In this month's blog Ambassador Olivia shares why she enjoys the performing arts, hers tips for being a good actor and how the recent Voiceover workshop has helped her in her acting work...

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• Are you considering a job in the acting, drama or theatre industry? 
• Or even becoming a Voiceover artist as a career?

My name is Olivia , I am 17 and at a theatre school in Liverpool, I am studying a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Musical theatre. Throughout my first year I have developed a love for the process of acting, although testing, it makes your passion for the subject so much stronger. 

Speaking of the process - enjoy it! It will test your capabilities in many aspects - it may challenge you in ways in which you may have never been.  Acting is not meant to be fun - as Shakespeare’s Hamlet says “hold the mirror up to nature” - one of our roles as actors is to present the unspoken within society, yet it is the truth.  

Acting proves the need for mental and physical stamina and never to involve in your work the unhealed within yourself. It's really important to understand that acting is not therapy it is more the opposite. You will never stop learning in life and that is transcribed within your acting.

I am currently working on Three Sisters by Checkhov, I am playing Olga (Olya).  She raises many complex psychological questions and presents herself with massive fears and questions in which she is incapable of answering.  That challenge as an actor comes with so much excitement - however if you don't apply the correct process you will be found out in an instant. 

Oh how thrilling it will be when all the characters you play within your lifetime, if you get the opportunity, as all their parts have a piece of you within them.  In the right circumstances no matter how bad, it is how you evolved to be there, we are all capable of such profanity. 

“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid”

Although acting has many beautiful moments, there are so many when you are raising the question “what am I doing?” 

For me that means somewhere within my work something has gone wrong, this goes back to needing to have the mental stamina.  If you want this to work you won’t quit.  If you want it, it has become an idea within your head of what a life in the theatre is like.  When proven something different it may scare you or excite you, for me being told the work needed more, excited me so much because there is always something more, you're never bored. 

TAKE RISKS!.  It's so much more interesting on stage to take a risk than to play it safe , you're never going to be safer than in that space so don’t worry.

THE VOICEOVER WORKSHOP

Moving onto the Voiceover Network workshop, making sure you attend voice classes and voice workshops can really expand your ability as an actor. During this workshop, the Voiceover Network discussed the different companies Voiceover artists can work for e.g Virginia, Starbucks , gaming programs. As members of the public who may not be involved in the voice industry we can forget there are people behind our favourite adverts or our favourite games.  It's really important to recognise the people who do this work! It's literally everywhere.

Similar to acting, diversity in the voiceover industry is very important. Although not that long ago the need to have a specific type of voice was needed, it has now developed into having a major demand for diversity, this makes it so much more authentic. 

During the workshop there were many questions asked, an individual raised a question surrounding agents: Do you need an agent? The Voiceover Network responded with “you only need an agent if you want to do the big, big, jobs.” and who doesn’t want to do the big jobs? Yet what you have to put into perspective is, agent or no agent, you have to work your way up! 

Understanding your human anatomy as a voice artist or an actor is massively important, just like dancers or athletes. We have to prepare our body to be able to apply the work we are giving it to do.  The Voiceover Network gave us different exercises that we could do to prepare our body e.g massaging the jaw to loosen up any tension or imagining you have put a piece of gum in your mouth and it has gotten really big and you're chewing it really hard.

As I do weekly voice classes in college we have learned other exercises that really help, such as making your tongue go round in circles at the front of your mouth in both directions until you can really feel it at your neck. This is utilising the root of your tongue which then releases tension creating more space at the back of your throat therefore allowing for better airflow.

I really enjoyed this workshop and I believe everyone who attended it found it extremely useful. It's great to hear from people who come from a similar industry to me as voice plays such a major role when being an actor. 

One thing that I have noticed with my generation is we have so many opportunities and we need to take them!

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Thanks Olivia for sharing with us how you approach acting roles, great to hear that the Voiceover workshop was useful too! You can watch a recording of the workshop here:

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The Ambassador Community is an inclusive network that is shaping our impact and the world around us, so that every young woman can have an unlimited future of their choice. It is made possible thanks to the generous funding from Enterprise Rent-A-Car who have pledged to donate £250,000 to fund the programme over five years.