Seth MacFarlane Can Do More Than One Animation Voice In The Recording Studio
It’s a commonality amongst voiceover actors, who do animation. They are walking; and especially, talking encyclopedias of different kinds of people. Characters. One person in the recording studio, numerous animation characters onscreen.
You can see it in this video, of the Family Guy voice-actors.
Seth MacFarlane is doing Peter Griffin; Stewie; one of my favorite cartoon characters, ever; and Quagmire…just in this clip.
Alex Boorstein does both her regular Lois Griffin voice, as well as the voice of another person that Lois is having a conversation with, in this particular script. Both character‘s voices; one same conversation!
Her “Peee-TAH” is classic. She was the second actor to play Lois, by the way. When this show began, in the first of it’s many reincarnations throughout it’s run, there was a different voice actor who played Lois. If my recollection is right, the first voice actress played Lois all through the first season of Family Guy.
The last actor that you see on the video may be the most interesting for some of you, my readers…It is a caucasian, Mike Henry who plays Cleveland. As you must know, The Family Guy character, Cleveland, now has his own spin-off , and it is an extremely successful show. Right from the beginning. You may also want to know that there are African-American voice actors playing some of the other black characters on The Cleveland Show.
Lately, there are a lot of actors, asking me about voiceover work.
Yesterday, on Hollywood Actor Prep, I had a video of Seth Green talking about how he came up with his Chris Griffin voice, and how he auditioned for this animation voice-acting job.
I wanted to show you all what a voiceover recording booth looks like, and just how specifically talented those who do work in this particular area, are. In the near future, will be posting more about the animation area of the business; and the commercial voiceover, announcer area as well.
I know that I have often said about my own career, that voiceover work was ‘my day job‘. My backup, between on camera acting jobs. Before I give anyone else the wrong impression about that, I want you to know that I have a very specific sounding voice, and had some lucky breaks. (Really, I was as persistent and relentless as anything.) When you watch these actors, you can see how much talent and ability is necessary; and some of the reasons that voiceover work is often considered to be more difficult to break into than what we all consider acting. In addition, I will let you all know what materials you need before you can even try to get representation, or get started.
I may let you know whether it’s wise to attempt to enter voiceovers, or not. It was considered to be more impossible than acting when I began, and that was just commercial voiceover work. Animation voice work was considered the most impossible to break into, in the industry. Insurmountable. I’ll fill you in on why that was, and why it remains so difficult; and in some ways, is even harder now.
However…my final say on any aspect of acting is the same as ever, and it applies to voiceovers too:
If you truly love it with all your soul, go for it.
Best,
;~Dana
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