Sean Astin shares an interesting perspective on voice acting
I found the following comments by Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin very interesting and genuine as it relates to becoming a voice actor. As we have said, you are doing more than just reading a piece of copy. Your voice acting must make a listener or viewer believe that your voice embodies the product, character or project theme. Take some time to read a seasoned actors view on entering voice work and realize that whehter you are new to the business or a seasoned professional, when it come to entering the business, everyone is on an equal playing field. Hope you enjoy….
Sean Astin arrives early on a January morning to Studiopolis Burbank, the recording studio where Oso gets his voice.
Although the 38-year-old Southern California native has been seen on-camera in everything from “Rudy” to “24,” Astin is best known for his portrayal of Sam Gamgee in the “Lord of the Rings” movies.
Giving voice to a stuffed panda is just the latest job for Astin, who has been a working actor since age 10. He made his feature film debut as Mikey in “The Goonies.”
But parting the steel curtain of voice work was a tough mission for him.
“I sort of feel like it took forever to get gainful employment in the voice-over universe. It is a very beautiful, but small-knit group of folks,” Astin says, moments before recording work for future Oso animated missions. “It is not a matter of bias. It is a very specific skill set you have to have.”
That skill set, Astin says, requires the actor to understand just how to use only the voice to make a performance work. It didn’t matter whether he had a passion to do voice work. It wasn’t until Astin learned those skills that he landed animation jobs.
Astin conceded it has been a little easier to be considered for voice work since he was part of the popular “Rings” trilogy.
“I was in England when they sent me a courier package that had these drawings of Oso. I was like, ‘Hey, I’m Oso!’ Even though they had made an offer, I started to get a panicky feeling they would get someone else for Oso. I had such an affinity for the role, I thought it would just be too weird to hear someone else’s voice coming out of his mouth,” Astin says.
His fears were unfounded. Astin is now the one and only voice of the new Disney Channel character. He’s particularly happy about that because two of his three children fall in the show’s target age group of 3-to-6-year olds. His older daughter is 12.
