Jason Charles Miller is an accomplished voice over actor and musician. A fanboy’s dream, Jason has been able to work on content and properties he loved as a kid. Saturday AM took a moment during the hectic Animazement to speak with Jason Charles Miller about his career and upcoming projects.
Saturday AM: How did you get started in voice acting?
Jason Charles Miller: Actually, I started in music for commercials. Then I started singing in commercials, which got me in the Screen Actors Guild. It sort of reinspired me to look into voice acting because I acted a lot as a kid growing up in Virginia, but it wasn’t until I moved to Hollywood and I was working on music and all sorts of aspects of production. I grew up a big anime fan—my favorite was Robotech (Macross). Once I got my foot in the door from singing in commercials, I decided to look into voice acting. Luckily for me, the director that gave me my first job, which was on the very first American version of Hellsing, he knew my work as a musician so it just kind of worked out. In used that to parlay into get more auditions, getting an agent, and I’ve been doing it for about 12 years.
Saturday AM: What project were you most excited to work on?
Jason Charles Miller: World of Warcraft because I was already a fan playing the game. And, Super Street Fighter IV cause I’m a huge fan of the Street Fighter franchise. It was really fun to be in these franchises I was such fans of.
Saturday AM: I saw that a lot of your songs are featured in television shows. How does that come about?
Jason Charles Miller: The way it usually works is the show’s music supervisor, whose job is to fill in the blanks where the score is not being used and no music happening. Let’s say someone is driving down the road—what are they listening to on the radio? So I have a music publisher, and their job is to know the music supervisors and try to get the songs in the shows. I do get approached my some shows, like a lot of web shows, and give me the job upfront, which is really nice.
Saturday AM: Do you think your music inspires your voice acting or vice versa?
Jason Charles Miller: It can, depending on what title I’m working on. If there’s something really dark or inspiring, it can get my creative juices flowing.
Saturday AM: Is there a certain project or series you would want to work on that you haven’t gotten a chance to yet?
Jason Charles Miller: Like…all of them! I’ve done a couple of things for DC—Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. I would love to do something for Marvel. I haven’t done anything for them yet.
Saturday AM: What advice would you give to others wanting to get into voice acting?
Jason Charles Miller: Take regular acting classes first to understand that part of the craft, which is a lot easier to do if you don’t live in Hollywood or New York where most of the jobs are. At least you can get your feet wet by taking acting classes. I think in more and more cities there are voice acting classes being taught. Learn, learn, learn. You need to know the terminology—the technical side and the acting side.
Saturday AM: Do you have any upcoming projects you can talk about?
Jason Charles Miller: I’ve been working on Firefall, which is coming out later this year. That’s really the only one I can talk about. Most of the time with the games and shows I work on, I have to sign nondisclosure agreements. I can say I’m the lead character in a game that is coming out next year.
Saturday AM: Is it sometimes hard to keep your involvement a secret?
Jason Charles Miller: Yeah, it’s super hard to keep it in! There’s a show on Nickelodeon that I’m in, but I can’t say anything more than that until the episode comes out…
By Kasey Michael-–a lover of all things entertainment. Born and bred in North Carolina, she has a degree in Film Studies and can usually be found in front of a screen.
