Lia Sargent.

Lia Sargent has been working as a voice over actress since 1977. She mainly works in the world of dubbing anime into English. Some of her credits include Natsume/Aura in the .hack series and Judy from Cowboy Bebop. In addition to anime, she’s worked in original animated series, features, educational programs, CD-ROMs, commercials, the stage and live-action TV. With her infectious laugh ever present, she graciously took time to chat with me about her experience with making a living as a voice over artist.

Rick DeMott: How did you get involved in voice over acting?

Lia Sargent: I wanted to be an actress that performed on stage and musical theater but my voice, when I was young, was very weak. I took singing lessons and voice lessons and anything to give it strength, so people could hear me in the theater and so I could sing. I was really a dancer. And when I started taking classes in college in radio broadcasting and voice [classes], I learned that there were jobs out there in dubbing Chinese and foreign films into English. My voice register was right for a lot of the women in those films. So I was sent to an audition through a connection and I got the part and it just sort of snowballed from there.

RD: Where did you go to school?

LS: I went USC and Los Angeles Valley College. I also went to school in Canada for pantomime.

RD: For people who want to get into voice acting would you recommend taking classes?

LS: I think it depends on the person. There are some people out there that are highly gifted. They already have the ability, because probably as a child or in their social life they were always mimicking or doing voices of some sort or creating characters that’s just their nature or they were actors doing it. I have found that some of actors who have never taken one voice over class have been the best voice over actors because they’re good actors. Or people are good mimics. Have a good ear, a lot of musicians or a lot of singers.

So across the board – no, but for people who have no knowledge of the field and want to broaden their horizons and see what’s out there and see the demands of voice over work, then they should take classes. The classes that I took definitely helped me. It’s funny because I don’t think to myself, gosh, I learned that in school when I’m doing it. I think my voice is strong because of the classes and training, but it’s also strong because I do a lot of voice over work so it keeps building.