What’s a character? Some student voice actors look all eager to jump in, doing their impressions of somebody famous or their worst nightmare high school math teacher.
Some folks have the “deer in the headlights” look and a default: “Oh, I can’t do character voices” response.
For the “can’t wait to jump in” group: great! But, besides making noises that are “just like” someone else, can you create completely original characters? Can you create characters that come from their own set of experiences and who are housed in unique bodies? In other words, are your characters believable, real, or convincing? Or are they just parodies?
For the “OMG, I can’t do that” group: wait, you already are! Have you ever changed your voice to make a point? Have you raised or lowered your voice, spoken intimately or loudly and dramatically? Ever growled at another driver in another car and cussed them out?
Each of us exudes our own character: from the shape and nature of our bodies, to the clothes we choose to wear, the way we walk, the deep-seated memories and fears we may carry, to the emotional experience we’ve just been through in the last 30 minutes. We each carry our own history, our own physical reality, and our own unique reactions to what goes on around us.
Guess what? So does each and every character we perform in voiceover. From the two-line “dad” in a lawn commercial, to the twisted monster in a video game, to a complex main character in an audiobook, they each inhabit a body, they each have a story, they each react from those origins, and they each want something going forward. Kinda like each one of us!
When I was acting on stage, besides reviewing the script to see what my character would live through in the course of the play, I tried first to imagine something about how the character’s life might manifest itself in the character’s body. I called it a “physical metaphor.” Something about how a characters walks, talks, stands, and moves can tell their whole story and channel me, as an actor, into that other person’s world.
One time, my oldest son Alex was in a high school play. His character was nervous, quick, insecure, and always befuddled by what life threw at him. Alex came to me one day, just struggling with how to approach this character. He had the lines down, but didn’t feel like he “got” the character.
After hearing about this role, I just said, “Play him like he’s got diarrhea. You know, like he’s about to mess himself and he’s barely hanging on.”
Alex came home after the next rehearsal all excited. He suddenly “got it.” Playing this character with clenched cheeks, a slightly bent over posture, and then running around like that was just right! Nobody had to know my suggestion, they just go to enjoy the result. And it the show was big hit.
So even though in voiceover, it’s “just” you and microphone, your acting “instrument” extends from the tips of your toes to the top of your head. Use it. Use it all.
Find a physical metaphor to “get” the character. Don’t just think it. DO IT. Move differently. Stand differently. Hold your head differently. Find some posture, angle, and action for your hands, that’s different from you.
Combine that with what the script says about the character, what others say about the character, and what you know of the character’s history and reactions in the past. If you do, you’re on your way to walking in someone else’s shoes! That will affect your posture in the booth, you movements in the booth, and your voice. Your audience will hear it and be swept along by your story telling.