All great voice acting is rooted in authenticity, in revelation rather than external character creation. We don’t “put on” voices, like a queen dons her cape. The characters and voice campaigns we create are born of the magical confluence of a copywriter’s words, a visual artist’s images, and an actor’s grasp of the human condition as expressed in her voice. The best voice actors know they are team players, not stars – even when their voices are attached to legendary characters or projects. Whether we work in commercial, narration, video gaming, or animation, we work in concert with other creatives to make a piece of vocal, visual, and musical art.
Kay Bess approaches each actor as the unique human being they are. Toss off commonplace misunderstandings of what makes a great voice actor. The sound of one’s voice is only a small piece of the puzzle. Human beings never speak just because our voices sound interesting. We speak in response to others. Responding implies having listened, and listening is first in any great acting method.
