1. FOR ALL THE VIEWERS READING, PLEASE KINDLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
Hi: I’m Nancy German
2. PLEASE TALK ABOUT HOW YOU GOT STARTED IN THE VOICE OVER INDUSTRY.
I was working as a high school guidance counselor. One of my students was a dancer in music videos at the time. She kept telling me I should get on her agent’s talent roster, because I made her laugh.
Well, she was serious. For about four months, she pestered me all the time to join it. I had some acting background in my youth, but for commercials? In Maine? It never occurred to me I could make a living at this.
I loved this girl but she was relentless. So, I finally signed up.
Initially it was for on-camera work, but after driving in a snowstorm for an hour and a half and not getting the gig, I was about to give up but then booked a voice over job for a company phone message.
I was so excited!! I thought this was it! Then about three years passed where I was so interested in the work but just didn’t know what to do to further it.
I then found an online application for a group of pro voice actors to meet and share knowledge. I didn’t lie about how much work I had under my belt, but to this day I am not sure how I passed the application test.
That was the pivotal moment in the start of my journey into voiceover. I finally had the information I needed and finding my “tribe “ of like minded creatives. Twenty-five years later, I am so happy I found it!
3. WHAT MADE YOU GET STARTED IN THE VOICE OVER INDUSTRY?
I loved my job working with teenagers, but I always was a creative person at heart and needed an outlet for that. It became very clear , as I got older that acting and the challenge of it, really fed my soul.
4. PLEASE SHARE A MOMENT WHERE YOU FELT YOU WANTED TO BE INSPIRED TO BE A PART OF THE VOICE OVER INDUSTRY.
It’s funny, but I think it began when I won a radio contest when I was ten. I had to say the “two all beef patties, special sauce” lines as fast as I could. I think I won a burger meal. It was so fun and I thought, do people get paid for this? Little did I know it was my “first” of many commercials to come.
5. PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN THIS INDUSTRY AND HOW YOU OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES.
Even though, now, much work is done remotely, I still think I face biases when I send auditions from Maine to casting in L.A. and New York. They may not be conscious biases, but I think there may be a perception that because I’m from a small town, I may not have the abilities or knowledge that other actors might.
This is why I try to make my auditions very strongly competitive and also have travelled often to train with some of the best coaches in the business, so I stay relevant from my little corner of the world.
Additionally, I have had to advocate for myself with some agents, who may see me as an “older lady” only capable of certain types of reads. Well, I’m proud that I book character work and very comedic work as well as my straight pharma and medical reads.
I don’t want anyone to ever limit me, in what is possible for me, though I know I still have to sound young enough to book some things.
6. JAPAN IS KNOWN FOR SO MANY GREAT ICONIC VOICE OVER PEOPLE, SUCH AS CHARACTERS FROM ANIME OR MOVIES AND DUBBED TV SHOWS. WHO IS SOMEONE INSPIRATIONAL THAT YOU ADMIRE IN THIS INDUSTRY?
Eriko Hayami comes to mind. She won a Society of Voice Actor’s Award for her work and travelled all the way from Japan to come to the ceremony in LA. She was so gracious and excited to be honored. Such a lovely person.
7. IS THERE ANY PROJECT OR PEOPLE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO WORK WITH OR COLLABORATE WITH?
My work has been largely commercial, but I am very interested in the storytelling of documentary work and just completed a job where I played a woman who was part of the Canadian government’s use of psychics in military intel.
I love learning about history and my dream job would be to narrate for Ken Burns or on Discovery, Smithsonian, or the History Channel, Crime Network, really anything about ghost stories or haunted places would be fun. Especially in Scotland, England or Ireland.
8. PLEASE TALK ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF WORK YOU ARE CURRENTLY FOCUSED ON.
Currently, I am focused on commercials and pharma largely, but am often hired for luxury products and travel as well. I have been working with coaches in animation and video game work and documentary work and would love to book more in those genres.
9. PLEASE TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE ABOUT HOLLYWOOD ENTERTAINMENT.
Being I live in a town of 2500, it is nice to have the fashion shows of the Awards nights and it’s fun to keep up with who is dating who in Hollywood as well as the trends in film.
I like to see what projects are coming out of LA so I know the trends for voice work.
I love the infusion of pop culture and art in Hollywood entertainment.
10. WHAT VOICE OVERS DO YOU ADMIRE THE MOST FROM HOLLYWOOD?
There are so many!!! Pat Fraley was one of my first teachers and he is the funniest, loveliest man. He was a Ninja Turtle among so many things.
Lori Allen- Who plays Pearl the Whale on SpongeBob is a fantastic coach and actor. I think the world of her as a human being as well.
Tom Pinto and Joe Cipriano are some of the most genuine, kind, guys in the business, who are epic documentary and promo giants.
June Foray is gone now, but her career spanned into her twilight years and that is inspiring! Just an amazing scope of work.
Lastly, but my favorite of all time would be the last Robin Williams, whose improv brilliance will never be duplicated as well as his beautiful performances in so many serious films.
11. WHAT MAKES A GOOD VOICE ACTOR?
You need to be timely as deadlines come and you need to produce work quickly sometimes. So handling pressure is important and time management is critical.
You have to be detailed as well. You must name files correctly, follow specs to some degree, and not embarrass your agent with mistakes.
You need to be a great listener, so when the director gives you a direction, you don’t waste their time but give them many great choices to work with.
You have to (I wish in the beginning I had known) invest a good chunk of money into studio acoustic treatment, mics and interfaces that compete, training and coaching to hone the craft.
The learning is never done. You never arrive. You must keep sharpening the skills to do well.
Your average podcast mic in your basement is not going to cut it. Though trust me, people try.
Demos that can be pricey but are your gateway into work are necessary. People who think it’s just reading have no idea!
You also have to be a person with social skills to find clients and to keep clients coming back.
Divas don’t last long in this work. No one has time for ego or drama. Nor do people who expect overnight success. It’s a long game.
12. NOW IN TODAY'S SOCIETY, EVERYTHING IS DONE BY REMOTE WORK. DO YOU ENJOY THIS PROCESS, OR DO YOU PREFER TO SHOW UP AT THE STUDIO?
I have had few “in studio” jobs but because of where I live I have traveled to do this at times and love interacting in person when possible, but because of my location I’m limited and obviously if they need me in Burbank, CA I have to do some planning.. However, if I book something great,I travel to whatever location to do it. Fully committed.
13. WHAT TYPE OF SPECIALTY IN VOICE OVER WORK DO YOU LIKE TO FOCUS ON, OR DO YOU HAVE SEVERAL TYPES?
I have a compassionate, trustworthy sound because that truly is me as a person. I’m an LCSW therapist as well. So it lends itself to insurance, finance, medical and pharma reads naturally.
This is what I book the most, but I also focus on many genres, including automotive, luxury, live announcing, animation and video games.
I know some people only like doing one type of thing but I love all of it. Though I don’t have the patience for long audio books at this stage of my life. I like to do shorter non-fiction, since my commercial work takes priority.
I’m happy now to be booking conversational reads that were hard when I had trained as an announcer in the beginning. Thanks, Scott Parkin, in particular, for changing that for me, where I was formerly stuck!
14. WHAT'S A TYPICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF A VOICE OVER ACTOR?
My day is typically getting up early (6 a.m.) and doing any auditions that have come from my agents either the night before or whatever is due.
After that being prioritized I will look at other audition sites that may give me some work and I also try to market weekly to Linked In and other places for direct contact.
Any jobs I have that are scheduled for directed sessions during the day are part of it or for those jobs that don’t require a directed session that I send on my own.
. These may be one or two hours long so those are part of it. I often take a break in the middle of the day to rest my voice, take my dog out to play and get off the internet into nature.
When I come back I will do any other auditions or invoicing that needs to be done.
I’m also teaching some classes and offering individual coaching so that is part of the equation and recently I am also writing commercial demo copy for The Studio Portland in Maine, who is expanding their voiceover services to actors.
It’s a busy, varied and interesting life every day that I thrive in.
15. WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND FOR ANYONE THAT IS INTERESTED IN VOICE OVER WORK?
Don’t buy equipment until you know what you want to focus on. Understand the realities of the job and in the investment you need to compete with pros.
Start by doing an improv class or a voice over intro class. Then decide what seems fun for you and get into social media groups where a lot of info is free. Do workout groups to start and see how you like it.
Find out if you can do it on the side, like I did for many years before you take the risk of full-time.
Attend conferences like Vo Atlanta, MAVO, One Voice And Wovo con, all rich experiences for budding voice actors.
16. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES A GOOD VOICE OVER ACTOR? I think I answered this one on 11? : )
17. YOU ARE CURRENTLY ACTIVE AS A VOICE OVER. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR 2025? WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU FOR 2025?
My plans for 2025 are to have multiple lines of income coming from different vo genres and from a marketing boost that I am developing.
I also may be doing more with producing demos and coaching. My goal is to reach the top in terms of earnings and flexibility and do work that truly excites me, but I am also always trying to book national campaigns, which I have been grateful to do in the past.
You can expect I will be working hard!
18. CAN YOU SHARE ANY EXCITING PROJECTS THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON NOW?
Unfortunately, much of my recent exciting work is under NDA at the moment but I’m excited to say I have two promos coming out on one of the streaming services for a very popular show that I booked from an old client. This is unusual in that it did not come from an agency casting.
I’m also proud to be able to work as a SAG AFTRA actor now, and look forward to more SAG projects. A recent one using my comedic skills.
19. IF SOMEONE WANTS TO HIRE YOU FOR ANY VOICE OVER WORK, CAN YOU PLEASE LIST YOUR WEBSITE AND HOW PEOPLE CAN REACH YOU?
My website is www.nancygermanvoiceover.com and my LInked In profile is www.linkedin.com/in/nancygerman My email address is listed on both sites as well as my contact info and I am very responsive.
20. ANY LAST MESSAGE YOU'D LIKE TO SAY TO ALL THE READERS ?
No matter what obstacles or limitations you feel you have, never give up on your dreams. I started this career at age 35 and it certainly has not been a straight trajectory to success. You must persist and not be discouraged when it doesn’t come easily. I am sure people had their doubts about me doing it or thought I was being irresponsible.
But, to me, the best things in life are when you take positive risks. Also, never underestimate your effect on people. I tracked down my former student recently to thank her for her part in the beginning of an amazing career I love. She was only fifteen at the time and she changed my life for good.. I try to be that encouragement for others every day.
