Nigel Smithers

Southern, New York, western drawl (cowboy), South African (Afrikaner speaking English), German speaking English, Middle American

I started my voice over career while serving in the Army in Germany. As a military police sergeant, I was in charge of traffic enforcement and investigation for a number of US military installations, and was asked to record a series of traffic safety spots for the local Armed Forces Network radio station. After they first aired, it seemed that everyone knew my voice. If I pulled someone over for a traffic violation, they would say, "Hey, you're the guy on the radio!" This was in the mid 1980's, and I was recently told that those spots are still airing, nearly 30 years after they were made. Recently, I recorded two radio commercials for my own security alarm company and had them aired for several months, with very good results. I have been told by many people that I have a rich, distinctive voice and should pursue voice-over work as a career. I have taken six six-week courses at Del Mar Media Arts in Irvine, CA covering a range of voice-over skills such as spokesperson (earbud) and teleprompter work, narration and audiobooks, accents and dialects and animation. I am a former military and police officer, and my voice reflects "command presence" and knowledgeable authority. Because I have been an avid reader since childhood, I have developed the ability to read copy in a convincing manner the first time I see it, placing the proper emphasis on words and phrases and making it seem natural and unrehearsed.