Finding a new career as a voice actor

Actor Mary Ellin Kurtz loves her moments in the spotlight. But these days you’re more likely to find her working out of a home closet where she’s heard but not seen.

Kurtz, 71, jumped into the voice acting business a couple of years ago when she realized stage roles were becoming "far less plentiful." The Brentwood resident did her first audiobook two years ago. "It's a nice way to keep engaged," she said. "Everything you do as a voice actor is acting ... on a very tiny, tiny stage." Kurtz, who has performed major roles like Mama Rose in "Gypsy" and Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd" at local theaters, said she loves the voice work. "Even if it’s just an educational recording," she said, "you’re telling a story and you have to sound like you understand what you’re talking about."

Voice acting has become an increasingly popular way for actors like Kurtz to build their careers when stage and screen opportunities become harder to find. Long Island performers can work from home, often converting closets and spaces into small studios, where they make recordings for audiobooks, commercials, corporate training and more. But experts stress success require more than just a good voice.

Tim Friedlander, president of the National Association of Voice Actors, emphasized the importance of good storytelling. "The voice carries with it something no other communication does," said Friedlander, 52, of Los Angeles. "It’s important to understand and respect the value of storytellers on this planet. Like any industry, it’s not as easy as it looks." The nearly 4-year-old organization has more than 1,700 members working in genres like commercials, audiobooks, animation and video games.

The field can be competitive, said Friedlander, noting that voice actors might have as many as 20 auditions a day and it might be a while before they actually book a job. And it’s not just about having a great voice — the actors have to market themselves. "Every voice actor," he said, "is running a small business."

Kurtz learned about voice acting while working in the e-learning department at Canon headquarters in Melville. Cutbacks during the 2008 recession eliminated the professional narrator on staff, and all the courses transitioned to PowerPoint presentations. The students "hated it," said Kurtz. She started recording narrations on her cell phone. "I sounded like I was down a well, but the job got done," she said. Ratings for the courses improved.

Once she retired in 2024, Kurtz decided to pursue voice acting on her own, taking classes to learn about equipment, business protocols and production techniques. She explored numerous possibilities (e-learning, broadcast, commercials), but decided to focus on audiobooks, starting with job listings on several websites. "It’s working well for me," she said. "It’s very competitive, but I love it because it’s like a play." Her first audiobook was "Schoolishness," Notre Dame professor Susan Blum’s treatise on the joy of learning. In July, Kurtz got a plum assignment — a new narration for the up-and-coming publisher Academy Voices of Louisa May Alcott’s "Little Women." Kurtz is excited about the job, having once played the mother in the musical based on the book.

Kurtz calls her voice "emotive," noting her mother compared it to a cello. "It’s friendly," she said, "think best friend, mom next door." She’s recorded everything from self-help books to murder mysteries, even a short F. Scott Fitzgerald story, "The Jelly-Bean." She works out of a converted 4-foot-by-2-foot closet in her home, outfitted with thick foam to absorb the sound. "Some people just use quilts," she said. She has a high-quality microphone and headsets, and said it cost her around $700 to outfit the closet, including furniture.

Kurtz has recorded auditions for other voice jobs like voice-overs and commercials, but so far she hasn’t had much success. "It’s like acting," she said. "You audition, you get a callback and then the part goes to someone else. ... That’s how the gig works." Financially speaking, she recognizes that voice actors can make a lot more money doing a 60-second commercial than on recording a book, which can take 30 to 40 hours (or more). She is mostly paid by the project, making around $6,000  for the 23 books she’s completed since she started. She’s getting paid for "Little Women" under a royalty contract, meaning she’ll get a percentage of the profits. For narrators of high-profile authors, commissions like that can be significant for a bestseller, but the competition is fierce what with actors like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep getting in on the act. While her income might be "a slow drip" at the moment, Kurtz said she loves what she’s doing. "It’s creative and fulfilling."

From Broadway to audiobooks

Gerard Doyle was on Broadway when he embarked on his narrating career. The classically trained actor, who performed frequently in London, came to New York in 1999 to understudy two roles in Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s hit "The Weir." Doyle, 75, heard from his agent that a publisher  was in search of someone with an Irish accent to narrate the book "A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle. He auditioned and got the job. "It was not very good in the beginning," said the Sag Harbor resident. "But it was a great novel to start my audiobook career," noting that in the 10 days it took him to record the book, "I started to get into the swing of it. I was connecting with the material," thanks to some direction from an executive at the publishing firm. 

Now the award-winning narrator has more than 500 titles to his credit. Growing up in a small village in England, he remembers evenings gathered with family and friends by the fire, reading and playing cards. "We didn’t have a TV," he said. "When all that was finished,  we would tell stories." Fans of Mick Herron’s "Slow Horses" novels might recognize Doyle’s voice from those audiobooks, and he happily acknowledges the comparisons to Gary Oldman, who stars in the Apple television series. "Not a bad accolade," he said.

Doyle’s biggest hit has been the four-book "The Inheritance Cycle" series by Christopher Paolini, which has sold more than 40 million copies (audio, print and e-books). The major challenge was voicing the dragon, which some critics said should have sounded more feminine. (For the record, he went with the author’s description of the voice being "gravelly and growling.") There were more than 80 characters in that series, said Doyle, whose voice was described in Slate magazine as "delicate yet world-weary." The last book in the series was 24 hours long and took him two weeks to record. "It was an emotional journey," he said.

Being 'a full-time actor from home'

Seeking a way to raise her children while working at home kick-started Lauren Gobes’ voice-acting career. When her twins were in kindergarten,  she remembers "seeing stuff online about how you could do a voice-over job from home." Gobes, who appears in "The Wedding Singer" at Northport’s John W. Engeman Theater through Aug. 23, found the idea appealing. "It sounded perfect while I was raising my kids," said the Lake Grove resident, 46. "You didn’t have to go anywhere, I could be a full-time actor from home."

She had dabbled in the field before, taking a course in Manhattan and producing several instructional videos. Once she decided to focus on voice-over work, she found multiple opportunities, recording everything from commercials to political spots to audiobooks. She recorded a demo and listed herself on several websites, where her profile positions her as an "American female, warm, motherly." Asked how she would describe her voice, Gobes said "warm is a biggie ... that’s what I excel at." Looking back at the jobs she’s been hired for, she said "good, clear diction" is a constant, adding quickly "but not sounding like you’re trying really hard ... I’d call it effortlessly articulate." The vibe she said she’s after for is "relatable authority, someone you trust when you hear them, but not because they’re slamming something down your throat."

Gobes said she’s been hired consistently since around 2019, when she started out with the goal of auditioning for one audiobook job a day. Recently, she’s found other voice work more lucrative, noting that she is constantly mindful of time versus income. Audiobooks, she said, are a "big time commitment, a lot of work for relatively little pay." Without getting too specific, she said she is making a living. "You have to get used to the idea that it all evens out," she said, noting that some projects (think national commercials) could pay $1,000 for 10 minutes, while other times she might not make that much in three months.

She works in a small room in her home. "You can start very simply," said Gobes, explaining that she spent about $350 for basics (microphone, headset, etc.). As her business has grown, she’s invested in more sophisticated equipment like a sound booth. Finding the right room — one that can absorb sound — is crucial, she said. You also have to worry about interference from air conditioning and other household noises. "You’re not going to get hired on any level if you’re not producing clean, quality audio," she said.

Gobes said she does a little bit of everything. "Right now," she said, "I'm very heavily focused on political advertising, explainers and a lot of corporate narration. It’s what I call the nonsexy side of voice-over. But honestly, for most people who make a full-time living doing it, that's a lot of their bread and butter."

She’s also developing a fondness in the niche VOG ("voice of God") arena, recording quick bits for conferences —“ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, our conference will begin in five minutes." But she’s very clear on her dream job. Without naming a candidate, she said, "I’d like to be the voice of a winning presidential campaign."