Conversations with Nando Garza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nando Garza.

Hi Nando, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve always been a very curious guy. I was fascinated by anything and everything, which meant the answer to the question “what would you want to be when you grow up?” changed pretty much every 2 to 3 minutes. I basically wanted to be a Renaissance Man, but at the time I was neither a man nor a kid who knew what the Renaissance was. Music eventually came out on top as my main passion, and I studied Audio Engineering at CSU, Chico. After a short stint pursuing composition for film in LA, including working at Hans Zimmer’s studio for a bit, my wife (then fiancée) and I realized the city and industry just weren’t for us. We moved to Austin, where I worked in 2D animation and motion graphics, then to my hometown of Puebla, Mexico, where I became an information security manager for my father’s company, and when I realized corporate life didn’t suit me, I explored several creative avenues—mobile game development, woodworking, building snare drums, etc. It was a fun time of exploration, but feeling the pressure of new parenthood and the need to find something that truly fit was very present.

That led me to voice-over. I looked back at my motion graphics days and thought doing voice-over work could be fun. I had audio gear, I sang, so I tried it. It took me 184 auditions before I booked my first job, but once I got that in the bag, things only grew from there. We moved to Boise to be closer to my wife’s family for a while, and then—on a whim inspired by lists of “best places to live”—to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was by far one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. My VO career was well established by then, and when the SAG strike hit, I took acting classes to stay busy; something I had always been overwhelmingly afraid to do. Kate Peckham at the Michigan Actor’s Studio put my fears to rest, giving me the confidence to audition on-camera, which I had never done or even considered before, and in a completely perplexing set of synchronicities, I ended up landing the job from my very first on-camera audition; being the spokesperson for the state of Michigan as “Mr. Michigan” in the national talent attraction campaign “You Can In Michigan”. It was surreal! Considering the possibility of this being all a fantastical dream or that The Matrix is actually real and I might wake up in a gross batch of goo sometime soon, I decided to just lean into it all, and I’m happy to say we’ve now been able to film two national campaigns, I’ve done both camera and VO work for several Michigan Fortune 500 companies, and have starred in several films along the way.

I feel very blessed that Michigan has allowed me to do the work I do. It has granted my wish to explore and develop any interest that comes to mind, like blacksmithing (making knives), mycology (possibly having discovered several new mushroom species), pottery (from wild clay), photography (of the gorgeous Michigan scenery), writing (psychological thriller novel), animation (half-hour adult TV show being pitched to industry execs), all sorts of crafts (making/designing/casting jewelry, woodworking, yarn spinning), etc. So far, I haven’t woken up in a batch of goo, yet it all does seem like a beautiful dream; one in which I did end up getting the chance to do and be a bit of everything. Little me would be thrilled.

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?
As with any other person out there, there have been quite a few. Some personal, some professional, and some just plain existential. I recognize and feel lucky to have been able to grow up in a position of privilege and opportunity, but my inner world hasn’t always made things easy. Oddly enough, given that I love trying new things and working through it until I get it right, I’ve always struggled with fear of failure and impostor syndrome. Perhaps it was avoidance of ridicule, judgement, or simply the fear of somehow finding out I wasn’t good enough, but that lingering fear made things fairly nerve-wracking for me.

In time, I was able to see and recognize this side of me, so with the help of some beautiful people and lots of practice, I’ve now been able to see many of these obstacles as challenges. Not in the sense of adversity, but more in the sense of “challenge accepted”. Since adopting this new mindset, I’ve been able to do some pretty cool things that have changed my life. I moved to a state where I knew no one and became its spokesperson. I faced my fear of acting and now work in film. I overcame fear of rejection and got the attention of a lovely veteran Simpsons producer when pitching an animated series. And now, obstacles feel more like plot points in a good story or a good game. Yes, there may be genuine tears and bad moments, but that’s part of the ride, isn’t it? If the Space Mountain didn’t have ups and downs and twists and turns, it would basically just be like riding the subway in the dark. Boring, and kinda scary. Nobody wants to see a huge rat outside of Disneyland.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m primarily a voice actor and commercial actor, working with clients like Jimmy Kimmel Live, the BBC, Telemundo, Amazon, Netflix, Walmart, and many more. But beyond my job, my work reaches much farther. As I mentioned before, I pride myself in being a Renaissance man, meaning being able to do work in many different disciplines. Because VO supports me, I don’t need to monetize my other interests—I do them for love. I forge chef’s knives, write music, build instruments, do pottery, design and cast jewelry, wood-turn goblets, make tortillas from corn I nixtamalize myself, weave baskets, program, forage, photograph, paint, bake, sculpt, etc. As you might be able to tell, I am rarely bored.

Some of my proudest highlights have been writing a 94,000-word psychological thriller novel that will hopefully be published soon, writing an original score for a car commercial and having it recorded by the best symphony orchestra in Latin America, getting my former band’s (Blind The Huntsmen) concept album into Borderlands 3, and receiving a Telly Award for the first You Can In Michigan commercial we did.

My ultimate dream, however, is to have a sponsorship/patronage to be able to travel the world creating things from local, foraged, or traditional materials and auctioning them off for charity. I would love for my creative work to help others. I want to make blown glass cups from scratch, using silica-rich wild sand from the Eastern Desert in Egypt. Forge a blacksmithing hammer out of a piece of the historic Granite Railway from Quincy, Massachusetts. Weave a scarf with silk made from scratch (raising the silk worms), and dyed with foraged Phaeolus schweinitzii (dyer’s polypore mushroom). Make a shakuhachi flute out of wild madake bamboo from Kyoto, Japan. Cast a brass sculpture out of wild copper and zinc ore extracted from the Tsumeb region of Namibia…

Ultimately, I want to create, connect with people, and give back. Ideally, I’d love to partner with a Michigan-based entity—your move, Shinola. And if Mr. Marshall Mathers wants to chat about this matter, I’m available. Michigan has been nothing but good to me and my family, and I would love to give back in return.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I’ve already made way too many things, and my wife is correct in pointing out that we’re running out of space in our kitchen and shelves, so if anyone out there is interested in getting some free goodies, like chef’s knives, cups, bowls, mugs, etc, I will probably start giving them away sometime soon. Give me a follow on Instagram, @NandoGarzaVoices, and maybe you’ll end up with some fun knick knacks! And of course, thank you Voyage Michigan for the opportunity to share some of my story.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/nandogarza
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nandogarzavoices/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nandogarzamusic