Claudette Roche - The Accent Coach

Woo hoo! This is my first article on Internet Voice Coach. I'm extremely thrilled to have this opportunity to share my experiences and concepts on VO acting with you here.

This first article is aimed at born and bred Americans. Yes, this is all about you! You others, born elsewhere like me, are allowed to read this, as well.

I've lived in the USA for a long time and have a truly non-regional Standard American accent. It's how I speak naturally; it's not me working an accent any longer. People are always shocked when I say that I wasn't born here but I have worked to perfect my sound. It's what I do and what I teach. But I can flip back and forth to a multitude of accents, effortlessly, and each accent sounds like I was born with it.

Enough about me, back to YOU.

So, you've gotten into the VO game, you may be booking quite a bit, yet you're seeing a lot of jobs go to accented actors. The client or producer is looking for a non-American accent for whatever reason and that takes you out of that lucrative opportunity.

That's your fault. Yes, really. Well, kinda sorta...

Try this concept on for size. What if you could do two or three accents, other than your own, and be considered for those jobs being cast requiring foreign accents? How much more revenue could you amass? Ah ha...yes, it's staggering.

VO actors are luckier than on camera actors whose look determines the accents on which they should focus. You could be any ethnicity, any size, any look whatsoever and still book jobs that don't truly represent you. What a great profession!

Do note, that many foreign VO actors, not to mention on-camera ones, have perfected their American accents so they can audition for everything! I would have to say that 80% of my students are foreigners working on their American accent. And succeeding.

How should you determine what accents to learn to boost your earning potential? The world's your oyster, really. But figure what accents are requested the most. I can safely assume that many British accents (English, Irish, Scottish) are at the top of the list, then maybe Eastern European, French, Middle Eastern and Asian.

And working with copy makes using your new accents much easier than having a free verse conversation. Having set text or a script from which to speak is easier, as you only have to concentrate on those words and how to make them sound authentic. One can sound 100% relatively quickly if the text is short, but the goal should always be complete fluency.

Here's a fun story about this. And this is not telling tales; the person is on record telling this little tidbit.

Fabulous actress, Melanie Lynskey, was auditioning for the feature film, Up In The Air with George Clooney. Melanie is a Kiwi...a New Zealander. Her American accent is flawless but she is not comfortable using it off set. She doesn't use it in interviews or anything other than work. BUT here was her dilemma; as she was about to audition for director, Ivan Reitman, the Casting Director told her that Ivan wanted to hire a "real American" for the role...why, I have no idea. Anyway, in Melanie walks and does her scene, brilliantly. Ivan was thrilled with her performance, he asked her questions but remember, she doesn't use her American accent unless she has a scene. So, to all his questions she answered, "Uh huh. Un uh. Hmmmm." She didn't utter a single word!

Luckily for Melanie, Ivan found her "shyness" charming and hired her. Wonder how he reacted when he learned her accent wasn't her natural one.

So being able to chitchat in your acquired accent should always be your goal in case the producer/client makes changes to your text at the last moment. Yikes, no time to call your accent coach!

I have used accents to book many VO jobs and I don't really pursue a VO career. Teaching is my passion. But I have lent my voice for jobs that required; Indian, English, Algerian, Russian, South African, Irish, American, New Yorkese (like that's not American! You know what I mean), French, Jamaican and more.

And I really suggest that you don't wait until the last minute and try to sound perfect. Yes, it happens, a lot. I recently had a student want to learn an Israeli accent for a VO audition that he had that same day. We did the best we could in the one hour we had, but of course, had we been working on it, then he would have been pitch perfect. He sent me an email that same day saying two other VO actors had called him in a panic. They had the same audition and had no clue where to begin. They found it funny. Really?!

Winging an accent for VO is not recommended. Many of these jobs are targeted to the people who speak in that accent. A false sound will minimize the effect. The clients/producers usually know the difference and may be from the country of which you are doing the accent.

So, you may think your Cockney is great, for example, your friends and family say so, too, but what would a real Cockney think? That's how good you have to be. Could you blend in with the real deal? And lest ye forget, real Cockneys are auditioning for that same job and tomorrow they will be auditioning for those American roles!

This industry has gone global. Rethink your boundaries. You know that bumper sticker, "THINK GLOBALLY. ACT LOCALLY." it's aimed at you.