Finding Your Voice Over Voice with Barbara Heller

Have you always been told that you have a natural voice for doing Voice Over work?

Do you feel like you could put on fun Voices for friends and family all day? I.e. While you're reading Children's Books to kids?

Let me guess- you could watch Animation all day long and love to figure out who each celebrity voice is before you look at the credits?

You have been told "You have a great ear!” for voices and perhaps even singing?

Do you wish that you could make money full time doing your Art?

Being a working Voice Over Artist might be within your reach!

Maybe you’ve thought about it before, taken a coaching here and there but just got frustrated with little info for lots of mulah?

Maybe you really want to try harder at it but just feel clueless even after having watched some videos by “the greats” on Youtube?

And then there are all of the negative thoughts which keep you chained to whatever habits/day job/patterns of thinking you have today.

I’m too old to start.

I should’ve had it figured out by now.

I don’t really know what I’m doing I should just quit before I begin.

Voice Over like all other performing arts is just really a hobby for rich people and I don’t have enough money nor time to invest in it.

It’s too hard to get an agent to notice me. I’m competing with all of the celebrities. I have no chance.

You are not alone. For years I floated around in both NYC and LA trying to figure out how I was going to “Break Into the Business” and I constantly felt defeated. I wanted to be an actor on the big and little screens. I sent my headshots and resumes to multiple agents, even got meetings through friends and family. I kept hearing the same thing. “You can’t get an agent until you have some real credits. But you can’t get the auditions for real credits until you have an agent who hooks you up with the work that is the real credits.” I felt so lost in the big cities. Worse, I felt like I had nothing to say. I had no financial help and at the time I had very little emotional support from anyone. I tried to quit. I tried quitting many many times. But, somehow that still small voice inside of me wouldn’t quit. The still small voice was my Dreamer Self. It would NOT let me go. It was stronger than my self doubt. In 2008, after a very long day at a part time day job I had and two years only getting auditions and work on my own since my big time agent had dropped me, I decided to take a scene study class. At the class I was matched up with a very talented Actress. She is someone who is always investing in her technique and since she is always in the mindset of helping herself and having balance she was open to helping me too. We were fooling around at one point in our rehearsal and I broke out into some of my impressions. She was so taken by them that she followed up with me and told her agent to see me. I went into the office nervous but by the end of that meeting I had been signed and I worked with that agency for 7 years. We did a lot of great work together and by the end of our first year together I knew I was a successful Voice Over Actor. I never thought that Voice Over Acting would be my main source of Income as an Artist but I really couldn’t be happier about it. I get to make people smile, sing, and think every single day and I don’t have to memorize a single line. I get to collaborate, improvise, and work with some of the friendliest and smartest people in the business. Best of all, I don’t have to fit a dress code for work!

I started this class for other Voice Over Actors because it didn’t exist when I was first starting out. If Showbusiness is a place that can leave people feeling lost how much moreso is the Voice Over world? I mean you hardly ever get to see the people behind it! I had my fair share of classes and coaches and spent WAY more than I wanted to for very little tangible information. I made this curriculum and community to help others so that you have a place to come for support, inspiration, and real tools you can use to get closer to what you really want.

Voice Over is not rocket science. There are actual simple steps to breaking down scripts, readying yourself for auditions, and living a life in which Voice Over becomes a big part of it.

It is my goal every single day to make this world a brighter, friendlier, and more compassionate place. I am not just here to teach Voice Over. I want to help people get out of their own way and live lives full of passion and following our Creative Voices. I can relate to trying so hard to squelch that Creative Voice because it just seemed “easier” or “less painful” to try to choose a life in which auditions and the rejections of leading an Artistic Life didn’t happen as much. “It’ll be so much easier if I just do this on the side.” I used to think. Until my creative voice would not allow me to do so anymore. Let’s work together to help you let go of your fears and un-block creatively. Let’s take a step and walk onto the bridge together and dive into the work of Voice Over. You will find yourself specializing at times in the different areas: Commercial, Animation, Promos, Trailers, Video Games, Audio Book Narration, and my personal favorite, Voice Match/ADR.