VOICES | Interview with Tamara Plener.

In 2005, Dose had me profile several voice actors for a series called “behind the voices”. Most of my work went to waste because the profiles were cut down more than 90%.  For the purposes of this web series, I am including the longer interview content in full.

Who’s behind the voices?

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! No, wait, do. Much like the Great and Powerful OZ, the voiceover people at some of Canada’s biggest networks play a major role in how those stations are perceived, and I’m here to give you the skinny on who they are, what they do, and what they look like. They’re the people you’ve probably heard, even if you’ve never heard of them. And you get to see them here first. Now: Tamara Plener, 28, the voice of MuchMusic (along with Carl Armstrong).

Jen Selk for Dose: So how’d you get into this whole voice-work thing?

Tamara Plener, voice actor.

Tamara Plener: I was an actor as a child. Especially in Canada, you used to audition sometimes for movies, sometimes for voice-overs. That’s not the case anymore, because agencies have separate voice-over departments, but at the time I would go out for everything – on camera, radio commercial, whatever.

So, I started when I was, like, 10, and I was probably the best at voice-over because I was a terrible actress. I had a really husky voice, and I could read very well. As I got older, I lost interest in being on camera. I got shy.

What kind of stuff did you do as a kid?

I was on The Elephant Show. A few commercials here and there. I don’t even remember what they were for. I did a CBC show, Scales of Justice, when I was 15. I was in the movie, Used People. I’ve actually never even seen it. I’ve seen pieces of it on TV, but I’ve never actually sat down to watch it. There’s a big space of time between when you shoot and when something comes out. I think I did about 30 commercials over that time period. So it didn’t seem, at least to me, like a huge part of my life.

And growing into being a working adult – tell me about that.

I went to University at Guelph, And while I was there I didn’t talk to my agents at all. Then halfway through I transferred to UofT and I thought I might as well since I was back in Toronto. And immediately I started working all the time, doing voice-overs. There’s a lot more work when you’re 20 than when you’re 10.

I said I would do anything – on camera too. I said to them, I’m in the city, and I’m in school, but I just wanted to work.

I have to say, my agents were amazing. Most wouldn’t let you take a big break and then just let you work again.

It’s pretty lucrative I guess?

It’s like, 50 times what you’d make at a regular minimum wage job. More than you’d make all year.

But when you’re an actor or any sort of freelancer, you have the potential to make way more money than a lot of other people, but then you might not get a job for six months. I’ve been doing this now for 18 years. It was very, very slow in May for example. And slow for me now isn’t bad. I’d still be working five times a week or so, but May was the first time in a long time that I started to get worried. Luckily, it’s easy for me to remind myself that I’ve been in that position like 50 times.

MuchMusic did put me on a salary. That helps. But you make way more money in the States. I make money with MuchMusic, but other than that salary, there’s not much money to be made in Canada. In the States, there’s no comparison.

Do a lot of people come to you for advice? Wanting to get in on the game?

People always ask me, ‘I want to do voice-overs – how do I do it?’ I don’t really have an answer. You just fall into it. It’s such a small community.

With other jobs, there’s a path. Even if you sound amazing on your demo, which is rare, it’s not always about that. It’s really clear to people in the industry if you’re a professional or not. Even if you sound professional, they don’t want to sell you, and they want to know that you’ll be perfect in the studio as well. They don’t know if you spent an hour making a perfect one-minute demo tape.

At this point, I’ve literally done thousands of commercials. What’s surprising to me, not at MuchMusic though, is that the commercials are often terrible. But the advertising world is a lot about kissing ass. A spot goes through all these levels of people who are afraid to second guess.

Any fun anecdotes?

I record from everywhere I go, so I travel a lot. I was in Israel all of last year. I had, like, a laundry rack, and I laid a piece of foam over it. I’d sit there and record. I did that all year. If kids were on the balcony playing soccer I had to have them stop for 20 minutes because my makeshift booth wasn’t sound proof.

Nothing was grounded. My knowledge of the technology is very basic. I couldn’t touch anything without getting shocked. To this day I’m terrified to touch anything related to the studio.

Last thoughts?

You want people to think of your voice. Not your face. You don’t want them to pigeonhole you. I mean, I’m white, and Jewish, and I went into a job recently and they were shocked because they thought I was going to be a tall black woman. That’s voice-over.

A version of this piece appeared in Dose on August 4, 2005. See clipping below. More from this series:

Behind the voices: Tony Daniels.

Behind the voices: Carl Armstrong.

Behind the voices: Don Berns.

Behind the voices: Lee Marshall.

Published in Dose, August 4, 2005.