Life & Work with Kendell Byrd

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kendell Byrd.

Hi Kendell, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am originally from Flossmoor, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago. Growing up, I had three loves: S.T.E.M, storytelling/theater, and animation. My mom is actually the one that first introduced me to musical theater, which made me fall in love with acting and theater. My dad was the one that introduced me to science, engineering, and mathematics, which fueled my love for S.T.E.M. Then, when I was not doing theater, sports, or school, I would spend the rest of my free time watching animation. Avatar: The Last Airbender is still my favorite show ever (to this day).

In high school, I chose to pursue the S.T.E.M route and ended up going to the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, which were some of the most fun years of my life, but I found myself really missing performing, theater, and storytelling. So when I got to college, while I still studied Computer Science and Economics, I spent the rest of my free time performing. Whether it was doing improv, sketch comedy, making videos, performing in plays, or taking theater classes, I always found time to give myself a creative outlet… So, by the time I hit my senior year, I knew that I didn’t want to do more than just software engineering after school.

My first job out of college, that brought me to LA in 2017, was working at Buzzfeed as a Video Tools Software Engineer (and I have been in LA ever since). Working at Buzzfeed was so cool because it was when the Try Guys and Quinta Brunson were still there. While I was there, I was even able to help produce a few videos (an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1Pi4SQZGec). It was through working at Buzzfeed and seeing how much fun it was to storytell (through producing and acting), that made me want to leave software engineering and tech for good and pursue a career that combined my loves of storytelling, technology and entertainment, which led me to animation.

After Buzzfeed, I went on to Dreamworks Animation where I worked on shows such as Fast and Furious: Spy Racers, Dragon’s Rescue Riders, and Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous. After Dreamworks, I went to my current company, Netflix Animation, where I am on the writing team for their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory series.

When I started at Netflix Animation, I was still thinking about ways that I could further combine my love of storytelling and animation – and I began looking into voice acting! I thought “Huh…voice acting really combines all of my passions”, so I began taking classes and doing coaching, and then when I was ready, I made my voiceover demos and signed with an agency. I have now been doing voiceover professionally for almost 11 months, and it has been one heck of a ride (and definitely what I want to be doing for most of my career). I love being able to bring to life so many different animation and video game characters that bring people joy. Over the past 11 months, I have been able to be in video games such as Genshin Impact and SMITE and work on so many more awesome animation, video game, and podcast projects that are coming up (so stay tuned to many more announcements soon).

Overall, I am so happy to finally be in a place where I get to combine all my passions and have so much fun doing it!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think, overall, the biggest struggles I have encountered in all of the industries I have been in have been trying to not be pigeonholed or excluded. I started off heavily in technology and S.T.E.M, and when I was there, I was usually the only black woman in the room. At school, I was only one of two black computer science majors, and when I interned at companies like Facebook, I would be the only black and female engineer on my team. So growing up, I had to constantly prove that I not only belonged but excelled in these spaces.

Now that I am a voice actor and work in entertainment, the other challenge I am grasping with right now is not being pigeonholed into only playing “black voice roles”.The great part about voiceover, overall, is you can play so many things (from people to animals to cars to even forks), and it’s so awesome that the VO industry is becoming more inclusive and authentic. But inclusivity and authenticity doesn’t just mean that I only play black roles or female roles or queer roles; authenticity and inclusivity also mean outreach and opportunities.

It is a way for the industry to expand its typical reach when sending out auditions or casting characters for their projects and also deciding to give a shot to newer voice actors. The big issue for lots of folks starting out is access to opportunity. I have been fortunate as I began my VO career and have had great people take chances on me, but there is still lots of work to be done, and I can’t wait to see the direction the industry goes. Throughout my life, I have realized that the struggles I go through don’t define me, but the ways in which I overcome them do.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Some of my most proud creative accomplishments to date have been becoming a professional voice actor where I have been able to work on so many fun and huge video game and animation projects (lots of them are not out yet). Additionally, I have been able to work on tons of audiobooks and really interesting and exciting narrative podcasts too.

Also, I am so happy that I have been able to find and connect with the wonderful theater community in LA. Over the past five years, I have worked with the Wallis Studio Ensemble (at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills), the Independent Shakespeare Company, and Corner Stone Theater Company. My most recent production was playing Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with the Wallis Studio Ensemble.

Animation industry-wise, I am so thrilled to have been able to work at both DreamWorks and Netflix Animation. The people at both these companies (as well as the theater and VO people in my life) have all become my family. And it’s been pretty cool to be on the writing side of an original Netflix Animation series and to learn all the ins and outs of a professional Writers Room.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
One of my favorite quotes is “Act like it’s impossible to fail.” No matter what career you pursue, never be afraid to put yourself out there and take risks. Adventure is out there!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kbyrdvo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flyerthanabyrd22/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kendell.byrd.2265
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendell-byrd/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/flylikeabyrd22
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+354+squad

Image Credits
Netflix image credit to Netflix.com DreamWorks image credit to DreamWorks.com