Today we’d like to introduce you to JET Walker..
JET, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I was a little kid, I used to play in my dad’s studio and watch him compose music and be the voice on radio shows and commercials all sorts of productions from trailers to narratives and documentarys too. One day my mom brought home a computer game called Toontastic and you could select a scene and characters write a story then voice each one of the characters and make a short video. I would voice pirates and princess and even crocodiles.
One day my aunt said I should go and get professional training for voice over work in animation. So I trained with a top coach from Disney and we’ll in my first six months I was called backed to read the voice of Sumo in Clarence a Fox show. At the time, I was nine with really no experience. I’ll never forget that day because the casting director brought me in and I read for her and she said “I know you are very young but you should keep up because you have a good voice and you can act well.” Needless to say, I did not get the part, Tom Kinney the voice of Sponge Bob got the part. I was like “wow…I was up against the voice of Sponge Bob.” Not too long after that I was almost chosen for the role of Peppermint Patty in the Charlie Brown Movie and it was between me and another famous actor. Well, I thought okay this is a good start but after several years of training and getting very close to booking many well know animated TV shows and Movies my big break came at thirteen.
The journey began when NBC Universal Television announced its Universal Kids TV channel in association with PBS and DreamWorks Television. When Universal Kids set out to cast for the voice of the network, a nationwide search was in the works for the network’s launch. After hundreds of auditions from around the country from New York to LA, I was chosen as the voice of the network. The really crazy part of this journey with Universal Kids thought I was a boy. I have a deep rasphy voice and it’s really popular today to be able to sound non-binary with no gender specific. I couldn’t believe it I landed the role of the voice of a network.
On my first day of work with the producers at NBC Rockefeller Center in New York, all the executives were in the room, listening in and directing the session with me in my West Coast studio. I was really nailing it behind the mic! The NBC Universal Kids Creative Executive In-charge was so impressed with my tone and ability to take direction and deliver on cue. It was a big surprise when they found out I was a girl since they thought I was a boy during the casting process since they only heard my voice and never saw me in person. Their initial reaction, although one of the producers figured it out… “Wait a minute: is ‘Jet’ your real name or a nickname?” I responded… “Actually, my full first name is Bridjet… I’m a girl!” They applauded me, it was a touching moment, I felt proud as a young girl empowered with great confidence and the affirmation of long-time of hard work and training was paying off. All the gender bias went out the door and I was like alright, Jet Walker can read boy parts and yet still deliver the producers a softer side of a girl’s voice of feminine quality.
I launched the new network, voicing all the ID’S, Promos, In Show Voices, Bumpers, Sponsor tags and Billboards, Airline-In- Channel programming and the Universal Kids YouTube channel. That moment was the beginning of a remarkable relationship with the network execs. I recorded over 100 hours of studio time and received a contract renewal for another year with Universal Kids! I solidified my talent and my ability to be mature and professional at a very young age to deliver as a top VO Artist for network television as the voice of a network launch. Then a year later, I went on to win Best Voiceover for Universal Kids Promo WEB and TV. I was up against the biggest talent and all adults so that was pretty cool the youngest ever at the time to win the coveted Society Voice Arts and Science Award Voice of a Network in 2018.
Fast forward today, I’m voicing a leading role in an animated series titled, Droners. I play Corto who is fierce and adventurous and on a mission to save her island of Terraqua from sinking and protecting the inhabitants and her friends from evil villains with her magical powerful Drone. The series originates from France and I voice the English language version. Besides this project, I’m also voicing for American Girl and Earth Keepers Mission a Trilogy on Audible distributed by Amazon.
I feel so blessed to have had this opportunities; my parents really are my rocks my dad was and still is a legendary music and radio producer Robert W. Walker and my mother Mo Fitzgibbon is a known director and writer and produced tons of music videos, reality, documentary and variety music specials in television and film. They carefully manage my Voiceover career and my academics for high school and for my future in college.
As a family, we are very involved in the New Friends Homeless Center in Los Angeles raising awareness and donations for a shelter in Encino/Woodland Hills and their meals sponsorship program year-round. I feel like I’m so grateful for the good things going on for me in my life while many others are not so fortunate so giving back is important and I will continue to do these good works for as long as I can. My hope is that I’ll be able to go to college get my degrees in Business and Music and make a living doing the things I love to do and have a successful career in Voiceover and in Music.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I started auditioning for voiceover, it was the hardest thing I ever did as a little kid. I loved my school mates we had after school programs, dance and piano classes and I was a summer camper and I really just was basically a real kid. But when I decided to go professional…I realized I had to take it seriously. I had trained three days a week after school and with loads of homework for three straight years and still do with top coaches and teachers in voice acting.
It’s hard when your a kid and you audition over and over and never book it, you are disappointed. But my mom would say, “It’s okay, you are up against adults reading for kids and just getting asked to audition is a big deal.” The big casting directors would say don’t be discouraged it will take at least 100 auditions for your first call back…I was like “geez mom this is really cutthroat.” I had gone to producers for leading roles at least ten times and still didn’t book. I mean shows like Shimmer and Shine and Loud House and many others. The competition is unbelievable. I’m a voice actor and not an on camera actor so all these amazing other triple threats, acting, singer, dancer already on shows also read for voiceover so it was pretty daunting. I learned how to make my audition stand out and be different not crazy different but with my natural voice. Now today, they want to book real kids for kid roles. YAY! I was always so close to getting major leading roles even for the movies Charlie Brown and the Adams Family, but known actors and celebrities get first dibs and acting jobs for all animation films. Then finally, one day my dream came true I became the voice of Universal Kids TV Channel it changed my trajectory in the business then I booked a TV pilot as a boy character for PBS PreSchool then other roles in both animation and commercials followed.
My mom would say, “never give up, you put too much work into this you’ll you will book it” and sure enough my day came. It was hard to stick it out and it still is hard but now I have more confidence and I know what I need to do to be competitive while up against these major actors in the voiceover business. It’s all about the training and perseverance.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Besides my professional voiceover career in TV Animation, my love for music is my ultimate heaven. I play guitar both classical and electric and the Alto Sax. I grew up in the studio with my dad since he was writing and producing music with other artists and the edit suite with my mom when she produced and directed music videos for many artists like Gloria Estefan and Shakira. I grew up with music in the house. I always wanted to play guitar but my dad said, “I had to wait til’ my hands grew bigger”. My mom initially started me off with Classical piano lessons and my teacher was very strict. After a few years, I wasn’t having fun of course, a little kid with a strict piano teacher is kinda a buzz killer. Later I realized I learned so much from my teacher in terms of music arrangements, Music Theory and discipline. I did compose a few little tunes. I still have my original music books. But it was when I turned 14 and I remember saying to my dad “okay, I’m big now I want to play guitar.”
I play on one of my dad’s guitar he got in the late 70’s a Telecaster it’s all beat up but it’s a classic and so many players are in awe that I have this certain guitar from that time period. I was really into jazz music. I began to study the greats, like Glen Miller, Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman and the great Dave Brubeck. When I got into high school, I participated in the Jazz Band, Concert Band and studied Music Theory. I loved it. I decided to become a member of my high school Marching band and that is where I’m most happiest. It is so cool to march during the halftime show at a football game. Since I play two instruments, I switch out, in the field I play Sax and during the halftime, I’m in the pit on a pedestal in front of at least a thousand spectators. I liked it. In college, I hope to be marching during football season at a top College and football team. I feel like I belong to a family. Over the last several years, I have trained with really good studio musicians and professionals. This past year I played on two records one sax and one guitar with known artists, Between Friends. I’m excited what the music business will bring to me as I continue to grow and work alongside Jazz greats of today. My dream job would be to play in the house band at Herb Alperts Vibrato Jazz Club in Los Angeles and perform and collaborate with George Benson.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Honestly, consistency, training, practice and never giving up. There are days I think it’s all too hard and then the next day, I’m excited for the challenge. I take seriously what I’m doing and what my goals are and how to achieve them. I’m a teenager but very soon I’ll be in college and I will have to deliver on my own. I want to be prepared but I want to be a teenager too. Juggling those two elements can be challenging. It is about a choice do I want to work hard, play hard make money or play hard and not make money lol. For me, it’s about all of the above having a good time doing what I love to do and making money doing it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://jetwalkervo.com
- Instagram: – https://www.instagram.com/jetwalkerfitzgibbon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WFTVF/
- Twitter: JETWalkerFitzFilm @walkerfitzfilm
Image Credits
Photos by Lisa S. Johnson Cosmic 108
