Hi! I'm New :)

[GlamShorty]

Hi!

I'm very interested in the voice-over business.
i'm a teenager & i would like to pursue voice acting as a career.

Any tips on what to do?
What i would study in college?

Anything is appreciated! Thanks !

[Lynn Benson]

Welcome,
Read a pay attention. The people here may not alway agree, however, there is a wealth of learning for young and old, new and pro.

[John Bigl]

welcome Glam' !!!

a good start would be here: http://www.voice-overs.com/forum/newbie-board/1342-random-thoughts-newbies.html ...

stick around, and as Lynn said, "Read and pay attention" .... then let it all take you where it does ...

[GlamShorty]

Thanks guys!

any idea how to put a picture next to my post? lol

[John Bigl]

scroll down further in the Post Reply window to "Manage Attachments" to upload a pic w/in your post...

to ad a pic under your User Name, click 'User CP" at the top left of this window.. in your Control Panel click "Edit Profile Picture" to upload a pic

[JoeActor]

Welcome!

Plenty to see and learn here... hope to see you 'round the forums...

Cheers,
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com (http://www.JoeActor.com)

[jsgilbert]

I would recommend picking up some of the voiceover books, such as "There's Money Where Your Mouth Is"
Many of the books can be found discounted online and they cover many, many different aspects of the industry. Realize however that how- to books are written for the masses and don't take many personal considerations into account. Also understand that the industry is a rapidly eveolving one and that some more topical aspects may be on their way to being outdated perhaps even before the book is published.

I would also recommend taking improv acting workshops for several reasons. They tend to be relatively inexpensive. They are lots of fun. They offer some of the best type of training one could want for becoming a voice actor. Lots of actors hang out at improv classes, including voice actors and you can usually get some support by making friends with them. You'd be amazed at how much one can learn by simply buying an actor a burrito.

There is a little "caveat" with regards to taking advice from anyone on an online forum. There tends to be (in my opinion) an overwhelming tendency for people to color opinion with "positiveness". There are enough teachers and coaches, aloing with family and friends who will blow smoke up your posterior. Secondly, many individuals who offer opinion are often relative beginners themselves. Still others with 30 years of expereince, may not have the kind of experience that supports you in your journey. So take everything with a grain of salt.

One of the best things to do, if you are serious, is to try to find someone who has the skills, income and experience to help you and see if you can't try and get into some "mentoring" situation with them. Perhaps you can offer to do babysitting or clean their house in exchange for their "guidance".

This will help you in terms of not having to spend thousadns of dollars just to determine if this might be a feasible career choice and given that less than 2% of the people that try to make a living at voice acting actually ever succeed in making $5,000 per year, you would be wise to also have a fallback plan should this not work out.

On the positive side, teenage and kids voices are heavily in demand and I know of several agents who currently will onyl make room on their rosters to represent teenagers and kids with strong acting skills.