Back in 1977, when I put together my very first demo tape, truthfully, I had no idea that such an “animal” as a demo tape even existed. It just made sense to me that if I wanted to get a job in cartoons that someone was going to want to actually “hear” what I could do. So I put together a 13-minute tape (yes, you read that right — a 13-minute tape!) that demonstrated some of the characters I did in my competitions during high school. For you newbies reading this, a demo tape need only be about two minutes long.

When I listen to a demo tape now, I can tell in about 10 seconds whether this person “has the chops” it takes to compete in this very competitive industry. Regardless, a tape needs to be just long enough to give the listener an idea of your cleverness and versatility. Anyway, I sent my first demo tape out and received a letter from a fellow who worked at Hanna-Barbera. He told me five things:

1. You are never going to get anywhere in Ohio.
2. You are never going to make it with just one voice.
3. You need to study your craft.
4. You need to take singing lessons.
5. There are not as many jobs for women as there are for men.

Okay, here is the deal on this. I could have just as easily looked at this advice and crumbled up the letter and gone back to scooping ice cream as a career. Instead, I saved the letter as a reminder that no matter what anyone said, I would continue to pursue my dreams, making choices that forwarded my goals, all the while strengthening my purpose for making people laugh. Low and behold, within a couple of years, I had moved from Dayton to Los Angeles to begin my tutelage under the famous Daws Butler (veteran voice actor most well known as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Quick Draw McGraw).

I made a decision that I was going to do voice overs for cartoons and no matter what some “muckity-muck” from Hanna-Barbera said, it was not going to stop me! It didn’t!

Saving that letter proved very satisfying to my morale when I was called for an audition and the name of the casting person “rang a bell.” Sure enough it was the same fellow who had written me that letter all those years earlier. I showed up at the audition, letter in hand, and waited to be called. When my time was announced, I went straight up to him and handed him his letter! “What’s this?” he queried. “That is a letter you sent me three years ago. I saved it.” He glanced through it rather quickly and then responded, “Wow, I wrote you two whole pages. You must have done something right.”

I did, I believed in myself, and I didn’t give up! Now, I travel the globe giving “inspirational” lectures to university students about how I got “my life as a 10-year-old-boy.” I also get to toot my own horn in my one-woman show also entitled My Life as a 10-year-old Boy, which was premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last fall.

I encourage you to begin your journey in finding your voice by doing the following:

• Take classes. There are plenty out there. Do research to find the best ones.
• Read books on the subject. There are plenty of them too. Start your own “research library.” You will refer to the books later on, I promise. I have.
• Listen to the radio commercials.
• Buy audio books and listen with the volume turned up to hear the nuances.
• Observe how subtle the voice characterizations are on CDs and how vast and varied they are on television.

You can actually make a living with one voice. Gary Owens has done it for years. So did Lorenzo Music. Edie McClurg is brilliant with the sound she has. And then there are “the greats” who have taken their skills to highest echelon by creating hundreds of different characters and yet are “unsung heroes” in the voice-acting profession: Robbie Paulsen, Tress MacNeille, Jess Harnell, Cory Burton, Frank Welker, Pat Fraley, Kath Soucie, E.G. Daily, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, Jeff Bennett, Dee Baker, Candi Milo. These are a sample of the dedicated professionals who have found passion in what they do and have rolled up their sleeves and found their own voices.

Finally, know that your career choice is your “passion” as that will ultimately determine what your voice really sounds like, and where you want to go with it. Without passion, you might as well just pack your bags and move back to Ohio!

Nancy Cartwright is best known as the voice of spiky-headed Bart Simpson on The Simpsons. She has voiced dozens of cartoon characters in her career that has spanned more than 20 years. Currently she can be heard as the voice of Rufus the Naked Mole Rat on Disney’s Kim Possible and Chuckie on Rugrats, All Grown Up. To learn more about Nancy’s career, listen to her new audio book My Life as a 10-year-old Boy.