ORLANDO, Fla. – She is used to bringing stories to people in Central Florida on the radio and TV, but now Sandra Osborne is using her voice in a new way.
After stepping away from journalism, Osborne took up voice acting and is getting her son involved in the fun, too.
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The former newscaster recently sat down with Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden on the Florida’s Fourth Estate podcast to talk about her new career.
Osborne said having a good voice is “wonderful” but there is a lot more to it if you want to become a successful voice actor.
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“You actually have to be able to understand the equipment around you,” said Osborne, adding that includes a knowledge of audio editing. “I had to basically take a crash course in audio engineering to make sure that my audio matched the audio that they’re hoping for in studios and with other voice actors if we’re all contributing to the same game or commercial. So it was a lot of learning.”
In addition to learning new things, Osborne said she also had to face a lot of rejection—literally 99 in a row.
But she kept a positive attitude and was having fun until finally, on her 100th interview, she booked a gig.
You can listen to every episode of Florida’s Fourth Estate in the media player below:
The roles kept coming, eventually including several mobile video game characters, like Betty from “Jetpack Joyride 2″ and Max from “Brawl Stars.”
When her young son saw her in the booth, Osborne said he would imitate her and want to get involved, too.
“So my son, Lincoln, when he was about 4 years old, started kind of copying me a little bit and wanting to watch me in the booth. And then one day, one of my agents was like, ‘Hey, we need kids. You have a kid, right? Can you have him read this script and just send it to us?’ And so I sent it in, and he started booking jobs. Like, right away,” she said.
The voice actress said one of his gigs includes Cowy, a recurring role on “Lingokids.”
At first, Osborne said, she would have to help her son with his recordings.
“He couldn’t read yet,” she said. “And so I would be in the booth and I would have the script and the director and producer there on Zoom with us. And I would act out every scene really big, and he would mimic me.”
Now, she said, he is more independent.
“Now he can read. And so now he’s like, ‘Mom, please, you’re embarrassing me,’” Osborne said. “I’m just like, floored by the progress we’ve seen over the past couple of years. It’s crazy.”
She added while it’s a tough job, once you get the ball rolling, “you can actually establish a career out of it for sure.”
To hear more about Osborne’s successful voice acting career and see her coach Matt Austin and Ginger Gadsden through some voice exercises, check out Florida’s Fourth Estate.
You can download it from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.