Becoming an International Voice Actor

Bafta Games award winning British voice actor, Jennifer English, had previously been recognized as an International voice. This got me thinking about what really makes a talent 'International' and what specific challenges and advantages can it bring?

In the simplest of terms, it implies that a client base likely extends well beyond a home-base.

For myself, my main base is in the USA but I have clients in many different countries. Being "international" means your physical location isn't factored in because you can be directed in real-time from anywhere in the world using international technologies like SourceConnect, SessionLink, Clean Feed & IpDTL. You may have sources such as agents, production houses and casting sites that are based in other countries and can help you find worldwide voiceover work. Sometimes when I travel to the UK I will also hire out local studios and arrange sessions when necessary, to ensure I am providing the best possible service for my clients.

Understanding the Global Voice Acting Market

There is clearly demand for a diverse pool of international voice talent in many genres, including, animation, gaming, commercials, and e-learning. Native speakers provide authentic pronunciation, timing, cultural context, and emotional nuance, that non-native speakers often cannot replicate, which is crucial for building trust with local audiences. Localizing content, from animations and video games to commercial and corporate content, requires talent speaking many languages and may require hundreds of different voice actors. Many localization and translation agencies naturally market themselves for the international market. One of my first major commercial projects was for a US commercial localizing for the UK market.

Importance of cultural awareness and multilingual skills

Of course, the more languages and accents you know, the better you can market yourself as a global voice. But what lies beyond that? Understanding cultural work ethics, nuances, and even bartering on services are useful skills. Judging when local budgeting constraints can lead to pricing that is inconsistent with your own local market is important. Being aware of the expectation to haggle in certain cultures is also crucial. Knowing how to write emails that are culturally sensitive (perhaps with the opening salutation or the sign-off being more formal or more relaxed) can help you market to and retain international clients.

Managing time zones and communication across countries effectively can be another challenge. With a 12 hour time difference who will connect out of hours? Will you be at your best at 3am, which might feel right so that your client is not 'inconvenienced' but might not actually produce the best end result for the client?

Building a Strong International Brand

You may even want to create a culturally adaptable demo reel or samples with a unique voice that appeals across cultures. My experience suggests that corporate and commercial work outside your home country will often lean towards talent with more neutral accents rather than those with medium to strong regional accents.

It is said a great international voice actor is one who sounds like they come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time—professional, warm, and above all, clear. Often you'll see this described in castings as Mid-Atlantic, Globally Ambigious, Universal, Continental, World or even Euro-neutral accented.

Sometimes large international clients just want one voice to market to the world.

There is still plenty of accent work in Animation and especially in Videogames. For example, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad was developed in Asia and largely cast through the US and UK, but to populate the world of Westeros the clients wanted a wide range of Northern, Welsh, Scottish, London and RP accents (as well as few other global accents).

Building relationships with international agents and producers

With overseas clients there may also be the advantage of less competition, once accepted onto a roster. One international agent I signed with initially told me there would be little opportunity and that I should be aware of that. However, I booked my first two auditions in the first 3 months of the relationship. So you just never know.

With translation tools, consider searching for keywords translated into the local language of the country you are searching in. I have a roster placement on a Finnish site that sends everything out in Finnish and another in Mexico that sends everything in Spanish, even when they want an English-accented voice! Voiceovers Translated is a past blog where I have done voiceover related words for different countries.

Do online research, take workshops with coaches from other countries, look for award recognition in other countries and be a global resource. If the translated copy you have been sent has some glaring errors be willing to sensitively point them out. Also make sure your client knows you can help recommend other talent from your country, if they need something you are not fitted for. It can be challenging for some companies to hire away from their own native language.

As with scheduling sessions, think about when you send your marketing outreach. If it's midnight in your target country it may not be read, or seen, if it subsequently get buried by a flurry of activity between 8 and 10am local time.

Getting Paid

Many overseas clients will automatically offer to pay through PayPal; it's the easy option, after all. However for many businesses, it can be one of the more expensive options with poor FX rates and high transaction charges. There are of course many other options, but the one I am most familiar with is WISE. They have multiple currency options, which means one can usually invoice clients in their local currency. It allows clients to pay directly from their business bank account. It's just like doing business locally for them, and the FX transfer can be controlled. Just remember to record the local currency amount on the day the payment is received and record the exchange rate and any transaction fee applicable to make it easier for tax season.

Sometimes only local voices will do

In the same way that casting your voice net wide can be good for your business, there will be other instances where only local will do. Many high end productions will only hire local talent in LA or London. Some of this local talent might be international voices based there. The adage of actors moving to NY or LA to break in and break out, can readily apply to voice actors. Also being aware that some US Paymasters still only pay via a check and this may be another one of the reasons some casters/agents don't hire internationally. In the same vane, some international studios prefer international talent, as it allows them flexibility on what rates they can offer the talent.

A final word

The world is shrinking, and the internet has made doing business around the world more assessible than ever. As voice actors, it might be beneficial to open our minds even more to that possibility, and further investigate marketing ourselves as an international commodity. Becoming an international voice actor can mean lots of different things to different people but with due diligence, who knows, the next big portfolio stop might be bookings from space.

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Ian Russell is a British Voiceover Artist specializing in commercial voice over, narration, video game, character voices, animation and more. He is a frequent guest speaker on conference panels and podcasts, sharing knowledge about voice over. Read More >>