How did you get started in Voiceover?

At ages 6 and 4, we were in dance class, holding hands, swinging our arms back and forth, giggling and singing G-L-O-W, G-L-O-W, G-L-O-W, we-are-the-Glow-Girls! – a silly little chant our parents taught us to learn how to spell our last name. By coincidence, a talent manager had stopped by the same dance studio to say hello to a friend, who happened to be our dance instructor. The talent manager handed a business card to our parents and encouraged them to think about the entertainment industry.

We had some fun experiences with commercials, short films, and print work. But when we learned more about Voiceover, we knew that was what we wanted to do! We think our childhood, which was filled with reading books aloud, singing, puppet shows, acting out made-up stories, trips to magical theme parks, and a love of cartoons and animated films sparked our interest in Voiceover. We then began coaching with top industry professionals, studied across multiple voiceover genres, and practiced-practiced-practiced. Eventually our passion and hard work earned us a track record of voiceover bookings and agency representation across the country.

Today, we work with various animation studios, production studios, creative agencies, and streaming services that specialize in the kids’ market. And we even have a professional home recording studio able to host live directed VO sessions so we can connect with clients all over the world!

What is your favorite part about the work that you do? What are some projects and experiences you are most proud of?

Sabrina: Being in the booth is definitely “my happy place”! I love bringing a character to life and being able to add your own personality to the animation. It’s also really cool when fans and friends recognize my voice from a show or a commercial!

Some of Sabrina’s favorite Highlights:

  • Voice of Mila for 5+ years and 300+ episodes in “My Magic Pet Morphle” with over 5 Billion views and 9 Million YouTube subscribers. This animated preschool show is also on most major streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime.
  • Youngest ever SOVAS-nominee for “Outstanding Voiceover Body of Work” (along with my sis!) and Best Voiceover for “Outstanding Commercial Demo”.
  • More favorite clients include: Nick Jr, Disney, PBS Kids and Sesame.

Cassie: Hearing yourself on TV is surreal and never gets old! It’s really fun to hear my voice singing & talking in a toy too. And being in the recording booth meeting clients from all over the world is an absolute blast. I love it when I deliver a line and the client gets excited!

Some of Cassie’s favorite Highlights:

  • Being the voice of Kid Cassandra in “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure” on Disney Channel. Not only did the character share my name, but it was the younger version of my favorite character, Cassandra, on the series voiced by my favorite singer Eden Espinosa!
  • Winning a SOVAS Award (along with VO friend Everett Sundholm) for “Outstanding Toy Character” for the “Rockit & Glow” Fisher Price toy (again, super cool that my character shared my name!) and being nominated for our Body of Work (along with my sis!)
  • More favorite clients include: Nickelodeon, LEGO, Disney Junior and ZURU Toys.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Outside of Voiceover the main things we like to do are Karate, artwork, board and card games with our family, and trying new recipes in the kitchen!

Currently we are brown belts in Karate – we practice patterns and weapons training a few times per week. Usually you can find us drawing, sketching, composing music, and learning storyboarding animation techniques – all in preparation for our own animated musical adventure someday! Also, our family is very close – so several times a week we are challenging each other to family game night playing a funny card game like “Exploding Kittens” or classic board game like “Clue” (the competition and laughs are fierce!) And each week we try a new recipe from the collection of cookbooks and magazines we have – last week we learned how to use a kitchen blowtorch to make Crème Brûlée! We are lucky that we are sisters and best friends, and enjoy so many of the same interests.

What advice would you give to young actors wanting to break into the world of voiceover?

As with any area of the entertainment industry, Voiceover is an incredibly competitive business. A unique challenge to this art form is the fact that as a Kid or Teen talent, you aren’t just competing with other Kids and Teens – you are also competing with adult voice actors who can sound like Kids or Teens. Also, the remote aspect of Voiceover allows for competition worldwide too! We have submitted thousands of auditions over the years in order to earn our hundreds of bookings. You definitely hear “no” a lot more than you hear “yes” which can be frustrating. But when you have found your passion, you keep putting in the work, you keep training, you keep trying.

Our advice would be: Don’t let anyone tell you no. If voiceover is your passion, and you are willing to put in the hard work, you can achieve your dream.

Where do you see yourself in the future? What would be your ideal project(s)?

In the near future, we are looking forward to several animated series and fun commercial campaigns to be announced. Longer term, we have some big creative aspirations of developing our own animated musical adventure (all the artwork and animation we do in our free time!) To support this, we can definitely see a future that includes moving to a geographical location known for Animation, possibly attending an arts and animation focused school like CalArts and hopefully earning an internship at an animation studio. Whatever lies ahead, we know Voiceover will always be part of our lives!

 

 

About the Author
Kari Nissena is an actress, producer, and biz coach for actors in Hollywood, California. With hundreds of credits to her name, she has worked in film, theatre, commercials, voiceover, television, and more. As a business coach for actors, she has coached thousands of actors how to take control of their careers! Actor Transformation is committed to helping actors find success in their careers by providing education, motivation, and valuable tools & resources. *** More About Kari on IMDB: http://www.imdb.me/KariNissena