We had the pleasure of chatting with Lilly Mae all about her voice acting journey! Be sure to check it out to learn more about the voice acting industry!

What initially drew you to pursue a career in voice acting?

I’ve been fascinated by voice acting for a really long time. I always thought it was the coolest thing seeing animated shows, movies and videogames, and knowing there was a voice behind those characters creating their personalities and expressions. My dad and I used to watch interviews with voice actors and always loved watching them perform, and change from character to character. I never thought that just anyone could start voice acting. I always thought it was just for celebrities, or people with money or connections. In 2022, my dad suggested looking up some free sites with auditions, just for fun and within the first week I had booked my first role, which happened to be a lead role. I kept auditioning and soon enough within the first month I had booked 4 or 5 roles. After a few trial and error cheaper microphones and recording spaces, my dad helped me get an XLR microphone, we set up a pvc booth with moving blankets and a little over a year later here we are!

Could you share a favorite or memorable project that you’ve worked on? What made it special?

To be honest all of the projects I work on are memorable! However, I would like to share a little bit of my experience with a project called Band Pride. It’s a racing game that will hopefully be releasing next year and the team is just wonderful. Our director, animators, composer, my VO castmates; they are all incredibly talented, supportive, amazing people. We’ve had a lot of fun and it’s been a blast working with and getting to know everyone. I’m so proud of them and what we’ve accomplished so far and I’m excited to be able to share it with the world when the time comes.

Do you feel a personal connection to the characters you voice, and if so, how does that influence your performance?

I definitely feel a personal connection to every character I voice. My passion is bringing characters to life and I always put everything I have into making those characters my own. It influences my performance heavily because I love my characters and I become emotionally invested in them. I relate to them and I feel what they feel, happiness, fear, sorrow, etc, which I feel definitely adds to the authenticity of the character. The only exception is villain characters, because obviously it’s hard to relate to them on a real life basis, but I still feel a connection to those characters because they are my own and I want to make them unique and give them a realistic performance.

What advice would you offer to aspiring voice actors trying to break into the industry?

TAKE CLASSES, TAKE CLASSES, TAKE CLASSES. It’s true that you may book roles without classes starting out, but it’s going to help immensely and look better to casting directors if they see you’re invested vs just jumping into auditions. Even if someone has a strong theater/theater arts background, I strongly recommend taking a Voice Over 101 class or some kind of introduction course. Acting is acting yes, but there is still a difference between portraying a character on stage vs portraying a character through a mic. Plus, as a voice actor, or any actor for that matter, we are always looking to improve upon and hone our skills. One on one coaching is also great, and some VO instructors even offer goal planning sessions to see where you are currently, where you want to be, and the steps you need to take to get there.

Another piece of advice is to not get ahead of yourself by making a demo reel if you’re not ready. Jumping straight to making a demo reel without any credits or experience under your belt may seem like taking initiative, but in reality it’s probably going to hinder your efforts more than it’s going to help you. Same goes for making a website. A website is a great way of showing what you can do, but making sure you have a sample reel/demo reel available and either visual or audio examples of your work is definitely a good idea.

When it comes to making a website as well, make sure it’s clean and concise so people can easily navigate it. The basic sections it should are “about me”, “demos”, and “contact”. Adding specifications about your hardware, software and recording space are also essential, but can be added into any of the previously mentioned pages. When adding contact information, include an email. This is the primary communication method for most casting directors and is vital to have. You can also add a website if you have one and any social media platforms you typically use. You can also choose to add your phone number and location, but that’s more of a personal preference, especially if you’re strictly a remote voice actor.

Lastly, it’s important not to get overwhelmed. It can feel very daunting and time intensive at first, but once you get the hang of everything it becomes second nature and less nerve wracking.

Tell us about your creative journey?

I’ve been involved in the arts since I was 5 years old. All forms of dance (primarily ballet), theater, musical theater, singing, playing flute, piccolo, even a little piano. It’s been part of me my whole life and eventually as I got older I didn’t have as much time to invest in those things I loved. It’s a difficult question to answer. Really, my creative journey has been pursuing my dreams of being able to share my love of media and theater arts with the world, now through voice over and expressing myself through the different characters I voice. Ultimately, if I can bring emotion to my characters, and make people feel something from my performances, then my creative journey will never truly end.

Goals for 2024?

My goals for 2024 are to take more classes and coaching to hone my skills, audition for as much voice acting work as possible, get professional interactive and commercial reels made, book more animation and videogame roles, book a role in a mobile or console game, and always stay positive. I would also like to start booking roles through my agency when they launch as well.

What are your thoughts on the voice acting community?

Despite the occasional controversy and drama here and there, the voice acting community as a whole is absolutely wonderful! There are so many talented individuals from so many different cultures and backgrounds, coming together to create things they are passionate about. My favorite part is seeing role announcements from my peers and seeing all the love and support shown to them. My experience with the community this last year had been nothing short of incredible and I wouldn’t be where I am now without their continued support.

Biggest success story as a voice actor?

What I can say, is the two projects that gave me my first IMDb credits, one video game and one animated series. In both cases, I didn’t fit the characters I was auditioning for, but both directors loved my performances and found roles for me in the project anyway. For the animated series, the director actually designed a character specially designed for me to voice! Those are both very special and memorable moments for me that have definitely influenced my VO journey so far and they are both projects I hold near and dear to my heart.

It’s not project related but my real biggest success is seeing how happy my family has been watching my VO journey. My parents and my husband have been my rocks and my biggest supporters. I wouldn’t have made it this far or had any of my successes without them.

What are your thoughts on All Ages of Geek anything you’d like us to change/do?

Personally I love your work! The community is great, the interviews and reviews are fun and creative, and overall everything has a great feel! I don’t necessarily have any recommendations other than keep doing what you’re doing!

Where can folks support your work?

I’m mostly on Twitter, you can follow me at @starbx93 and you can check out my website: http://lillymaestudio.wordpress.com I also have LinkedIn and YouTube, where I’m going to start posting song covers

https://linkedin.com/in/lillymae
https://youtube.com/@lillymaeVO

I’m always available for projects! The best way to contact me is through DM on Twitter!