5 Questions for a Professional Voice-Over Talent – Marc Cashman
Today’s 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent are answered by Marc Cashman, a professional voice-over talent based in Stevenson Ranch, 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 started doing voiceover almost as soon as I started writing and producing Radio commercials in Los Angeles in 1978. A number of my clients asked me to voice their commercials, even though I offered to cast other voice talent (and better ones, in my opinion). When I saw that I’d probably continue in this role, I was lucky enough to be invited to join a V-O workout group of veteran talent that met once a week on Tuesday nights for three hours in a studio, where we performed and directed each other in myriad forms of copy and text. I did that for eight years. I also learned an enormous amount just listening to the extraordinary voice talent I directed in my Radio and TV commercials. I had been a professional singer/songwriter in the heyday of the 60’s and 70’s, and saw voice acting as an extension of my singing and performing days, albeit in a more anonymous setting, which suited me just fine. But my passion for voice acting deepened considerably when I started narrating audiobooks, about five years ago. Since then I’ve narrated over 100 audiobooks and have been named–twice–one of the “Best Voices of The Year” by AudioFile Magazine, and have earned numerous Earphones Awards from them.
2. What is the one thing you know now that you wish someone had told you when you first started out in voiceover?
That the best actors never stop learning. I would’ve taken more classes in every area I could. I envy my colleagues who studied with Daws Butler, who was teaching in Los Angeles in the 80’s.
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?
The only obstacle (if you could call it that–I call it a challenge) in my voiceover career is time. My commercial production, writing, public speaking and V-O instruction careers take a lot of time, so I find that I have to be judicious in how I allot my time doing voice acting. So far I’ve been able to find a healthy balance, but it does require some long hours. But I’m always thinking of ways to promote my voiceover career. Currently, I’m sending out (via snail mail) a 4-color bookmark to dozens of audiobook publishers. On it is my head shot, with the words “Book Marc!”, with a list of my accomplishments, phone numbers to contact and a URL to listen to my demos.
4. What personal trait or professional tool has helped you succeed the most in your career so far?
A good sense of humor, a willingness to help people and share my knowledge, a constant desire to have fun in whatever I do, determination, generosity, a sense of total responsibility, utter professionalism and pride of work, endless creativity and self-promotion, a desire to be a role model to my daughter and solid consistency.
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?
I’ve learned and now teach a multitude of V-O performance tips, tricks, tools and techniques, and I’d say that the most important skill a voice actor needs is the ability to infuse their performance with emotion. Too many times I hear people just saying words, with no connection to what it is they’re saying. The concept of coloring word and phrases accurately and subtly is the hallmark of every great actor, whether off-camera or on.
