I am a voice actor living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It’s a small country with an even smaller voice over market. For instance, we don’t produce many original video games or animations, and when we do, we mainly cast native English speakers. We do dubbing, sure! However, the general level of English proficiency in the Netherlands is quite high. That means most of the audience prefers to consume content in the original language anyway. Usually, that language is often English. This meant that, as someone who had always dreamt of working in video games, acting training alone wasn’t enough. So in this article lets explore voice over accents in detail.
Managing my Accent for Voice Over
I had to make an extra effort to get my English accents to a native level to work in video games, animation, and commercials! Now granted, my accents were never that bad. As I said above, the Dutch love to consume their media in English, so as a kid, I grew up watching Cartoon Network in English. Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and Courage the Cowardly Dog were my first mentors. With that the Pokémon Red video game was a great motivator to learn how to read in English. The game has no verbal language – it is entirely written.
Replicating the Voice Over I Could Hear
From there I realised that listening and reading is not the same as speaking. So that meant there was still plenty of work to be done. I booked session after session with an online dialect coach, took in-person group classes, and joined platforms where I could record and upload sentences in English, with an AI pointing out areas of improvement. I would even repeat everything that the characters on screen were saying—to the annoyance of my dear wife, who just wanted to enjoy watching the movie! All this effort was to “erase” my Dutch accent from my English. Or at least, to allow me to interchange between them.
Voice Over Demos
During this process, I recorded several voice demos in English, where I was really trying to sound as American as possible. When I listen back to them now, a couple of years later, I can still hear the effort, and some parts make me cringe a little bit. They still sounded way too Dutch. But want to hear something funny? Even though today I finally get booked for jobs that actually require a native speaker, most of my English work is actually with a Dutch accent. My Dutch accent is my unique selling point, and it would be a shame to get rid of it. Now I use it to my advantage.
Voice Over Accents – Final Thoughts
I’m not saying you shouldn’t pursue other accents, languages, or manners of speaking. Learning new skills can only help you become a better voice actor. But do not lose what you have just to fit in with the majority. Your uniqueness makes you, well, you! So, if you feel bad about having a lisp, a high-pitched voice, a low-pitched voice, a stutter, or an accent you’re trying to get rid of, remember that most of the recognizable (character) voices audiences love have something special about them. So, with that said – stay special!
Voice Over Accents – Stay Unique! by Yaron Mesika