How to become a voice actor for Disney

Becoming a voice actor for Disney is much like becoming a voice actor for animation. But with Disney, emotion, color, and character are taken to their heights. Before going for Disney auditions, developing an excellent imagination and improvisational skills is crucial. An impactful Disney animation is more about the character that’s brought to life than the words in the script, and a Disney voice actor must be able to portray that. Once you’re confident in your acting ability, then you can look for Disney jobs, or animation jobs if you need to build a portfolio.

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How to become a voice actor for Disney films

1. Practice character and creativity

Disney animated characters are very clear and transparent with their emotions. Practice showing emotion and being the character in the story. The more you can be the character, the better chance you have of becoming a voice actor for Disney.

2. Stay relatable

Becoming a character is important, but being believable is also very important. While Disney characters are certainly emotive and cartoon-like, they are still relatable; a key skill for all Disney voice actors.

3. Be yourself

It’s one thing to create a character’s voice, but it’s another to be a character with a voice. The difference is: the former can be shallow — an effect that is put on top of a voice — while the latter can be a character that sounds a certain way because it’s who they are. It’s the difference between the voice sounding like an imitation, and the voice sounding like a real person. This is a facet of acting true to any genre of voice over, and can be trained with the help of coaching.

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FAQ

A casting member has said that those who have skill in the recording booth are those who have skills in theater, improv, and sketch comedy training and experience. Basically, it’s people who have acting chops.

You can learn more about Disney auditions from their website.

"When auditioning for a Disney animated feature, an actor must come prepared to use their imagination and, in some instances, improvise. Our auditions are not as much about the words on the page as they are about finding the essence of a character in the actor’s interpreted performance mixed with the sound of their voice."

– Jamie Roberts in a Backstage.com interview

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