Meet Michael Malconian

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Malconian.

Hi Michael, 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’ve been a lifelong actor in one way or another. Some of my earliest acting-related memories include appearing in a community play version of Toy Story and, in third grade, writing a play about bats for my class to perform. My enthusiasm for performing on stage continued throughout middle school, then high school, then college at USC (Class of 2015), where I also had the opportunity to perform on film and behind a microphone.

After college, I decided to have a try at making a career of acting and eventually centered in on Voiceover as my favorite and most successful niche. Since then, I’ve appeared in video games, animation, anime dubs, and narrative podcasts, oftentimes recording and working with directors from my home studio. Due to the flexibility that remote recording has afforded me, I’ve worked with creators that are fellow LA dwellers and creators from all over the world as well. Some recent credits include Genshin Impact, Death Battle, Lost Legends of Redwall, and Mobile Legends: Adventure.

As a voice actor, by far the most valuable resource that I’ve found, and the one I recommend to every person I talk to that is interested in giving voiceover a try themselves, is the Discord server called the Voice Acting Club. It is a professionally-oriented online community geared toward sharing advice, experience, tech tips, and job opportunities for voice actors of all levels of experience. I would not have made it as far as I have in this career without the mountains of freely given guidance and resources provided by the community members and volunteer moderators (of which I am now one) on this server. If voice acting, either as a professional or a hobbyist, has ever piqued your imagination, there is no better place to start than the Discord server: Voice Acting Club.

Moving forward, there’s still a lot out there for me as far as goals go, so I hope to continue being part of fun projects and collaborating with cool people.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Voiceover acting, like any acting or artistic pursuit, is mostly an incessant series of rejections interrupted occasionally by periods of excitedly booking a job. And the technical and emotional challenges that one faces at the start of their career are not much different than the ones further along. Being able to send your audition and move on without dwelling on it is a critical skill to develop, as is the ability to resist the urge to compare your artistic journey to a peer’s.

As a freelancer, my career lives and dies by my own proactivity, so much of my time is spent in pursuit of opportunities and expanding my skill set to enable me to broaden my potential prospects and the kinds of jobs I would be comfortable taking on, Fortunately, despite the endless grind and not always seeing immediate benefits for my effort, I maintain a support system of trusted industry colleagues, as well as my supportive family, and close friends.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a voice actor, meaning I act with my voice. Surprisingly, not everyone I’ve ever met has considered that the performers lending their voice and talent to the characters in animated films and video games are just as much actors and artists as those who appear in live-action films and television. What this has meant for me is learning how to properly interact with a microphone, deliver a vibrant performance without being able to rely on the audience seeing my body language, and understanding the specific needs of the kinds of media that utilize voice actors. These are all things that I have learned in specialized classes as well as just by my own experience of trial and error over the years.

The reason I myself have gravitated toward VO in the way that I have has a lot to do with my passion for those kinds of projects that we voice actors work on. I am a lifelong fan of animation and games and have always had an enthusiasm for the kinds of stories told via those mediums. So the chance to be part of those stories, whether as a big part or a small part, is something for which I am very grateful. In fact, from 2016-2019, I worked every day on a feature-length animated film of my own writing, directing, drawing, and editing. Along with a handful of colleagues, I also voiced a character in the film and released it on YouTube exactly three years after I had begun production. It’s called “Trojan Base Alpha,” and it’s a sci-fi murder mystery inspired by Battlestar Galactica, Danganronpa, Deep Space Nine, And Then There Were None, and Babylon 5, and animated in the style of a Visual Novel.

Overall, I’m excited to keep trying a little more every day and seeing what happens.

What does success mean to you?
My definition of success is in a constant state of flux. Right now, success for me is fulfillment in what I do and the ability to keep doing it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.michmaelalconian.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmalconian/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/actingmalconian
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTWbExAQsiA
• Other: https://voiceactingclub.com/