.png)
Brian Lafontaine Interview: A Voiceover Artist’s Career in Film, TV and Commercials
Early Inspirations and Career Beginnings
Introduction
Brian Lafontaine is a voiceover artist and actor with more than 30 years’ experience across film, television, commercials and stage. In this interview, he shares how he moved from stand-up comedy into voiceover, what a typical working day looks like, and the skills, mindset and business habits that have helped him build a lasting creative career.
Early Inspirations and Career Beginnings
I started out doing stand-up comedy after a failed attempt at a career in the golf industry. Stand-up led me to audition for my first play, where I was cast in the lead role in the first and third parts of a Neil Simon trilogy.
A woman in that cast was also a local talent agent. After watching me perform on stage for three months, she brought me to the agency she worked for and began submitting me for film, TV, commercial and voiceover auditions.
First Steps Into Voiceover
My first voiceover audition was at a local production studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. I didn’t get the job, but the studio owner liked me and my voice. He asked my agent to add me to their talent database and offered to create my first voiceover demo.
Just like that, I had a demo I could send to other studios and potential clients. That studio owner became a close professional friend and adviser. He helped me realise that voiceover could be a legitimate full-time career.
I had no idea it was even an option.
After many blind submissions to studios and agencies across the country, I built enough of a client base to support myself through voiceover work. I’m truly one of the luckiest and most grateful people in the world.
What Inspired Brian’s Voiceover Career?
John Causby, the owner of Groundcrew Studios in Charlotte, inspired me to pursue voiceover full-time. He saw the value I could bring to the voiceover market as an actor.
At the time, voiceover was still very much in the traditional radio-announcer stage. The idea of an actor bringing a more real, authentic, conversational and spontaneous approach was still fairly new.
Having the opportunity to take a script and bring it to life within minutes, using my acting skills to create different styles of read, is incredibly exciting and fun. You have to think and make choices quickly, which lets you show your versatility.
For an actor, it doesn’t get much better than that. It has nothing to do with how you look. It is about how you can make someone feel simply by using your voice.
Key traits for success
Reliability
Clients come back to me because they know they can count on me to deliver a finished product they will be proud to work with.
I can also turn things around quickly to meet deadlines, often ahead of schedule.
Creativity
I always try to give clients more than they expected, so they have choices and options when it comes to the final edit.
Offering different reads during a session often sparks ideas they had not considered and can make the final campaign even better than anticipated.
Fun
Voiceover sessions involve a lot of people working hard to meet a client’s needs, and they can sometimes feel stiff. I believe in keeping sessions light and fun.
I use my personality and sense of humour to keep the session upbeat and support that goal.
A Day in the Life of a Voiceover Artist
Preparation and recording
Part of the beauty of being a voiceover artist is the flexibility and free time you have on most days. Each day is different.
If I have a session booked, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours to record. If I am fortunate enough to have multiple sessions scheduled, it can be a long day in the booth.
There are always auditions to record too. I try to tackle as many as I can in one sitting. Otherwise, it is a lot of going in and out of the voiceover booth.
Production and working alone
You have to be careful how much time you spend in the recording booth. It is very small and solitary. You can go a little stir crazy after a while, staring at a microphone and a script.
You should step out and take breaks. I have been doing this for more than 20 years and, because I work from a home studio, there have been times when I have not left the house or spoken to someone face to face for days at a time.
It can be a little like Las Vegas, where you lose all sense of time and connection to the outside world.
A Memorable Voiceover Project
There are too many projects to count. I have been fortunate to work on so many fun projects over the course of my career.
It always comes down to the creative elements. Sometimes a single commercial has been more creatively fulfilling than a multi-spot campaign. The writing makes a huge difference: if the writing and creative concept are well crafted, I am having a good time in the session.
One job that stands out was for a child safety car seat. I was the voice of the car seat. They built a speaker into the actual car seat and wired and controlled it like a puppet.
When we shot the TV commercials, I was in a separate room with a monitor and microphone. I was acting opposite a five-year-old girl who had to have a conversation with the car seat. She had no idea it was rigged.
When I started talking to her as the car seat, her reactions were priceless. I spent the entire shoot improvising with her because we had no idea what her responses would be. It was a really great campaign and turned out incredibly well.
Advice for Aspiring Creatives
Be open to change. Be versatile. Be adaptable.
The industry will always continue to change, and you have to change with it or risk being left behind. Keep learning. It is a business that cannot be mastered, because as soon as you think you have it figured out, it moves in a different direction.
It is a business of asking: “What’s new? What haven’t we heard before?”
Treat Voiceover as a Business
Never lose sight of the fact that being a voiceover artist is a business. You must approach it as one.
Many people think voiceover is simply reading words from a page into a microphone. It is not. It is just as challenging and competitive as any other part of the acting or entertainment industry.
The artists who succeed have trained, taken classes and built their skill set. They know what they can bring to the industry that makes them different from everybody else.
Ask yourself:
-
Why would a client cast me over someone else?
-
What do I bring to the material?
-
How can I connect with an audience using only my voice?
About Brian Lafontaine
Brian Lafontaine is a voiceover artist and actor with more than 30 years’ experience in film, television, commercials and stage work. His warm, playful sound has been heard around the world for brands including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Ford, Fisher Investments, Texas Pete, K-Swiss, Wyndham Hotels, Joseph A Bank and Floor & Decor.
His on-camera work includes Ozark, Stranger Things and Homeland. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brian records from a professional home studio. Outside the booth, he plays piano, explores craft cocktails and shares Cheetos with his two dogs.
Connect with Brian Lafontaine
Readers can find out more about Brian Lafontaine on his social media platforms and on his website:
-
Instagram: @blafontaineymhs
-
LinkedIn: Brian Lafontaine
-
Website: brianlafontaine.com
Explore more creative career stories
Explore more creative career stories and day-to-day insights from people working across TV, film, media and the arts.