Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Lee Thomas.
Craig, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My name is Craig Lee Thomas, and I’m an actor and voiceover artist based out of LA. When I was a kid, instead of playing soccer or taking karate lessons, my mom drove me back and forth the 130 miles or so from Northeastern Pennsylvania to New York City to be a child actor. From the age of 4 to around 14, I did dozens of commercials, some cartoons, a few soap operas, and even hosted a show on the Discovery Channel. I also did a ton of voiceovers, both commercial and animation.
After high school, I continued pursuing acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Tons of plays, student films, downtown theater premieres, and a few seasons of rep Shakespeare in Utah later, I moved out to Los Angeles.
I kept working toward a career in the arts out here in LA, and was lucky enough to work on a lot of cool stuff, from a Budweiser Super Bowl commercial, to a scene with Neil Patrick Harris on ‘How I Met Your Mother’, to a run on ‘Jane the Virgin’ playing a maintenance man/private detective. But around four years ago, my wife Lisa J Dooley suggested I start taking voiceover seriously again. The only way I knew how to do that was to reach out to my friend Arianna Ratner, an incredible VO actor I met at Tisch, and ask her what to do. She told me, “Don’t be like every other actor and just think you can do it. You have to study, you have to study hard, and you have to study with the best”.
“The best” was Nancy Wolfson, founder of BrainTracks Audio. She’s a former agent and buyer, and now works as a private VO coach. After a year of monthly and sometimes bimonthly lessons, getting put through all the paces and being thrown literally hundreds of commercials to study, break down and perform, Nancy produced my commercial voiceover demo and I started looking for representation.
My friend Lily Blau, a fantastic playwright and actor, was kind enough to refer me to her agent Dean Panaro, who was then at Abrams Artists Agency. I met with him at their offices at the Pacific Design Center and he threw me directly into the booth to audition for that day’s slate of spots that I was appropriate for. My reads were good enough to take a chance on, and I was able to join the roster. Sitting in that lobby and seeing some of my voiceover heroes from animation and video games stroll in, grab a coffee and start shooting the shit with me was an incredibly surreal experience.
Voice acting is really the whole package for me as an artist, I think because it’s such an umbrella term that covers so many different kinds of jobs in the industry. I started booking commercials, selling everything from donuts to gasoline, I even played a “Helpful North Texas Honda Person” for the North Texas Honda Dealer’s group. Promo and Narration followed, and I got to do the “Next Week” promos for ABC’s ‘Speechless’ and narrate the true crime documentary series ‘American Nightmare’ on Investigation Discovery (sometimes those sessions would be back-to-back in the same studio.
The most exciting part of my VO career currently is, ironically, the thing I can talk about in the least detail, and that’s working on video games. As an indoor kid from way back, playing video games was still a huge part of my life, and the fact that I can boot up a game and run around the world and occasionally hear myself is one of the coolest things about this job. Video games have become a true art form, and a multi-billion dollar industry, so the secrecy surrounding them is absolutely insane. You can’t even audition for a big release without signing an NDA, and you sign more legal paperwork swearing yourself to secrecy when you do the job. No pictures, no posts, sometimes you can’t even confirm you worked on a game until it was already out. I had to sit on the fact that I’m in the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake for months as all my gamer friends got more and more excited about the launch date, which was definitely a test of my secret-keeping abilities. I have a bunch of amazing video games coming out, some this year and some next, but unfortunately, my lips are zipped.
The other most fulfilling part of being a voiceover actor for me has been becoming a teacher and a coach. two years ago, or so, Mike Delay, an incredible audio engineer and lifelong musician (Check out his bands Tic Tic Boom! and Dear Ocean, they’re so good) who I met bartending at Black Market Liquor Bar in Studio City opened up his own voiceover studio called Real Voice LA. He knew he wanted education to be a big part of his business, so he started hitting up his friends that worked in the industry and asked them if they wanted to run a class. I never had ambitions to teach, but after getting over my impostor syndrome, I started running workshops on commercial voiceover, and got completely hooked. I’m now running a Weekly Workout via Zoom every Friday, I’ve taught my Commercial Bootcamp every other month for a few years, and written and directed over a dozen commercial voiceover demos that Mike produces, mixes and masters. I also provide one-on-one private voiceover coaching for all aspects of the industry over Zoom, so you can study with me anywhere in the world. Getting to inspire other people to pursue a career that I’ve enjoyed so much and has given me so much is really fulfilling, and selfishly, keeps me on my toes for my own work.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Pursuing acting, no matter what kind, is always a challenge, especially in a city like LA. You’re competing against literally the best and brightest in your industry, so you have to bring your A game absolutely every time if you want to be in the mix.
Voiceover is a numbers game as well. There’s a TON of job opportunities, but now more than ever, since everyone is trapped at home and other aspects of the industry have slowed down, there is an absolutely insane amount of competition. You can audition for projects from anywhere in the country if you have a mic and a walk-in closet, so your reads have to stand out among literally thousands of super talented people.
The VO industry also, especially for animation and interactive work, has a core group of insanely talented, masterfully experienced actors who have been in the game for years, and do a large share of the gigs that are out there. You’ll see names like Abby Trott, Roger Craig Smith, Peter Jessop, Kari Wahlgren, all over your cartoons and video games if you look at the credits, because they’re the best at what they do. Some actors see those same names come up again and again and let it get them down or become bitter, but I love seeing talented people do great work because it inspires me to work harder and be better myself.
Real Voice LA – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Real Voice LA is a broadcast quality voiceover production studio in Universal City. We’re able to do everything from record commercials and animation to track ADR and dubbing to lay down podcasts, and everything VO-related in between. The aspect of Real Voice LA that I cover is the education side, since Real Voice LA is also a comprehensive Voiceover education studio. We have instructors for every aspect of the industry, who are all working professionals at the top of their game.
I teach Commercial Voiceover, which also can serve as an Intro to Voiceover since studying commercial is a good place to start out. My curriculum is entirely developed from the things I learned as a VO student myself, and the things I’ve learned and continue to learn every day as a voiceover actor. I teach actors to become script detectives, and to realize that even a seemingly simple McDonald’s commercial is a carefully crafted piece of storytelling that has major moments, beats, rhetorical devices, and sales points that have to be navigated in order to give a competitive read. I teach my students how to safely modulate their voices to create different sounds, how to use the microphone to craft their reads, and how to create characters and interpret scripts to give themselves the best chance to work.
I also, along with founder and owner Mike Delay, help people create their Commercial Voiceover Demo, which is a short selection of commercial snippets that shows off the actors’ range and ability. This process is very gratifying for me, since I get to work one-on-one with an actor to show them off as much as possible. I write original copy for the demo based on a questionnaire about brands, products and services the actor feels strongly about, or feels their voice would fit, then I direct their performance as Mike runs the board at Real Voice LA. Mike and I make our selections from the session, and Mike works his magic and fleshes out my copy into fully produced ads with music, stings, mnemonics and sound effects. Mike and I keep tinkering until you have 70 seconds of VO gold.
The thing Real Voice LA is known for, and strives to provide for our students, is community. Mike and our slot of teachers are amazing at making people feel welcome and safe to pursue their art, and with the magic of Instagram, we’ve created an absolutely incredible Real Voice LA community that is able to keep in touch with each other outside of class, stay abreast of new classes and workshops, and uplift and support each other’s work. I usually end up answering a few questions, giving feedback on an audition, or just sending a meme to a current or former Real Voice LA student on social media every day, and it’s something everyone at Real Voice LA is very proud of.
I’d say the thing that sets us apart from other places is our price point. Mike understands the struggle of being an artist from a first hand perspective, and keeping our classes professional, but also affordable, is really important to him.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
There’s a tired old saying that I absolutely love: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. This is something I live by, and something that keeps me sane in a profession that can really drive you crazy if you’re not careful.
The reason I like it so much is because it’s realistic but also optimistic. Yes, luck is a huge factor of getting any job. You could be perfect for a part… but not in the opinion of one of the creatives, so your take is deleted. You could give an amazing read, but sound too similar to someone who’s already cast, so, into the trash you go. BUT you don’t have control over any of those aspects of the industry, so in my opinion, it’s a waste of energy to worry about them.
The things you do have control over are preparation and opportunity. I hold myself accountable every day to not rest on my laurels or slack off when it comes to VO. I still treat every audition like it’s my first, and put in the homework and bust my ass as much as time allows. I also work hard to give myself every opportunity I can, by studying, networking, and supporting my fellow VO actors in every way shape and form. Networking is huge in this town, and I think by being a good actor and a good person, I’m going to have a much better chance of getting lucky.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.realvoicela.com
- Instagram: itsmecraiglee
Image Credit:
Craig Lee Thomas
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