Today’s 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent are answered by Bob Bergen, a professional voice over talent based in Tarzana, California.

1. The beginning: When did you know you wanted to be a voiceover talent; how did your career begin (please include what year it started) and then when did your passion for voiceover develop into something professional?

I wanted to be Porky Pig at the age of 5. I had a tape recorder next to the TV at all times and recorded hours of cartoons, as well as any time a voice actor was on a talk show. My dad moved the family to LA when I was 14 and I started studying voiceover. I studied with anyone and everyone who offered a class in Los Angeles. My main animation instructor was Daws Butler, who voiced among many others Yogi Bear. During those 4 years of VO training I also did a 2 year acting technique class as well as 3 years of improv training. I made my first demo and secured my first agent a week out of high school. I worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios for 5 years before I was able to make a living full time as a voice actor. So the entire journey from first class to working actor for me was 9 years. When I was 25 Mel Blanc passed away. The following year after a series of auditions I booked Porky Pig for the first time March 8, 1990, which happened to be my 26th birthday.

2. What is the one thing you know now that you wish someone had told you when you first started out in voiceover?

To be honest, nothing. I had great mentors who thoroughly prepared me for this business. I had no surprises, and I was well prepared for every up and down.

3. What do you see as the biggest professional or personal obstacle you face that impacts your voiceover business and how are youworking to overcome it?

Well, just the fact that an actor doesn’t know where their next job will be is an obstacle, but it’s also just a part of show business. But in VO diversity is key. The more genres of VO one does the more opportunities. If it’s slow commercially you might be busy with animation. If narration is dead you might be doing promos. Etc. The more varied your skills the better your chances of working.

Now, the biggest obstacle in VO today is the amount of P2P and non union work that is out there. When I started out there was plenty of non union work. But I never took part in that. My feeling was I always wanted to play with the major players, and I felt that you were as good as the company you kept. So I always strove to compete on a national level. And until the time I was able to make a living at VO I had my day job to pay the bills. I wanted a career, not work from time to time. But today technology has brought VO to anyone with a modem. The good news is there are more opportunities today than ever before. The bad news is, a huge chunk of it has gone non union. This is fine for those who don’t desire health benefits and retirement from VO. But it sucks for the professional actor who relies on benefits. The ironic thing is many who partake in the world of non union and P2P also desire the opportunity to compete on a national level, securing agents in larger markets, etc. What they don’t realize is that they themselves are a huge factor as to why larger agents aren’t interested. With the numbers doing non union or taking lesser session fees, the major agents are having a hard enough time keeping their signed talent working. When I started out agents took risks to develop new talent often. They don’t have the luxury anymore and it’s harder and harder for new talent to break into the major leagues. Now again, you don’t have to compete on a national level. But I think it’s very rare that a voice talent doesn’t want to be at the top of their field. Butcha can’t have it both ways.

4. What personal trait or professional tool has helped you succeed the most in your career so far?

Being positive. Pursuing VO not for the money, but for the love of being in front of the mic. You need to get the same high auditioning as you do getting paid. If you do it for the money you will never feel successful, because it will never be enough money. You’ll always want more. But if you do it because you love it, because you can’t see yourself doing anything else, because it feeds your soul, then you are right for show business. This is, and has always been my philosophy. I can make money doing anything. But being able to do VO, and especially cartoons? It doesn’t get any better than that!

5. In your development as a voice over performer, who has been the one particular individual or what has been the one piece of performance advice (maybe a key performance trick, etc.) that you felt has had the most impact on your actual voice over performance and why?

Wow, so many!! One that comes to mind came from Paul Winchell, who did a lot of cartoons. He was the voice of Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh cartoons. I asked him for career advice when I was about 18. He said, “Never worry about money. Because you are going to make it. But then you are going to lose it. But then you’ll make more. Then you’ll lose it. Etc. If you worry about it, you’ll do nothing but worry about it, because there is never a guarantee of it. Never a constant. But if you do this for the love of doing it, for the creative joy it brings, you will always feel like a success.” And Daws advised, “Live below your means and save 10% of everything you make. Even if it’s a dollar residual, put 10 cents away. You’ll be amazed how quickly it will add up!”

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