In the 10 years you’ve been doing animation casting, how have things changed?
When I started in animation, I really only had live-action experience. I continue to run my auditions the same way that I did prior to joining the animated world. The real changes have come with the ability to receive instant recorded auditions from anywhere in the world, creating an endless reach to talent everywhere. For myself, the process of animation casting came in the form of exercising muscles that I didn’t know I had. My imagination and my ability to really “listen” to a performance, as well as learning to rely on my skill to find truth in an actor’s voice, has become crucial to my process.
Get Cast Today
Gain access to the best platform for performers and build your career on Backstage.
When does casting get involved in a project?
At Disney, casting gets involved in projects when they are very early in development. Historically, we cast the project three times. The first time is in the form of a table read prior to the greenlight. The second time is during the storyboarding process, where actors’ voices are used for internal development of the film prior to production. Finally, we cast the actual voices for the production dialogue; these are the actors who end up in the theatrical release. Many times, the final cast includes actors from the original table read as well as “scratch” development dialogue. Typically, all I ever see before casting is a rough sketch of the character. Animation usually doesn’t take place until after the actor signs on and records. Many times, the artists use video of the actors as reference for bringing the character to life.
What is auditioning for you like?
In order to protect the creative process at the studio, we release very little information about the projects and characters to anyone outside of the company. Occasionally, the director will share rough sketches with the actor at the live audition. In fact, the sides that we use are not usually made up of material that is in the actual film. For example, most of my “Frozen 2” audition material for new roles has been made up of scenes pulled from various existing stage plays that echo the emotion of our film.
How to become a voice actor for Disney films
Practice character and creativity
Disney animated characters are very clear and transparent with their emotions. Practice showing emotion and being the character in the story. The more you can be the character, the better chance you have of becoming a voice actor for Disney.
Stay relatable
Becoming a character is important, but being believable is also very important. While Disney characters are certainly emotive and cartoon-like, they are still relatable.
Be yourself
It’s one thing to create a character voice, but it’s another to be a character with a voice. The difference is: the former can be shallow — an effect that is put on top of a voice — while the latter can be a character that sounds a certain way because its who they are. It’s the difference between the voice sounding like an imitation, and the voice sounding like a real person. This is a facet of acting true to any genre of voice over, and can be trained with the help of coaching.
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU NEED A VOICE OVER COACH
FAQ
What kind of voice actors are chosen from Disney casting?
A casting member has said that those who have skill in the recording booth are those who have skills in theater, improv, and sketch comedy training and experience. Basically, it’s people who have acting chops.
Where can I find Disney auditions?
