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Rising Stars: Meet Dan Sandoval of Dallas-Fort Worth

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Sandoval.

Dan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I discovered my love for acting at a young age. Growing up as a latchkey kid in the 1980s and 1990s, with a mom who worked near the mall, reruns on television and the movie theater often became my babysitters. Early on, I realized I could mimic the voices of many of the cartoon characters I watched. I would perform those voices at school during lunch, recess, and sometimes even in the middle of class—much to the chagrin of my teachers and the amusement of my classmates.

The first time I took a theater class was in seventh grade. We were assigned an improv scene that many of the other students struggled with, but for some reason it felt completely natural to me. When I got to high school, I found my people in the theater department. I spent most of my spare time performing in plays and competing in UIL Speech events. Debate wasn’t really my thing, but I competed in Prose, Poetry, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, and Duet Acting. Along the way, I earned several awards and discovered a lifelong passion for performance.

I continued my love for the stage through college and civic theater, earning a few more awards along the way. Even then, I never truly believed I was good enough to make a career out of acting. To me, it was simply a hobby. I figured I needed a “real job,” so I worked many of them over the years. I bounced around quite a bit but always seemed to find my way back to the apartment industry, working in roles ranging from leasing to management to corporate positions. While I was good at sales, I never particularly enjoyed it. What I did enjoy was helping people and providing great customer service—and, of course, it paid the bills.

Around 2020, I decided to pursue voice acting more seriously. Since I have a face made for radio, it seemed like a natural fit. I was fortunate enough to study with many amazing directors, actors and other coaches at Iolite Studioz in the Dallas area, which opened doors to additional auditions and opportunities. One of my first professional castings was providing several NPC voices for the video game Tales of Luminaria, along with a variety of other voice-over projects.

My voice coach at the time, Brian Massey, told me, “You’re a good actor. Just do everything.” So I did.

I spent a season doing character and park acting at Six Flags. I started working as a background actor in film and television and eventually landed my first speaking role. I also competed in iPOP! in Los Angeles, where I earned First Place for Male Voice-Over, opening even more doors.

While searching for acting opportunities online, I discovered what would eventually become my wife’s current job at Capernaum Studios. Through that connection, I was able to contract on numerous productions as an actor, writer, director, and producer.

Encouraged by my wife and friends, I began adapting some of my stories into screenplays. The first of these was The King’s Move, which is currently in festival consideration and has received multiple awards, nominations, and official selections. I am incredibly humbled and honored by that recognition, especially as someone who started with very little idea of what he was doing but was surrounded by people who believed in him and his ideas.

From there, things simply kept moving forward. I continue to trust God in everything I do and honestly never planned any of this. I remain grateful every day and try to maintain the mindset of, “I’m just jazzed to be on the show.” It is an incredible privilege to work in the film, television, and media industries.

I am constantly learning because I believe anyone in this industry should be. Entertainment is always evolving and changing, and those of us who work in it must learn to ride the waves—sometimes turbulent, sometimes smooth.

None of this would be possible without the love and support of my beautiful wife, Martha Sandoval. For more than 25 years, she has supported every crazy dream, idea, and creative endeavor I’ve pursued. I am beyond thankful for her, my family, and the opportunities God has placed before me.

Voice-over remains one of my greatest passions, and I continue to pursue it actively. Most recently, I have been blessed to appear in several episodes of Tuttle Twins for Angel Studios, as well as a new Christian anime project, Ascension After, produced by Studio Bless. I also recently landed my first speaking role in a major feature film that will be released in theaters next year, which is incredibly exciting.

In addition, we are currently producing a proof-of-concept for our next short film, Behind the Eight, a story about pool hustling in the 1930s that also serves as a retelling of the Prodigal Son story from the Gospel of Luke.

I’m constantly writing new scripts, networking on and off set, and building an amazing team of talented individuals for future projects. I’m also working to publish my first children’s book, Thomas O’Keene and the Imagination Machine, while helping design and build sets for a variety of productions, including a new studio in Texas.

I also created a new animated series from a classic Hanna Barberra show called Planet Paradise. The pilot episode is currently streaming on YouTube and TikTok, and we hope to release additional episodes soon.

At the end of the day, I simply try to stay busy, stay grateful, and keep creating.

Thank you so much for having me on your show.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Wow, definitely not all smooth sailing, lots of long night, crying and thinking I should just quit, lots of this is a dumb dream to keep chasing, go get a real job again… dealing with rejection as I dont always get cast ya know.. financial hardships, wondering how we will make it to buy gas and groceries, but God always provides. I went for 40 years with undiagnosed severe ADHD that was supposed to be bipolar depression and no drugs ever worked… except the illegal ones… when I was diagnosed in 2021 and given different treatment It was literally like some one turned on the lights and I could see what I was doing instead of fumbling in the dark. I went through several failed attempts before that diagnosis and tons of pain from all that still but even with all the letters PTSD ADHD RDS .. ( I gotta be close to spelling something good here…) God has done so many amazing things in my life through so many people and opportunities and I am just thankful to be here and look forward to what comes next

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do all the things as far as art goes.. a creative, best defines me probably. I write, draw, sculpt, build sets, build demos, act, voice act, play music ,guitar and piano, do voice coaching
. it is all fun and rewarding however if I had to pick it would be voice over work or directing… I love creating characters and building worlds. I am sort of a Jack of All trades I suppose. Who tends to rabbit trail.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Jesus, My family, and my friends.

Being a writer, director, producer.. etc are not who I am but just things I do.

1st I am a child of God and Follower of Jesus

2nd I am a husband and father

3rd I want to be a good friend and someone who encourages others and helps them succeed

and then everything else

Pricing:

  • I work with people where they are, all is negotiable

Contact Info:

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