Courtenay can also be heard as Nisha in World of Warcraft: Battle of Azeroth, Meredith Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, Serina in Halo Wars 2, Gates in Titanfall 2, Juhani in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and multiple voices in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.Hey Courtenay. Welcome to Rave It Up. It’s a pleasure. Thanks for taking out some time to chat with us.
Since this is your first time on Rave It Up, we’d love to get to know you a little bit better and start from the beginning to get a good idea of how you have made it to where you are today.
Before voiceover work, you mentored at a boxing gym where you taught a lot of fitness classes. Can you tell us about the day you found your love for voiceover work and acting?
I did manage a boxing gym and taught boxing fitness classes, and I did box. I was attending an acting school, and applying for a Master’s Program in New York at another acting school. I went to an audition. I had done my classic and contemporary monologues for the gentleman that were there interviewing prospective students, and he mentioned that my voice was very gruff, and that I’d never work in theatre with that voice because I had vocal cord nodes. I was really upset when I left the audition. He said he wouldn’t consider my application until I had seen a doctor. I went back to one of my acting teachers, and she said I had an interesting voice and that I should take a voiceover class. I didn’t know what that was, so I went on her referral to a woman named Taylor Corribo and took one of her commercial intro acting classes, and I loved it. I just got behind the mic and was so freakin’ happy. I felt like I had been doing this all my life. I love to talk. I love to read out loud. I’m a mimic, and it all seemed to come together with voiceover.
Compared to a boxing gym, it was a totally new field for you back then. What careers did you originally want to do before finding acting and voiceover work?
Well, I didn’t even know that voiceover was an option at that point, so I had gone to college for broadcasting. I thought I wanted to work for a record company. I had actually been interning for a record company in their promo department, and I thought it was fun to think of promotional stunts to get new music out to people. I had worked at Tower Records, and we did a lot of live performances. I thought that would be super cool. But before that, I studied Journalism. I’ve always been interested in Politics and Journalism, so that was always an option. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a vet because I worked at a wildlife rescue.
Do you find there is consistent work for you in voiceover work? Or is it competitive too?
Well, I’ve been doing voiceover for long enough that I am established enough and fortunate enough that there is plenty of work. I could always work more because I love what I do, but it is very competitive still no matter how long you’ve been in the business. There is always great, amazing talented people showing up on the scene, so you have to stay competitive by taking classes, by practicing, and pushing your skillset into new areas all the time. I do believe there’s enough cake to go around, so I keep that in the back of my mind all the time and try not to worry about the usual actor fears, about not working enough. So far so good!
Throughout your time in the industry, have you had any issues with haters? If so, how do you deal with them? Does it ever get you down?
I’ve actually been pretty lucky in the industry to not deal with haters, and I’m probably jinxing it right now. I’m opinionated, but I think I’ve been able to, through social media, have interesting conversations with people who might not share my point of view. I try not to read the comments on the boards, as it inevitably goes back to how people look (especially women), which sucks, instead of the merits of their voice work. But, I have been pretty lucky, mostly encountering people who are awesome and meeting people I would consider friends. I really think that social media for me, all the benefits and joys, by far outweigh any negative and nasty feedback I get from time to time. You just have to let it roll off your back, and keep moving forward. There’s always going to be people that don’t like what you do, but you just have to focus on the people that are supportive.
You could really call yourself gaming’s leading lady. You have had about 83 video game roles over a 13-year career and are being called the female Nolan North. How does that make you feel?
I’ve been lucky to do a lot of games in a lot of different capacities in terms of size and variety of roles. I hardly think it’s comparable to Nolan North, but that’s a lovely comparison. He’s incredibly talented and perfect, so if that bodes well for my career, I’ll take it. I’m happy people like what I do, and I’m happy that I continue to get the opportunities to do the work I love and hopefully push out to new areas of voiceover work and new characters and scenarios. It’s a really great time for gaming (story wise), so I’m happy to be here!
How does it all work in the booth when you’re recording? Do you get your lines as well as a circumstance where they will use your recording so you know how to act it out?
Usually I work in the booth by myself, with a director directing me. It really depends on the company and the franchise as to how much information I get. I will sometimes get a lot of context and a talented director reading with me, and there are other times I don’t even get the feeder lines, so I have to imagine the circumstance on my own. It really just depends. With experience and studying, I’m able to come up with scenarios quickly, even if I’m not getting a lot of information. It’s understandable that game companies want to keep their information on lockdown – I totally get that. However, in a perfect world, I absolutely wish for, hope and appreciate each time I get more circumstance. It helps improve the acting I do.
Do you ever have any issues with getting into character in the booth?
I don’t normally have issues with getting into character in the booth. Usually I have reference, so it helps getting back into it during the first or second record, whatever we’ve established. There’s usually a great director, who’s going to walk you back if you’re getting too far off the mark. Key phrases can be helpful to remember where you were, things like: “I WILL DESTROY YOU!” to ‘Jack’, helps me get back into ‘Jack’.
I’ve had a look at the showreels on your website and one of them that just blew me away was your voiceover for the A&E Fear Event Commercial. How did you do that? How did you get into character with that one and sound so scared? It gave me goosebumps. It literally sounded like you were being buried alive. Is that all you or post-production?
I just thought about being in a really confined space and really locked my body down physically and thought about what it’d be like to have your oxygen disappearing and what it’d be like to have it be getting hotter and smaller. I think some of the video work I’ve done has come in handy for commercials. You really do just have to drop into circumstance. What do I feel like? What am I tasting? What am I smelling? Those things definitely help in acting, both on-camera and voice work. I just employed those, but I’m glad it scared you and freaked you out!
You have a major role in the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 game, which is out now. What was your highlight with this project?
I am thrilled that they have a woman storyline. ‘Scarlett Rhodes’ is super interesting; there’s so much potential for her story. I love the idea that she’s leading this sort of band of misfits through the game. It feels groundbreaking to me – that she has agency and that her storyline is the main storyline. There’s that milestone. Also, she’s a badass, but she’s smart. There’s so much fun going from crazy situation to crazy situation. They have so much fun with the different scenarios, so I’m always excited to see where they’re gonna throw us in this session. I really enjoy getting to record occasionally with the other actors as well. There are a couple of highlights!
You were also in Australia a couple of weeks ago. What were you excited to do while you were here?
I was very excited to be home. I lived there when I was a kid, and half of my family is Australian. It was really great to reconnect with them and see the city I spent time in when I was a child and eat all the food that I love. Definitely family and food!
Even though you have already achieved so much, what else can we expect from you in the future?
I’m excited for OK:KO! Let’s Be Heroes on the Cartoon Network. I haven’t done a kids show like this before, so it’s great, new, lovely territory for me. I’m in love with ‘KO’ and ‘TKO’ (his alter ego). I’m doing some games, but I can’t really talk about them. I’m doing some motion capture for games, which is super fun (where we get those dots put all over us, and we do live-action role-playing on a set with our friends). I’m also hoping to continue to do conventions and meet new friends all over the world.
What advice would you give to our readers if they would like to follow their dreams of becoming an actor or voice over artist? How can others get into voice acting for games?
There’s a couple of things. I would definitely suggest that you go to D Bradley Baker’s website – iwanttobeavoiceactor.com. It has a great overview of getting started. Steve Blum has an amazing website too. You can just look up Steve Blumvox Studios. You can do remote classes with him. Absolutely take acting classes, take improv classes, cold read everywhere. Read books, magazines, read to your kids, read to your dogs. Walk before you run. Don’t waste money getting a demo together before you’re ready. When you do get started, be a good business person as well. Be kind to yourself and believe that you can do it. That’s probably my best and most succinct advice.
As a closing statement and what is probably the most important question: Knowing what you know now, what would you tell your 14-year-old self?
My 14-year-old self was troubled. I would say be gentle with yourself, learn to channel that energy into positive action. ‘No’ is just ‘yes’ to another question, so keep asking until you get the answers you want. There’s an exception to every rule, so it might as well be you. Also, tribe. Find your tribe. Male, female friends – keep them close to you. They will be the ones that’ll support you for the rest of your life, if they’re good ones. So, look for those people. They’re out there. Be kind to yourself; believe that you can do it. Know that whatever makes you weird and what people make fun of you for, could turn out to be your superpower later on. So, have faith in your freakiness.
And before we go, if the listeners would like to contact you or find out what you are up to, where should they go?
Hit me up on Twitter @courtenaytaylor
Instagram @courtenaytaylorLA
Facebook @courtenaytaylornews
Thanks again for having a chat to us today Courtenay. Keep in touch!
Thanks so much for having me!
– Interviewed by Lauren Yeates
Photo of Courtenay taken by Jason Willheim.
Courtenay’s Hair and Makeup done by Chelsea Gehr.
