For people who seriously want to get into voiceover acting, clearly the most important thing is that you must be a good actor. That comes first. That's why celebrities get so much work in voiceovers - we've seen their work, we know they're good actors.
I'm always astounded that people know who I am and what I do. I still have a lot of anonymity and that's good. I don't get bothered in restaurants and stuff like that. But when I'm at events that are really geared toward animation fans, they know who I am. And I'm so very pleased and so flattered by it. People are extremely complimentary to me, and that only encourages me to continue to do more really good work. I get paid by the studios, but I know I work for the fans.
Casting is sometimes like going to a party. You get there and everybody at the party is wonderful. They're funny, they're interesting, and the next time you go to a party, you kind of want those same people there. I do find myself going back to a lot of the same actors I've worked with because it was fun, it was good and I know they can do the job. When we have tight deadlines to cast a project, that's how some decisions are made.
You don't want to bring an actor in and force them into a performance. You want their input. You want their creative thoughts.
There's absolutely no purpose for me ever to embarrass an actor by not getting the best possible performance. So, if it takes staying longer, then we'll staying longer and work through it.
Every time I prep a script, I hear it in my head, but I have to keep my mind open so that when an actor does something different than that, I can think, 'Well, that wasn't what I had in mind, but it works. Let's go with that.' That's why you hire actors and not technicians to do voiceovers, because someone who will creatively bring something to the party.
