Meet Daniel Walton

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Daniel Walton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Daniel, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I think grade school and college gave me an ample amount of time to try and engage in different fields I wanted to try like athletics, media, entertainment, debate, culinary, etc. I believe the exploration of new activities and hobbies weeded out what resonated with me and opened up the perspective that my purpose might evolve and change. I remember wanting to be a professional football player when I was a kid and felt I had found my purpose early on. It wasn’t until I got to college that I realized that I didn’t love football enough to put in the work to be a professional, it wasn’t something that was going to garner enjoyment and be my motivating ambition. When I accepted this, I felt as though I had to sit down reroute, and contemplate what exactly I wanted to do that would be meaningful to me and have financial stability. I think the hallmark of something purposeful for me was looking for an outlet that could be fun, impactful, and leave an impression on other people. Voice Over gave me the platform to exude and excel at something I felt I had the proficiency for from the jump while also allowing me to interact with people who inspire me to better at this craft and foster connections that transcend beyond my current profession.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Being born and raised in Los Angeles, I feel very fortunate to have been raised in a city that has everything conveniently here for me already. When I was young I would accompany my Stepfather who’s an audio engineer for Digidesign to various recording studios around the city. We would go to musical artists’ houses like Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock and recording studios for TV shows like South Park and Spongebob. My initial introduction to Voice Acting was from behind the glass on the engineering side where I understood how to utilize Pro-Tools which is a Digital Audio Workstation that mixes audio and music in post to its best quality. It wasn’t until I went to college that I had realized that I already established a method of setting myself up for success from an audio engineer’s point of reference, now I just needed the acting proficiency to really get the ball rolling. Once I started taking classes and dissecting what specifically I could do to improve my acting skills I started marketing myself online through websites like Twitter/X and LinkedIn and eventually landed LA agency representation. The most exciting part about this profession has to be being cast as the person who is responsible for lifting the character from the audition script and metaphorically making them come to life. Every project is part of a collaborative effort and it’s exciting to see everyone from the production, script adaptors, directors, actors, etc. celebrate something that could have been years in the making. Since SAG-AFTRA is currently on strike for Video Games some games are I’m currently under NDA for and can’t yet promote but I can’t wait to share and celebrate once the strike has over.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

What I learned most from playing organized sports is that versatility and availability need to be one of your greatest assets. My coach would say “We can’t put you on the field if you only know one position son”. I realized that being able to be a versatile asset in a collaborative project affords me the opportunity to be depended on and trusted in situations where people need someone to solve a problem that they might have. That’s why my Modus Operandi as a Voice Actor has been “What can I do to be at least 1% better than I was yesterday” because that’s what’s going to make or break me being the person hired for a project.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

For me, being intentional about how I want to improve has been one of my biggest adjustments since becoming a Voice Actor. Early in my career, I think the goal for me was just to take as many classes from reputable people as possible and hope that I got something out of it. What I wanted most from those classes was a system or process that I could utilize to give me a reference to better understand the best way to attack a particular piece of audition copy. For the past couple of months, I’ve been very meticulous in making distinctive choices when auditioning for roles. The majority of the time, casting directors often hear more or less the same type of audition when listening to submissions. Even if the read is most likely not something that they are looking for I always want to make a choice that I feel is something maybe a casting director might think about or could use for another role in the future. One of the most impactful teachers I’ve gotten to learn from these past couple of months is Andrea Romano who has been a casting director for over 30 years and has directed numerous television shows from my childhood and has directed the best Voice Actors you can think of. Getting the opportunity to learn from her and understand her perspective when it comes to actors and making choices was infallible. Additionally, traveling was a big part of my schedule this past summer as I believe seeing the world broadens your perspective by exposing you to different cultures, lifestyles, and viewpoints. I feel that learning new things from people that I don’t typically interact with it can create lasting memories that perhaps would help creative brain when acting for something new.

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