A great face for radio...

Admittedly no one has actually paid me this insult recently, but in the world of brutal aesthetic judgement in which we live (and in which I seem to spend an overwhelming majority of my time in trying to become an actor), it’s always good to be prepared for a bit of visual judgement. I might not be everyone’s idea of a supermodel (or anyone’s for that matter, standing at 5ft 4inches), and I might not scream ‘love interest’ when I walk through a casting door - and if I did that would probably confuse the casting directors anyhow, or at least make them cover their ears. But, there will be a part for which I look right, not necessarily good, but right (and I will only take it as a personal insult if the casting reads something like ‘ogre’ or ‘troll’, and they insist on there being no need for make-up).

This rambling against the aesthetically limited world of performance is actually leading somewhere very new and exciting, so fasten your seatbelts ladies and gentleman. Well, perhaps seatbelts are a little excessive, as I am very much still on the hard shoulder when it comes to my acting career, but there may be opportunities looming, gaps appearing, so that if I rev my engine enough I’ll be able to ‘merge’ into the general world of performance with all the other creatives. As long as analogies are not a requirement, as I think that one needs a bit of work.

I met with my agent today to discuss my career, the future and what I can do to help the general direction of things, and it was really pleasing to hear how much they loved my voiceover work in particular. Having recorded my V/O reel not long ago, it’s still very fresh in my mind as an experience, and very much one I enjoyed. Hence we have decided this is a good area in which I can try to make some headway, and that is my next task - talk at people with my voice until they employ me (although I don’t think that’s quite how voiceover work works…perhaps where I’m going wrong). So now instead of staring at pictures of my face I have to listen to my voice over and over again - whoever said it wasn’t a delightful task, trying to become an actor?!

I always find it really interesting that we sound so different when we hear ourselves back. We have one idea of how we sound in our head, and whenever we hear ourselves we’re always really taken aback - or at least I am. For some reason I think I don’t sound nearly as posh, my voice not nearly as low, and my laugh not nearly as loud. Alas I am wrong on all three accounts it would seem. As with any sort of acting though, there’s always the saving grace that you can hide behind the part you’re playing. Whenever you record a voiceover it’s not really you you’re hearing back, but the character you have become (method acting and all that), so if it really is painfully embarrassing, there’s always an escape from that mortifying feeling.

Alas I am yet to get any employment through my V/O reel yet, but I have only just sent it out so there is plenty of time. There’s always time - something I seem to put to incredibly good use, writing this blog and whatnot.

For anyone wanting to check out the fruits of my labour, my V/O reel can be found here: https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/1416-5643-5978

I can promise mates rates for mobile phone voicemail messages and a bargain for recording bed time stories. I’m just waiting on the call from M&S, as whenever they bring back the campaign ‘These are not just any sausage rolls…these are M&S sausage rolls, I’ll be ready with the raunchy music and those husky tones.