would have too many lines to rehearse
Self submissions on casting networks-- not sure if I should make a self-tape with the script that is provided in this instance. by Pearlet2 • last post Aug 16th
I found a role in a short film near me that I find very interesting, and fitting to my type. The casting director requested a self-tape in the breakdown. I have a self-tape from a past audition that has received excellent feedback, but I am not sure if I should use dialogue from the script when I respond to this casting on casting networks. They linked a pdf with the script along with payment details, and then said: **Requested Media** Audio, Video, Photo please send a self tape I would normally just take the time to make a tape, but the problem is that the script they sent only has about 4 lines in it (mostly silent film). It is not something I can really make a tape for, as I am acting out stabbing another actor and saying these 4 lines. I suppose I could get creative and try to make a tape for this solo, but I am not sure if that is necessary as they did not specify whether or not this tape must be from the script they attached to the breakdown. I am new to acting, so this may seem like an obvious answer to some, but please bare with me. **Is it okay for me to use an old tape in this instance?**
Central Casting Rates by _justabe • last post Aug 16th
Hello, I am curious if there is a pay bump for non-union actors who are asked to drive a vehicle on set. I drove on set which required driving around talent, camera, and essentially through the shot for several hours. Is that considered a stunt on set? Thank you!