I went in predominantly as a singer and came out with a huge love and burning desire to act. The idea of being paid to transport people away into another world, portraying other people’s stories and even (sometimes) making people be moved to tears or laugh, sounded like my idea of really living life to the full! So that’s what I did, I went full on face first into the wonderful industry that it is, giving it my all and more importantly discovering all the different areas that the industry had to offer. That’s how I ended up in a UK tour for both Cebeebies and Milkshake Live. I’ve always had a passion for kids theatre and TV and these jobs only fuelled that passion more, resulting in me co-writing a live interactive kids show which was performed at G Live in Guildford. I would love to continue writing for kids theatre and TV and during the first lockdown I created Smellena’s Workouts, fun, interactive, adventure themed workouts for kids aged 2-8 with an educational element. Providing creative and fun ways for kids to keep fit during COVID-19, whilst keeping up with their education learning, numeracy, shapes and colours. (Head to Smellena's Workouts Youtube page for more information and example workouts, yes adults can join in too!)
How did I end up in the world of VoiceOver? Was it a natural progression from Acting? I hear these questions all the time, but my journey into VoiceOver isn’t a typical one. I fell in love with VoiceOver during my time in hospital when I had glandular fever and tonsillitis.Imagine the scene, a young, proactive 20 something girl stuck in a hospital bed bored out of her mind. I’d watched (and re watched) everything going on BBC Iplayer, but my natural desire to learn, push myself and keep growing wasn’t being fulfilled. An acting friend sent me a link to a 2 week voiceover introduction course by Guy Michaels called ‘Kickstart into VO’. I loved it. I was hooked and from the moment I came out of hospital I invested in the gear and went head first into training. From then I have gone on to work with amazing clients like ‘Veet’ and ‘St James’s Place’ and continue to love learning, growing and developing my skills in voice acting, editing and script writing. Just goes to show everything happens for a reason right?
There is one massive thing in my life that I haven’t mentioned yet and that’s because it’s the best part so I wanted to save it for last … drumroll please …. Comedy. I have always loved comedy, from copying Dad’s (awful) jokes at the tender age of 5 to being involved with comedy improvisation groups, performing live ‘Who’s Line is it Anyway’ style shows. I love comedy, it’s fair to say it’s in my bones and it plays a huge part of not only my day but my career path. I love comedic roles, but I feel that there is always a bit of comedy in every role, that’s what makes them so real, so believable, so…human ! Before Covid-19 you would even find me performing my stand up comedy routines around the Gloucestershire and Bristol area with my clean, self deprecating stories act. Having been coached by the comedic genius that is Nick Page. Something I cannot wait to get back into once the world of live gigs returns.
However, the most important thing with all my jobs is I love to have fun, I am lucky enough to be in a creative industry where there are no rules or boundaries to what we can create, so why not push it? Test ourselves? And really see what amazing, funny, heartfelt, imaginative, moving and thought provoking outcomes we can create?!
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