Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Lester.
Stephen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Well, I actually started in music and didn’t get into voice acting until a little over a year ago. I come from a long line of musically talented people so music was something I naturally gravitated to. As a kid, I loved doing goofy voices for my friends and watching cartoons, it just wasn’t until I was much older that I made the connection that there was actually someone on the other side of the screen giving a voice to that character. When I was a senior in high school, I took a broadcasting class as an elective and I basically got volun-told into recording the voice over for a segment we had about our football team. I absolutely loved it. I got zero recognition for it, but something about the process and hearing the final product with the music and the video just really stuck with me.
Despite that, I actually went ten years not pursuing it at all. I had never been told by anyone that voice acting was something I should do or was good at and since I had been involved in music for so long, I kind of felt that was where I was supposed to focus my creativity.
So, I went to college, focused more on music and got a business degree. I, then, started working for a large financial company which I’ve been at for the past five years. For those past ten years though, I always had at the back of my mind that voice acting would be so much fun but I convinced myself I could never do it so I shouldn’t try.
Finally, in January of 2018, I made the decision that I couldn’t keep going through life with “what-ifs” and decided that sink or swim I owed it to myself to at least try. I took some classes with a coach here in Dallas, watched a lot of professional voice actors on YouTube practice their craft, and stepped out into the amateur online voice over world. A year later, I’ve now done several projects for podcasts and YouTube, small video game companies, an audiobook, and even a local advertisement that aired in Ontario, Canada!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I wouldn’t exactly say smooth. I’ve had a stutter almost my entire life. Stuttering and talking into a microphone doesn’t seem to blend very well unless you’re playing a very specific cartoon pig. It took years of speech therapy to overcome my speech impediment. I still stutter from time to time and I’ve had to learn new techniques to make sure I can overcome it while recording a session. My stutter actually came in handy once, as I booked a job for a lead character who had a stutter. So, having that in my bag of tricks actually ended up working out.
I also had a lot of catching up to do when I first started out in voice acting. I had a music background but very little acting experience. When I listened back to my first audition, I completely cringed at how terrible I sounded! It took me a while to really learn how to act rather than just read words off a page.
The other thing that was difficult was making myself stand out from the sea of online voice actors and learning how to deal with constant rejection. It’s not uncommon for a job posting to get anywhere from 20-200 auditions depending on the pay and popularity. It took me nearly five months of constantly auditioning before I finally booked my first job as a minor character in a video game. Getting your hopes up thinking you really nailed an audition just to get rejected can be tough, but also helps you build a thick skin.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Currently, I am a freelance voice actor/voice-over artist. I do it on the side and mostly for smaller projects. I have a pretty dynamic range from high to low tones which I can use to play monsters or other non-human type creatures. My natural tone would be considered as mid-ranged millennial. I have a naturally upbeat and pleasant voice which has helped me do work for e-learning videos and friendly type characters.
I feel that my music background was what actually gave me an edge when I started to get into voice acting and helps me stand out from the crowd. There is musicality and rhythm to dialogue whether it be in animation, audiobooks, e-learning, or radio advertisements. For me, knowing how to find the music behind the script helped me give the character life.
Plus my music background has helped me become knowledgeable at using recording equipment. I’ve learned that you don’t always need the most expensive microphone on the market to get a quality sound.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Oh gosh, where to start. First, my wife Tessa deserves the biggest credit. When I first approached her over a year ago saying that I felt I needed to try voice acting but was really nervous, she was my biggest supporter. It’s scary to finally follow a dream you’ve had for so long not knowing what will happen, but she walked alongside me every step of the way.
I also have to give a big shout out to Bruce Carey over at Voices Carey in Dallas. He was my voice acting coach that gave me the training I desperately needed. When listening back to your recordings, you can miss things in your performance so having someone with years of experience give critique and feedback is vital. Anyone in the Dallas area who is considering dipping their toes in the world of voice acting should check him out.
Finally, my cousin Skip Stellrecht really helped give me direction starting out. Skip is a professional voice actor in Los Angeles and the first person I called after I decided that I had to give this a shot. He really helped to encourage me and give me pointers to start off in the right direction.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 9728322414
- Email: stephenlestervo@gmail.com
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