ON IS BASED VOICE ACTING STEREO TYPES

By Deb Munro Voice Actor

We are in a cycle of change in society and that’s a beautiful thing and in some directions a very scary reality. Something we shouldn’t argue is that EVERY LIFE MATTERS!

We watched as the world embraced change and continues to fight for equality, which is something worth celebrating! However, we’re also witnessing a change to our own industry and while this is necessary, we should proceed with caution.

voice. This allows us to dive deeper into the world of make believe for things like animation, games and the like.

EVERY LIFE MATTERS!

One thing that makes the Voice Acting industry unique is that we do not see the performer, so the visualization (where applicable) is manufactured around the

Many times, talent are cast and the decision makers have no idea the real gender, age or nationality of the talent. Of course, there have been times where this can be a factor, for example a specific accent or nationality or gender is requested, or in our case NOT requested – such as a ‘Canadian’. We here in Canada have to focus on speaking in a more neutral American accent so we have more opportunities for work, so accents and dialects have mattered of course….and now we’re seeing some changes.

Due to this growth in diversity, we are seeing more and more requests for English speakers with ethnic accents, where-as in years past, this was not as widely accepted. This is fantastic and the world is embracing this with open arms. We are seeing more and more production done in multiple languages as well, which again is worth celebrating.

However one thing that we should take into consideration is that EVERYTHING we do is based on stereotype, so doing away with stereotypes would completely diminish the creativity of our industry. How else could we become the voice of a chipmunk? We cannot relate to what it’s like to be a chipmunk at all, so we must draw from physical and audio observations of the animal itself (to the best of our abilities) and use our rolodex of stereotypes and memories to find the best most suitable voice for this character that really doesn’t have a voice to begin with.

So while we should always strive for equality and diversity in everything we do, we should be mindful as to the nature of our industry that allows ALL of us to be anything our imagination desires. After all, we rarely, if ever, voice as the real ‘us’. We are usually voicing someone else’s copy with a character they have manufactured in their minds to best represent their product (the way they see it).

So lets allow a little bit of wiggle room for the world of stereotypes so we can still be our ‘Neighbor’, ‘Mechanic’, ‘Vampire’, ‘Villian’, ‘Best Friend’ and all the other make believe worlds we get to play in each and every single day.

Here is to the world of make believe – where anything goes!

By Sally Davey Actor, Voice Actor and Director

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