VAM 071 | Interview with Andrea Toyias, Part 4
Welcome to episode 71 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
This is the fourth and final part of my interview with my good friend, the incredibly talented voice director, Andrea Toyias. Andrea works for Blizzard Entertainment and has voice directed on such high profile titles as World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and Diablo III. We first met while working on Diablo III, where I played the voice of the Male Wizard. We’ve admired each other’s work ever since.
As we wrap up our discussion, Andrea talks about what it took for her to develop her fantastic directing skills. She also recounts how challenging it was for her when she tried her hand at acting. Her experiences in acting class increased her appreciation for the craft of acting immensely. She also shares with me her final advice to voice actors and why the skill she is looking for in people who audition for her is called “voice acting” and not “voice reading”.
It’s not every day you get such intimate knowledge of what is going on in a director’s head. I’m incredibly grateful to Andrea for being so honest and generous in sharing her challenges and her insights as a director with us.
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #71 Here (MP3)
When I first started acting, I always wondered how actors could take roles that were really “out there” and still make them believable. Like, how do I relate to a Turian on a space station? I’ve never even left my state. I think I may have figured out part of it. Circumstances may be different, but emotions are still emotions. No matter how “out there” a role is, you can still relate to what the character is feeling.
Thank you and Andrea for your time and wisdom.
I agree with you. The key is to relate emotionally to where a character is. That takes some understanding of human psychology. It also takes understanding their circumstances and imagining yourself in them. If you can truly do that, you will understand the heart of a character and be able to play them, even if you’ve never personally gone through what they have in life. I’m glad our interview helped you realize that. Thanks for listening.
Hi Crispin, I like how you and Ms Andrea’s amazing words of wisdom about how the actors need to be believable of any character he or she played 🙂 Since Innocent-archetype female character, like Alice is still suited my youthful sweet voice – I practice some lines as Wendy from Peter Pan, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Princess Elionwy from The Black Cauldron that its almost sound proper as well. I think those kind of characters are really make my voice believable. As far I learned about what is an actor, I can understand of everything 🙂 Thanks you so much again with these words of wisdom and I’m really looking to hear more
I’m glad you’re enjoying the interview.
Thank you so much for this interview. I really enjoyed it and the last half of it really hit home to me as a person and an actor.
Andrea was a wonderful interviewee, and I hope I see her work soon.
Thanks again, and looking forward to more!
~ Kalyn
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you liked it so much!
I use a thesaurus as a stage tool for understanding a character or respective lines. It’s for a colorful variety of verbs that indicate what my character is actually doing, are relatable, and are useable on my scene partner and I can swap them out at will, as long as I can see myself actually doing them to get my partner to react.
If you find a thesaurus helps you to understand your dialogue better, then by all means use one.
Hello Crispin, I have a question about voice acting particularly in the field of anime which could also be a question about what direction I can take for the future, and just wanted to know your opinion. I am 19 years of age and graduated high school last year, but when I entered my senior year Drama/Theater were no longer available and thought if I had taken those classes it might have been easier to get comfortable acting. Now there is almost no way for me attend college, which could have been a big help to me as well. I am very passionate about becoming a voice actor for anime and my reasons for it may seem like a joke, but what really inspires me is listening to VA\’s job experiences, their commentaries/interviews, and podcasts such as the ones you provide. It\’s from all of that, I have a dream of doing something I would love to do. My question is, with acting background \”whatsoever\” or having the chance to take classes, in your opinion would training myself and auditioning for local theater help with experience? Or is it a little too late to get started in acting now? Thank you for your time.
It is never too late to learn to do something, no matter what that is. If you are only 19 then you certainly have a lot of your life ahead of you. If you would like to pursue acting, then by all means take whatever acting classes you can to expand your skills. I would also advise you to learn as much as you can about the business of acting as well so you can approach it as a business. As I say in episode 1 of the podcast, voice acting is not a job, it’s a business. If you would like to have a career as a voice actor, you are starting a business where the product is you. It behooves you then to research the industry you’re planning on entering as thoroughly as possible so you can be well informed.
Hope that helps.
Hey Crispin. I would like to thank you for posting the recent podcast. I have a question. When you want to employ yourself in the Voice Acting industry, how are you able to Advertise/Market yourself to contribute to the industry?
There are many ways to market yourself as a voice actor. Having a website is essential so you have an online home for your demos and resumes. That allows casting directors to look you up easily. Most of my opportunities as a voice actor come through my agent. However, before I had an agent, I networked with my fellow actors and at conventions to discover who was producing the kind of projects I wanted to work on. You can also pursue pay to play sites like voices.com or voice123.com, but I don’t have any personal experience working with them. Another avenue is ACX, the audiobook exchange where you can market yourself as an audiobook narrator. That should give you some starting points.
Okay thanks
Not related to this podcast at all but… is it me or did I hear your voice coming out of a soldier in Metal Gear Solid 5 : Ground Zeroes??? ¬¬
I honestly don’t know for sure. I believe I worked on the game, but it’s been a while since it happened and often times a false title is given when we’re working on the game in order to keep it secret. If you could get me a video sample of the game, I could confirm it for you.
well according to this you did!
http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_V:_Ground_Zeroes
It was a random conversation between nameless soldiers.
Just because it’s up on wikipedia doesn’t mean it’s true. However, one of my students has informed me that they did actually hear me in the game, so I’m gonna say that yes, you probably heard me.
This podcast actually brought me to tears. You get it Mr. Freeman. You absolutely GET it. With all the frenzy about celebrity, it seems as though very few know what acting truly is about. As a blossoming voice actor currently studying theatre, I’ve come to understand acting as bringing all that you are, all you’ve been through, and leaving it on the stage for the audience.
Thank you so so much for this listening experience. I was a fan of your anime work before, but NOW?!…I’m in awe!
Looking forward to taking one of your classes very soon.
Thanks again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the episode so much. It’s always wonderful to hear when your efforts have touched someone. Thank you for letting me know how the episode affected you. I really appreciate it.
I look forward to working with you in class.