We recently connected with Chrystian Marte and have shared our conversation below.

Chrystian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

For as far back as I can remember, my family has never been a “creative pursuit” type of family. I’m of Latino descent, specifically Dominican. My father, as well as my mother’s parents, were born in The Dominican Republic. It’s extremely rare to have an egg willingly want to roll itself out of the nest; that’s already pretty rare for it to happen in reality, haha, but my family, at the very least, sticking with Hispanic traditions, never really took many risks, at least career-wise. But even then, there was an emphasis on making sure you finish college and get your degree so that you can either work your engineering, coding or computer science job.

I didn’t go against the grain because I wanted to rebel or anything like that. The only things that ever jumped out to me as interesting, even from a young age, has always been the Arts, whether if it was drawing or performing! I have a college background in Illustration and Graphic Design, but I work as a full-time Voice-Over Artist now. And thank the Lord above, I’m making a good living, because I love what I do, and I wouldn’t ever want to change it for the world. There has never been a Performer of any sort in my family; I’m the only one. I had my doubts, wondering if this is what I really should be doing. Am I wasting my time? But then, in High School, as a way for me to come out of my shell and be more social with my friends and family, I decided to join the Drama Club. I went to school at All Hallows High School in the Bronx. I always say this, but if it wasn’t for Mr. Paul Michael Fontana and my fellow “All Hallows Players” making it feel like a second home to me, then I would’ve never had the confidence to continue acting after high school. Because of that, I’m proud of where I am right now. Also, being able to support my family in the ways that I can through my career really warms my heart. It’s amazing how life works. After high school, I went to The School of Visual Arts to pursue Illustration and Design, but halfway through, something felt off. I am extremely grateful for the things that I learned and was taught by my hard-working teachers and classmates throughout my years there, but a feeling crept in that made me realize that acting, specifically voice acting, was where I belonged. I finished college, got my degree, and, on my own, took voice-over classes and acting classes. Through obsessive research, I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to work with amazing brands since professionally starting my voice-over career, brands like: The NHL, NFL, Crunchyroll, Nivea, PlayStation, Xbox, and many more! I thank God every single day for the opportunities he’s been able to put in front of me, and I’m proud of myself for not being intimidated by those opportunities, as well as the obstacles I came across. Instead of hesitating and saying, “I don’t know…” I said, “Yes! Let’s do it!” I urge anybody who has a dream, even if it’s a risk to take, to please try your best to put that first foot forward and take a leap of faith because we don’t know the future, and we’ll never know where we’ll end up. You will literally never know until you try.

Chrystian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Chrystian Marte, and I’m a Voice-Over Artist based out of New York City. Voiceover was never really the goal for what I wanted to do. But because of my love for anime and video games since I was a little kid, I think I’ve grown that performance bone enough over the years to have wanted to do this for the rest of my life. I mainly provide voiceover for many companies, such as the NHL, Crunchyroll, the NFL, and many more. From acting to narration work and Commercial work, my job never stops being fun! I think what I’m most proud of is the fact that if time travel were a real thing, I could go back in time and tell my 9- to 10-year-old self, who loved watching animations and playing video games, that I play characters in video games and animated shows! I would have never been able to fathom that this was a career choice for me, but I’m grateful to say that everything’s worked out so far, and I’m able to make a full-time living doing what I love. To any future clients out there reading this, hire me! Haha, but seriously, for anyone who ever gets in touch with me, I just want you to know that I greatly appreciate the consideration and the effort you put into the craft, as well as the industry, to bring to life stories that make the world go round. Let’s continue making projects for audience members to dive into and lose themselves in, because that’s the beautiful thing about making art: anybody anywhere can lose themselves in another world and reset, especially when in the real world a lot of times we’re not given the opportunity to reset.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At first, what was driving me was my dream of being in any anime series ever. Since then, I’ve gotten the chance to audition for a few series here and there, and I’ve also been able to star as a main character in a game called “Aether Gazer” developed by YoStar Games. But as of recently, what’s been driving me the most are the people I’ve been blessed to be able to befriend and call family. There are three people in my life who I’ve come to know very closely within this industry and who are also voice-over talents, respectively. We’re all aiming to open up a recording studio soon, and we’ve got some amazing prospects for future clients that we’d love to be able to take on. All of us feel really good about it, and for some reason, it feels right to me that this is where my career should be going. Towards developing my own Studio with my best friends and giving people who aren’t able to have easy access to auditions and/or opportunities those exact auditions & opportunities.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There’s nothing I can specifically pick out of my brain. But I believe that if you’re in the habit of surrounding yourself with the things that you want to do in life, you’ll eventually achieve those things. I watch a lot of shows and movies and play video games when I can, of course. It’s a bonus that I love digesting these different mediums, but the main takeaway is that I learn something every time I do it. I hear a performance in a video game or in an animated show, and I take a mental note of it: “Maybe I can try that for my next audition…” or maybe listen to a panel of voice actors and hear them talk about their experience and the obstacles they had to go through. Just by hearing those things, my motivation is boosted tenfold. I believe that if we want to pursue something wholeheartedly, it would be fantastic practice to surround ourselves with that very same thing as much as we possibly could.

Contact Info:

• Email: chrystianmartevo@gmail.com
• Website: https://cmartevo.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmartevo/

Image Credits
Photographer: Adamaris Ordonez Website: https://www.adamarisordonez.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamarisdayana/