VAM 129 | Interview with Zach Hanks, Part 2
Welcome to episode 129 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 voice actor, director and teacher, Zach Hanks! You may be familiar with his performances as Garnac in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Morgan and Custis Pendleton in the video game Dishonored and Lars Halford in the game Brutal Legend.
Not only is Zach a voice actor, but he’s also worked as both a voice director and casting director on multiple video game projects. In addition, Zach has taught voice acting as a professor at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Eastern Texas. He currently resides in Atlanta where he is continuing to pursue his own voice over career in addition to founding the Voice Over Career Launch Pad, a service that helps voice over artists learn the skills they need to become business-savvy professionals in the industry.
Last time, during the first part of our interview, we discussed Zach’s journey through voice acting from his earliest days starting as an actor, through becoming a casting director, a voice director, a college professor, and finally moving to Atlanta to continue his career. It was an amazing journey with plenty of twists and turns! Every challenge that Zach faced taught him so much about himself and about the industry. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you listen to the previous episode before continuing with this one.
In this second part of our interview, we delve deeper into the different turning points of Zach’s career. I ask Zach to elaborate on the lessons he learned from each of these influential experiences and how he applied them to creating his own unique voice acting journey. He’s got some wonderful out of the box thinking that I’m eager to share with you, as well as some tough love about what it takes to be truly successful! So let’s dive in!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #129 Here (MP3)
Hello. My name is Tim. This may not be the correct episode for this reply. I am 40, full-time job, wife and 3 kids. Acted in high school and college and then met my wife. Stopped college after that and 17 years later here I am. Question is, is it even worth trying to do anything voice acting wise at this stage of the game? Thank you for the podcasts. They are very invaluable.
I am facing the same dilema.
Great episode. A lot to say about this one.
I’ve also grown up with the mindset that you pick a career and that’s it. That’s the job you have for the rest of your life. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of professional wrestling and there’s two things I’ve learned from the wrestlers and they stuck with me. First was from CM Punk (yes, he calls himself that) and it was “you are NOT defined by your job. Occupation does not equal worth as a human being.” Second was from Chris Jericho who said people can be multi-faceted individuals. Jericho wanted to be a pro wrestler so he became the first Undisputed Champion. He wanted to be a rock star, so he started Fozzy. He felt like writing a book, and now he’s a four time New York Times bestselling author. He didn’t know what podcasting was, but now he has a wildly successful podcast and a podcast network.
It’s that “I have to get my money’s worth,” mindset in play. If I pay money, it should be good. I think the mindset of putting yourself in the producer’s shoes is more pragmatic as oppose to the scarf-wearing bohemian, very pretentious “I’m a true artist” sorta person.
Self-care is not selfish. Neither is self-value.
Thanks to you and Zach for your time and wisdom.