Sunday Muse, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Best Child Voice

As a leading voice actor specializing in animation, Sunday Muse has become the “Go To” person for those in the animation industry who seek to learn a one of a kind technique she devised called “Actively on the Spot.” This original technique teaches students how to animate their bodies and voice through connecting to the emotions and actions of the characters they’re playing. By using this technique, Sunday’s clients have gone on to book roles in major cartoons such as “FAMILY GUY”on FOX, “SUPER WHY” on PBS (by the creators of “BLUES CLUES”) ‘WILL & DEWITT,”(KIDS WB) “FUTURE IS WILD.” (DISCOVERY KIDS NBC) Top casting directors such as Debra Toffan & Jessie Thomson who cast “MISS SPIDER,” “ROLIE POLIE OLIE,” “CAILLOU,” “ARTHUR,” seek her expertise on casting recommendations for lead roles in animated series.

“SUNDAY MUSE CARTOON VOICES FOR KIDS,” is a one of a kind workshop taught in Toronto, New York and Vancouver, where Sunday shares all the valuable tools she gained during her many years as a lead voice for cartoons. Sunday has provided her vocal talents in popular series as: Disney’s Emmy award winning Rolie Polie Olie, (Playhouse Disney) Cheer Bear/CARE BEARS, JO-JO’S CIRCUS (Playhouse Disney) TIME WARP TRIO (Discovery Kids - NBC) CAILLOU, (PBS) RESCUE HEROES, UNDERGRADS, YAM ROLL, JANE & THE DRAGON, 6 TEEN, as well as dozens of radio commercials.

Sunday has taught at the Children’s Theatre Company NYC, Jewish Community Centre NYC, Montessori Schools & the prestigious National Theatre School whose program originates from Michel St. Denis, founding member of Juilliard. Alumni includes Emmy Award winning actress Sandra Oh.

Sunday has been a featured guest on numerous radio shows and she delivers a voice over podcast “How Kids do Characters.” Sunday is also in production with her own radio show entitled “Bitty Idiot” based on a character she performed at the Comedy Store in L.A which will be airing in syndication in 2008.

Sunday Muse honed her acting skills on the stages of National Theatre School, Second City, Yuk Yuk’s, Laugh Resort, and her one woman shows.

Bettye Zoller, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Lifetime Achievement

34 years as a respected university and private educator in voice, speech, theatre, radio-TV, and voiceover techniques along with her award-winning career in voiceovers and jingles has won Bettye Zoller an international reputation that brings clients and students to her workshops and to work in her Dallas recording studio (she’s an accomplished audio engineer/producer) from all over the globe! She is educated through the doctorate (from Missouri University, University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas) with faculty positions in the past at Southern Methodist University, University of Texas at Arlington, Dallas County Colleges. She has also studied with famed NYC acting coach Uta Hagen, in Chicago at the “Second City School” and her career began long ago at Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s Hollywood studio school (as a child performer signed to MGM).

Her voiceover credits number in the many hundreds (she’s never counted!) and range from voiceovers and jingles for national TV commercials to audio books to cartoons, from toys to podcasts to anime. You’ve heard her for decades worldwide! Clients have included American Airlines,Pepsi, Visa, Lifetime TV Channel, The Weather Channel, Pace Picante Sauce, Lionel Trains, Texas Instruments Talking Toys, Seven Seas Dressings, Pedialyte Vitamins, promos for ABC, NBC, and BBC America. She is a Simon and Schuster audio book author, narrator, and producer. She has won ADDYS, CLIOS, GOLDEN RADIOS, and AUDIE awards over the years. She is the author of eleven audio titles sold worldwide and continues to produce new titles annually. She is known for teaching voiceover techniques including audio book narration and production, and her BUSINESS OF VOICEOVERS workshops are legendary with students who credit her with starting them in their lucrative voiceover careers!

Bettye, with four top male announcers, has written and produced a wonderful CD program entitled “COMMERCIAL$PEAK” featuring interviews and sections announced by guests and male announcers of reputation. The foreword is by Dick Orkin of Hollywood Radio Ranch, a man who is well known in the U.S. as a commercial creator producer as well as Voice Over performer and teacher.

Julie Williams, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Best Personal Branding

Julie Williams
“Voice-Over Chocolate”

Julie Williams is celebrating her 30th year in voice-overs. She has voiced thousands of commercials, narrations, video games, infomercials, documentaries, and other types of voice-over. Julie has been heard all over the world, and nationally on HGVT, WE, and other media outlets.

Julie Williams boasts such clients as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Pizza Hut, Billy Graham, The US Army, US steel, Imperial Sugar, Sunny Delight, Dominos Pizza, Adobe, and thousands of others. Currently, Julie is heard on national Eyeglass World commercials, The New Body Shaper infomercial, and Skincerity Skin Care Product ads, as well as hundreds of regional and local spots, and non broadcast flash productions. In addition, she’s the voice of the video game “Stevie Learns Pool Safety.” Samples of Julie’s work can be heard at http://www.voice-overs.com.

Marc Cashman, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Best Female Voice

MARC CASHMAN is one of the few voice-acting talents who has been on “both sides of the glass” - as a Clio-winning Radio and Television commercial copywriter and award-winning voice actor.

Creative Director of Cashman Commercials, he creates, casts and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television clients such as Kroger, Charles Schwab, Quizno’s, Pella Windows and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer among many, many others.

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Joan Baker, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Best New Voice

Joan Baker is a sound to be reckoned with as one of New York’s premier voice-over actors and creator of the wildly successful “Make Millions With Your Voice” through the Learning Annex, the ongoing Immersion Class Workshops and for the first time ever Directing & Working with Voice-over Talent at the Promax/BDA TV Conference 2007 was introduced to producers, writers, TV station managers and VO agents to a sell out crowd. Joan is also the author of “SECRETS OF VOICEOVER SUCCESS”, a compelling collection of stories about the top voice-over actors in the industry, including the one and only, Don LaFontaine and many more. All proceeds benefit the Alzheimer’s Foundation.

Clients include ESPN, Showtime, Chase Bank, American Express, ABC News and Sports, Lifetime, Lexus, SPIKE TV and Disney (she positively ROARED for the Lion King’s national radio campaign!). Other credits include voiceover for HBO Family, WNBC, Nickelodeon, Delta Airlines, Fox 5, NBA Entertainment, NICK at NITE, Imus in the Morning, the ABC Super Sign in Times Square and countless more. Joan’s extraordinary talent has generated the spotlight with feature articles in the Hollywood Reporter, Back Stage, Media Week, ADWEEK and Broadcasting & Cable to mention a few.

Cynthia Songé, 2008 Voicey Awards Judge, Best Teen Voice

Cynthia Songé grew up in Southern California and graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Theater Arts. She is an accomplished actor, voice actor, voice-over teacher, casting director, and demo producer who loves teaching, her students, the sound of the ocean, watching her “kids” grow up, and her four-legged furry creatures. She calls the Central Coast of California home.

Cynthia has voiced numerous animation characters as well as commercials including such nationals as Mercury Sable, Sizzler, and Nationwide Insurance Campaigns.  She has also appeared on television and in feature film roles as an on-camera actress as well as theatrical roles.  She is a long standing member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre and a recipient of the Hugh O’Brian Acting Award.  Cynthia works with Susan Blu at Blupka Productions as a voice over instructor and casting director.  Together, Susan and Cynthia have co-authored “Word of Mouth, A Guide to VoiceOver Excellence, Vol. 3″.

Kara Edwards Wins Voicey Award for Best New Voice

Kara Edwards, a rising star in the voice over industry, was chosen by a panel of industry judges to win the Best New Voice Award at the 2007 Voicey Awards, sponsored by Voices.com, the Voice Marketplace. Kara’s career in broadcast started at Radio Disney in the mid 1990s until 2001, honing her craft as an on-air personality. Her background at Radio Disney and subsequent work at a radio station in Charlotte, NC for six years guided Kara down a road which would ultimately lead to making the gutsy decision to quit her day job as a radio personality in 2006 to pursue voice over as her full time profession.

It was through Radio Disney that Kara and her peers, all founding on-air personalities of Radio Disney, studied under the tutelage of Pat Fraley, a prominent voice acting coach and Hollywood voice artist. Kara reminisces that she never knew until that moment that she had so many ‘voices’ in her head. Pat Fraley pushed the team at Radio Disney to make all kinds of noises, sounds, and thoroughly explained character development. Mr. Fraley was also instrumental in giving Kara the courage to go to her first audition in which she was cast as two main characters in DragonBall Z. To this day, Pat Fraley’s audio CD lives in Kara’s iPod and is listened to regularly to keep her voice in form.

When asked about what her experience thus far in voice over has taught her, Kara intimated, “It would take a novel to explain everything I have learned these past months! Being a voice actor is tough and requires much more work than I ever imagined. Professional voice actors have more than just talent; they have business savvy and incredible drive. I have to treat this as a business now, not just a hobby. The most valuable lesson I’ve learned is to ask questions! Someone will be willing to answer them and help you out. This is a fantastic community”.

Kara also shared the following as her acceptance speech “I would like to thank Brian Haymond and Bob Souer for their help and kind words which are invaluable. Thank you to DB Cooper for creating the VO-BB and to everyone that posts there; the advice and friendships mean everything to me as I start my new career. Thank you to Stephanie and Voices.com; it is wonderful to have an avenue to find work, ask questions, and be noticed. Thank you to the Voicey judges; this award means the world to me! Finally, thank you to my wonderful husband for allowing me to destroy our guest bedroom and spend all his hard earned money on electronic gadgets. You’re all the support system I could ever need!”

Voices.com and Voicey Awards co-founder, Stephanie Ciccarelli says, “Kara Edwards is a ray of sunshine and has one of the most contagious personalities of the new generation of voice over talent today. Her dedication and ambition to study and learn from others is key to her success, and along with her vocal talent, singled her out among thousands of voices to be honored as a Voicey Award winner.”

About Kara Edwards

Kara Edwards began her career in the mid 90’s as a radio personality while voicing various anime roles and radio commercials on the side. Kara made her dream of being a full-time voice actor a reality in late 2006. She is most well known as the voices of Goten and Videl in “DragonBall Z”. Other roles include Murugu in “Yu Yu Hakusho”; Celica in the recently released “Solty Rei”; Razzles in the upcoming US version of “Raggs”; plus many more. Kara works from a studio in her home in Charlotte, NC and her voice can be heard on the radio, Internet, and television globally. Being a voice actor is more than a job for Kara, it is her life’s passion.

Kara Edwards partial commercial client list includes: Blockbuster, Playmates Toys, Disney, Toys R’ Us, Snow Country, Raising Canes Chicken Fingers, Bowen Family Homes, Publix, Sona Medspa, Dee Cee Dreams, Peidmont Bank, KB Homes, Clinique, Kohl’s, Carrabas, UNCPembroke, Belk, Bojangles and Purina One.

James Alburger and Penny Abshire, 2008 Voicey Awards Judges, Best Voice Team

As a teacher, James R. Alburger works with people who want to break into voiceover. As a producer, he works with business owners and advertising agencies who use radio advertising, and with other clients who want exceptional sound design and audio production. As a director, James takes an actor’s initial performance to a new level through his understanding of the nuance of interpretation and timing.For more than 35 years James has worked with voiceover artists as a director, performer and studio engineer in Los Angeles and San Diego. For 25 years, he was a director and audio producer for television station NBC 7/39 in San Diego, receiving eleven Emmy Awards, Omni Intermedia Awards, and Silver Microphone Awards for his work. He is currently an independent audio producer, voice-actor, speaker, author and teacher. James also works as a director and audio consultant for specialty variety performers, including magicians, illusionists, ice skaters, professional ballroom dance teams, and an occasional Community Theater production. He has clients in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, and other major cities.

In addition to his skills as a teacher, speaker, audio producer and creative sound engineer, James R. Alburger has more than 35 years of performing experience on stage (as a professional magician) and in the recording studio. His extensive knowledge and experience in radio, television, theater, communication and sound design is brought together in his workshops and seminars to teach the skills needed to break into the business of voiceover and develop a successful voiceover career.

His critically acclaimed book, The Art of Voice-Acting, focuses on the voiceover performer as an actor. The book is the foundation for comprehensive workshop and seminar training in which James R. Alburger teaches his voice-acting techniques with his partner Penny Abshire. James, and Penny Abshire also provide a training resource to help business executives and sales/marketing staff more effectively communicate their company’s message to their audience.

Penny Abshire, A.S.G. is a born performer, a professional speaker, a creative copy-writer, a classically trained pianist… and a former professional belly dancer. She is also a skilled paralegal and office manager. But her true passion is performing as a voice-actor. In the mid 1990’s, Penny was working as a paralegal and presenting Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus seminars, having been personally trained by John Gray. Then she discovered voiceover! Penny was already a highly skilled performer and speaker, and this new area opened up many new doors and literally changed her life.

After a few short years of studying the craft of voice-acting, she left her job as a paralegal to assist James Alburger in the daily operation of The Commercial Clinic. She now co-teaches The Art of Voice Acting workshops and seminars, and is the Creative Director a Producer/Director for The Commercial Clinic. Together James Alburger and Penny Abshire co-write and produce humorous dialog commercials and other projects for audio CD, radio, and TV, as well as work as voice talent for radio, TV and audio book projects.

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