Welcome to episode 153 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 second part of my interview with the Emmy award winning voice actress, Maile Flanagan! Maile is probably most famous for voicing the character of Naruto in the long running anime franchise of the same name. She also won an Emmy for her performance in the animated show Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. Maile is an accomplished on-camera actress and comedienne as well! She is one of the few actresses who works almost equally in voice acting and on-camera and I was excited to bring her on the podcast to share her experience with my listeners.

In the previous episode, Maile and I discussed what inspired her to become an actress in the first place. Her international upbringing, her family’s penchant for wry humor, and her training to become a spy for the CIA were all big influences on her! These varied experiences helped her hone her observational skills which served her incredibly well when she was studying other actor’s performances. Each of these environments also provided her with opportunities to test her social skills and to learn how to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.

In this episode, I ask Maile what advice she has for aspiring voice actors. Maile teaches voice over workshops so she has lots of hands on experience working with students and helping them understand what it takes to succeed as a professional voice actor. She shares with me some of the common mistakes she sees her students make and she emphasizes how important it is for an aspiring voice actor to “do their homework”, as she puts it. We go into great detail about how voice acting homework differs from more traditional homework you may have been assigned in school. Learning how to immerse yourself in a character requires a different mindset than figuring out algebra problems and Maile has some great insights on what you can do to improve the believability of your performances!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #153 Here (MP3)