Voiceover work can be a great strand of your acting career – or even the main event, producing a significant income. It doesn’t require formal acting training and can be flexible, as many jobs do not take up a great deal of time. Digital technology also means that it’s now very common for artists to record remotely in their own home instead of spending time at an outside studio.
The number of voiceover artists has increased in recent years, but so has the amount of work, which today includes audiobooks, podcasts, commercials, social media video marketing, on-hold messaging, TV documentary narration, corporate videos, video blogs, video games, virtual assistants, e-learning materials, exhibition guides, and more.
There’s more to voice acting than speaking into a microphone. You may be asked to speak in any number of accents, or with various emotions, and alter your voice depending on the assignment, from selling a product to playing a fantasy creature.
London is the epicentre of voiceover work in the UK. If you’re serious about launching your career, here’s our pick of the best agencies in the capital.
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Established in 1986, Hobsons offer clients a full-service package of casting, recording, and delivering audio.
With big names on its books – such as Martin Freeman, Amanda Abbington, Gyles Brandreth, David Walliams, Hermione Norris, and Dermot O’Leary – this agency has a level of prestige in the voiceover industry. However, it also represents many lesser-known artists, is keen to discover emerging talent, and has a large roster of international talent, making it an ideal agency for multilingual artists.
Submissions: Send your voice samples, a short biography, and your voiceover experience to voices@hobsons-international.com. The agency makes a commitment to respond to all submissions.
Voicecall is one of the smaller voice agents in London, representing around 80 voiceover artists, including a few North American actors. While many agencies include broadcasters and personalities from fields like sport or music, all artists at Voicecall are professionally trained actors.
In an age where voiceover artists are often required to record material from home, Voicecall, formed in 1998, highlights artists who have their own home studio on its website – a reminder that while this is not necessarily a requirement, it’s certainly a selling point.
The agency works with big corporations, such as Audible, BBC, Guardian Media Group, Netflix, Penguin Random House, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Sony.
Submissions: Check the representation page for updates on when submissions open.
With nearly 300 artists on its books, Yakety Yak is one of London’s larger voiceover agencies. It represents well-established talent (Billie Piper, Janet McTeer, Ewan McGregor, Lesley Manville, Toby Jones, and Paapa Essiedu) as well as a range of less established and emerging talent.
Its website enables artists to be easily filtered by accent, age, and style. There’s an international section too, where clients can discover talent who speak everything from Arabic and Afrikaans to Punjabi and Portuguese.
Submissions: Apply only if you are content being represented solely by Yakety Yak for voice work, as it does not share representation with other agencies. Send your reel to submissions@yaketyyak.co.uk in an MP3 format.
Sue Terry Voices, established in 1999, represents acting heavyweights such as Claire Foy, Matt Berry, Anne-Marie Duff, Matt Lucas, Sharon Horgan, Eddie Marsan, and Ashley Jensen.
Submissions: This agency considers artists with at least two years’ experience working as an actor, comedian, or national broadcaster. If that’s you, send a link to your Spotlight page to representation@sueterryvoices.com.
Soho Voices has a wide range of artists and a search facility for regional accents. It also boasts one of the most extensive ranges of American voice actors in the UK, in addition to an international roster covering more than 40 languages, a division for children called Little Voices, and its own studio.
Submissions: Soho Voices accepts only artists based in the UK, ideally in London. Apply via the form on its website.
In two decades, Just Voices has grown from boutique newcomer to one of the most established agencies in the UK, riding the shift from tapes to discs to digital, the boom in gaming, and the switch to home studios.
It represents prolific voice actors like David Holt as well as TV personalities like Graham Norton and Sara Cox, plus up-and-comers.
Submissions: The agency considers artists with prior voiceover experience. Send a professionally produced demo containing primarily commercial and narrative samples to demos@justvoicesagency.com.
Established in 2000, this north London agency oversees more than 900 foreign-language voice actors, as well as a growing army of American voices.
Check out its podcast, which gives insight into the voiceover world through interviews with agents, artists, and producers.
Submissions: The agency represents only professionally trained actors for English-language representation. (There are some exceptions for foreign-language artists.) It prefers London-based actors, but will consider other artists in the UK if they have a home studio. If you meet these requirements, email a professionally recorded voice reel with commercial and narrative samples, along with your CV, to voices@voicesquad.com.
Begun in 2014 in founder Jamie Grant’s living room, Loud and Clear Voices now has a Notting Hill office, representing over 170 artists. As well as actors, there are DJs, comedians, presenters, and others on its books. Notable names include Katherine Parkinson, Edith Bowman, Cerys Matthews, Nick Grimshaw, and Trevor Nelson.
Submissions: This agency considers those with prior experience as an actor, comedian, broadcaster, presenter, or musician. Email a professionally produced MP3 voice reel to info@loudandclearvoices.com.
Established in 2006, Harvey Voices has a diverse talent list of actors, DJs, presenters, musicians, and more. It includes very established names like Kate Fleetwood, George Takei, Natalie Cassidy, and Anita Dobson, as well as lesser-known professional voiceover talent.
Submissions: This agency accepts talent with at least two years of acting and voiceover credits. Send your professionally produced MP3 files and your Spotlight or IMDb link to info@harveyvoices.co.uk.
Part of the prestigious Independent Talent Group, Advoice’s impressive stable of voiceover talent includes some of the most recognisable voices in the business, from award-winning actors like Daniel Craig, Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, and Kristin Scott Thomas, to internationally renowned comedians and everyone in between. Many of its artists have home studios and record remotely.
Submissions: The agency considers submissions from professional working actors, presenters, or comedians. Visit their website and navigate to the Contact form, where you can provide a link to your Spotlight profile and professional portfolio, as well as a link to your latest voice reel.
