Voice acting

Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters (in cartoons, video games, puppet shows, radio, books-on-tape, amusement rides, computer programs, etc.) American animator Walt Disney (who created and was the first voice of Mickey Mouse) and Mel Blanc (who voiced many male Looney tunes characters from the start of his career until his 1989 death) are considered the first “modern voice actors”.

Training opportunities
You can get training by attending classes or, by attending a voice over academy. VoiceTrax in San Francisco, CA is one of the nation’s premiere voice acting academies.

Range of pay
The average annual earnings for a voice actor can range from $50,506 (most voice actors) to $400,000 (the cast of The Simpsons as of 2008).

Local opportunities
One would pretty much have to move to Los Angeles or New York City to be able to get voice acting work.

Some voice actors
Some of the first modern voice actors include: Walt Disney, who was the first voice of Mickey Mouse.

Mel Blanc, who voiced nearly every male Looney Tunes character (characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, etc.)

Some modern day voice actors include:

Frank Welker (Voice credits include: Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, The Simpsons, The Transformers, Inspector Gadget, etc.) Welker has been in the voice acting industry since 1967.

Seth MacFarlane (the creator of Family Guy, American Dad! and the Family Guy spinoff, the Cleveland Show, he also voices many of the three shows’ male characters)

Billy West (he is the current voice of Bugs Bunny and also voices many of the male characters on Futurama)

Mark Hamill (he started his career as Luke Skywalker on Star Wars but eventually went on to become a voice actor on cartoons, video games and books-on-tape for almost twenty years. He has voiced the Joker in many Batman cartoons and video games and also provides additional voices on the animated sketch comedy show Robot Chicken)

Roger L. Jackson (provides the voice of the Ghostface killer in the Scream film franchise, also voices Mojo Jojo in The Powerpuff Girls and also lent his voice to many video games) Bill Farmer (has been the voice of Disney’s Goofy since 1984, also voices characters in many video games)

Voice actors are relatively unknown about in the U.S. despite the fact that they work just as hard as a famous celebrity. Many celebrities are voicing characters in animated films and, are once again, taking the spotlight off of voice actors. The reason that they are relatively unknown by many is a very sad fact and they should be as notable as a celebrity because they work just as hard, if not harder. We should take it to consideration to start appreciating voice actors because those people you hear (most of the time) are not famous people, they are people who are pretty much like me and you due to the fact they are unknown.