Meet Gary Scales

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gary Scales a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gary, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

It comes from my passion to share my gifts and talents with the world,to bring smiles,feelings and emotions to people regardless of race and background. It’s to paint a picture for people who listen to my Voiceovers or who see me Acting on camera or the stage. I want people to relate to my performances and be in that moment with me. My optimism comes from my wife, my kids,my family and friends. I want them to hear me on the radio and television commercials or see me on film and in stage plays and they can be happy and proud of me and to give them belief that they can do anything they put their mind and heart to.

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?

I got started first from being in music, my Dad was a DJ in the 70’s and early 80’s by the name of DJ Soul in Nashville, Tennessee. So, I always had a love for music mainly Hip Hop, Blues and R&B. I was young, but I remember the feel good vibes listening to that music and what it did for my mood and emotions and I wanted to share those feelings, but I was young and didn’t know how to do it..lol. Until the late 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. My uncle was a HipHop DJ by the name of B-Luv and he showed me how to write raps and from then on I found out how to express my feelings through words along with a group of my close friends who was also into Rap and HipHop. Now, my voice got deep when I became a teenager and from doing speeches and stage plays in school and rapping with my close friends my voice always was noticeable and stood out. So, that’s when I got interested in Voice Overs. People and complete strangers will hear me talking no matter where I was and they will look at me and say “hey you got a great voice you should do voiceovers.” After hearing that almost every day I decided to research what Voiceovers are and I’m glad I did. After reading books and watching videos about voiceovers I decided that is what I want to do. Then I started looking for classes on voiceovers in Nashville and came across my first coach Joe Loesch. I took Joe’s VO Booth Camp and was hooked on doing voiceovers. I told my wife this is what I want to do and she purchased some voiceover equipment in 2010 for my birthday and that’s all I needed to get started. As far as the Acting for film and stage plays goes that came from doing voiceovers. I auditioned for a stage play in Atlanta as VO only called “Faith of Job” by the production company name Ahaya’s Vision. My VO audition went good and then the Directors and Producers of the play asked me to audition for the role as Lucifer. Once I did the audition for Lucifer they put me on stage and I was hooked on Acting. Which led to multiple roles in several other different stage plays in Atlanta. Also, my stage performance captured the attention of other Directors, Producers, Screenwriters and Actors, so now I’m in several films, sitcoms and animation projects in Atlanta. My voice can be heard as Mace Windu on many Fan Productions on YouTube and videogames for Tom Clancy’s Division 2, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, My Time at Sandrock as Hugo, My Time at Portia as Mr. Musa, Dying Light 2, Sim Settlements 2, and Fallout plus many more. I’m also the Voice Announcer for several Award Shows The AMG Southern Soul Life Awards, Southern Entertainment Awards, Power Move Awards and The Trailblazer Awards held in different states. As far as nationally my voice is heard for Popeyes, Victoria Beer, NBA Junior Jump Squad and PUMA. Now I’m a working Actor on different productions for film, animations and television and looking forward to my future on the screen and stage.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Passion,Persistence,and Prayer.

Passion- You have to have passion so strong that you are willing to do it for free. Because a lot of these opportunities do not pay.That passion is your drive and motivation to keep going when you’re not getting paid. Let that passion fuel your happiness and grind of getting things done.

Persistence- You will get a lot of NO’s before you get a YES. Persistence is what keeps you sharp and keeps you learning how to get better, to improve and to not give up. Don’t ever think it’s not right,it’s just not right now.

Prayer- You need prayer to keep your gifts and talents that you are blessed with to get better and to help you get up when you get knocked down or rejected. Prayer gets you to where,who,what,why and how you want to be.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

I have several books that were impactful.

•As A Man Thinketh
•Think BIG
•Power of the Subconcious Mind
•Voice Acting for DUMMIES
•The Power of the ACTOR
•A Practical Handbook For The Actor
•The Actor’s Mind
•Becoming Supernatural

A few nuggets from the books:

•Always have good thoughts about yourself because that is how people see you..You are what you think.

•Do not say negative things about yourself even as a joke, because your subconscious mind does not know it’s a joke and it will make them things come true.

•When people can see you’re acting then it’s not good acting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.garylscales.com
• Instagram: garyscales.vo
• Facebook: Gary Scales
• Linkedin: Gary Scales
• Twitter: GLSCALES615
• Youtube: Gary Scales

Image Credits

John Casablanca