Commercial Voiceover: My first TV VO gig

Performing voice-over work can be a lot of fun. From the casual observer's point of view, the work can even seem exciting when Hollywood actors are shown voicing our favorite big-screen characters on the bonus featurettes of movie DVDs. But the reality of voice-over work is very normal. A majority of the time spent consists of reading audition after audition for prospective clients, technical jargon(sometimes challenging to pronounce)for corporate sales or training videos, and listing the benefits of why you should buy a particular product or use a particular service. Which is all fine, because I am happy to be a voice actor. It's what I was put here to do, and, it pays the bills!

Many years ago, my first television voice-over commercial was anything but normal. I was asked to record a voice-over for a Thanksgiving TV ad for Meijer. Meijer is the 24-hour equivalent to Wal-Mart in the Midwest, only BETTER. Oh, and in this TV ad, I would be playing the role of----a turkey. Yes, I would be taking on a turkey's personality in the form of a puppet. I was flattered that they chose me to be their voice. They gave me a picture of what the turkey puppet would look like first, and from that I needed to give him a voice. The puppeteer didn't mouth my words until a few days later, after the recording was finished. 

I've been fortunate to perform voice-over work for a wide range of purposes. TV, radio, viral animated web videos, narrations, supermarkets, heck, I even recorded some voice-overs to be played in a taxi cab van!  And for all of it, I am truly "thankful".