Who doesn't love magic? The slight of hand, the illusion, thinking to yourself, "How do they do that?" The fun is trying to figure it out. The frustration is never being able to. With magic, we all want to SEE how it's done, to get that visual satisfaction that our minds can't comprehend. If we are ever lucky enough to be shown how a trick was done, we're amazed at how simple it actually was, as opposed to how complex it may have looked before our very eyes. We get that, "Wow, that's how they do that", look on our face.What does magic have to do with voiceacting?
When I was a kid (and, in fact, still to this day) I was always intrigued to find out just what the person looked like who's voice I was hearing, whether it be a cartoon character or a movie trailer. To me, hearing the voice is like watching the magic trick. I'm amazed and in awe of how/what the voice actor is doing. Then, to actually get to SEE the face of the voice actor creating this magic, to me, is like being let in on the secret of how this 'voice' magic is done.
You know what I mean. Be honest, how many of you actually pictured James Earl Jones when you heard Darth Vader tell Luke he was his father! The Voice created the Magic. Or take the legendary Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, and hundreds of others. Once you eventually saw his face, didn't you actually picture Elmer Fudd?
Ok, here's the payoff for reading this far...Recently, LIFE Magazine ran a series of photos of some Epic Voice Actors. These are just a few of some great actors who's voices have given life to some of the most memorable characters of all time. I was especially excited to see the face of SpongeBob Squarepants, Tom Kenny. I was a hero when I showed the picture to my kids and I got the satisfaction of seeing that look on their face that said, "Wow, that's how they do that."
Derek Chappell
-The Voice of Your Business
(Thanks to Bob Souer and Stephanie Ciccarelli for posting this link on their blogs for me to find.)
While I'm no means a voice actor when I meet new people who have heard me on the radio the second thing they generally say is "I've always wondered what you look like".
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