We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emma O’Neill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emma below.

Emma, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve had the honour to work on many meaningful projects as I do a lot of work in PSA’s. But one of the projects that really hit home for me was a radio campaign for Haven Toronto – a homeless men’s shelter. Donations to the organization had dropped and they were struggling to help the growing number of people who found themselves on the streets. A producer I work with regularly on projects like this reached out and asked if I would lend my voice to the campaign. I said yes immediately. The first spot was powerfully written and easy for me to connect to. It hit the air and their donations immediately increased. We did 3-4 spots per year for about 4yrs and helped so many people with the funds raised. It hit home for me because I had been homeless in my early 20’s. I KNOW what that feels like and I wanted to do whatever I could to help. The monies they paid me, I donated back to the organization each year at Christmas when they need it most. It felt amazing to be in a position to be able to help.

Emma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Emma O’Neill and I am a full time voice actor based in Toronto, Canada. I provide professional broadcast quality recordings from my home studio for tv and radio commercials, corporate narration, tv narration and promos. I’ve been an actor my entire life. I was born to a dance teacher who placed me on the stage when I was in diapers and I never left! No matter what I have done in my life, no matter where I have lived (and I’ve lived all over the world) I have always found my way back to acting in some form. As a child I spent most of my career on stage and film. When we moved to Canada from Ireland I focused more on film and television – mainly commercial work. As a young adult, I attended the acting academy program at York U where I graduated with a BFA in Acting but after a bad experience with a director very shortly after that, I left the acting world to pursue a career teaching yoga. I travelled the world teaching yoga – living in Australia, India, Ireland, Thailand, and so many more places. in 2006, while living in Taiwan I stepped back into the acting world doing background work in film. From there I discovered voiceover and fell straight back into the acting world. Because of my years of acting training, VO made sense to me. I took a bunch of classes and found myself a coach. We worked on my commercial reads – bringing me right back to my roots. In 2011, I made my first demo and started submitting to VO agencies. I was signed in 2012, went full time in 2016, and haven’t looked back. Today I am honoured to voice for some of the biggest names in the world like Microsoft, Discovery Channel, the NWSL, Infinity, Ford, the Toronto Raptors, and more. I give back to the community by providing performance and career coaching. And I am the Vice President of the Canadian Association of Voice Actors https://www.cavavoices.org/

My brand is “as real as they come”. I believe that is a major part of what sets me apart. What you see is what you get. There are no bells and whistles. I firmly believe in helping my fellow VO’s without asking for anything in return, And I don’t let the shiny sparkly stuff distract me from what is REAL – the connections, the relationships, the PEOPLE. I am an insanely hard worker and will do whatever it takes – without stepping on anyone else – to get the job done. I believe in the power of community and giving back. For 3 years, I co-hosted a a weekly LIVE podcast bring industry professionals and experts to offer advise and information to the community. It was considered one of the BEST shows available while it lasted and it was 100% volunteer based. Zero money was made – on purpose. I didn’t want to be yet another “service” that made money off my own community.

Another thing that is unique about me – I am Canadian, I live in Canada, but I work mainly in the US (I have a work visa). I have a neutral accent that no one can place as I spent years studying phonetics and linguistics. I grew up with an Irish accent, but when we moved to Canada and I started saying “eh”, my mother was having none of that. She would reply by reciting the alphabet anytime anyone said “eh”. LOL! Needless to say, none of us (myself and my 2 sisters) say it.

I am an immigrant, a middle child and a Gen X’r. And I’m an introvert.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

COMMUNITY! When I first started in VO I had NO idea there was a community, never mind one that is SO supportive! As I mentioned, I had been an actor my entire life on stage and screen. And THAT part of the industry is cut throat. A fellow actor would more readily cut you down than build you up any day of the week. The VO community is weird – we CELEBRATE each others wins. And it’s genuine.

When I first started in VO, it was a solo journey. I coached with amazing coaches and got to work with some great clients. But it wasn’t until I connected with a demo producer in the US that my life changed – for the better.

Let’s rewind for a moment. Back in the early days of Linkedin, I created a profile and dared to call myself a “voice actor”. One of the first people to connect with me was a VO in LA named Mark. He said he could hear potential in my voice and we became “online friends”. Over the years, he would check in to see what I was up to. One day he told me about a workshop he had done with a producer who he thought I would like. He sent me the recording of the workshop and he was right. I DID like the producer. He was real and down to earth and I felt like he was a kindred spirit. I was hoping to break into the US market but hadn’t a clue where to start. I decided to reach out to this guy to ask for his advice. We ended up talking via text and email for a few months about the industry before I decided to do a new commercial demo with him. The one I was using was old and needed to be updated so it made sense. We worked on the new demo for a while until it was ready to be released into the wild. He ended up sending the demo to a few US agents – who knew that was part of the deal? He suggested as part of my attempt to crack into the US market that I attend a VO conference and meet some of the agents he had submitted me to. I had NO IDEA these things existed never mind want to got to one – I’m an introvert, remember? But he pushed until I conceded and I ended up at a conference with 800 other industry folks. It was one of the most terrifying and most WONDERFUL things I have ever experienced! 800 people who understood the trials and tribulations of the business. 800 people who offered advice and skill and expertise and friendship and connection. I had spent the last 6 years locked in my booth alone, not knowing all of these other people existed. And when I met them, my whole world changed! The VO community is one of the kindest, most supportive, inclusive, and celebratory bunch of humans I have ever met. And when I met them, my career took off. I was signed by a couple of major market agencies, I ended up working on a few award winning spots and built up my reputation as one of the “success stories”. People started looking to me for advise which created the podcast, which led to coaching, which led to CAVA.

All of this happened because of community.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is an interesting beast. There are days I want to disconnect from all platforms. And other days when I celebrate it because I connect with a new person who ends up becoming a friend. I started building my audience, initially as a yoga teacher. Every morning before class (at 5am) I would post an inspirational quote or meme. This was done like “Morning Pages” from the Artists Way. The quote or meme would spark a thought, the thought would become a stream of consciousness, and that would become a post. People started to rely on these daily touchstones. It was pretty cool! I had a few hundred interactions with people daily. But when I stopped teaching full time, the morning posts faded and I had to rebuild as an actor. I did this on Linkedin and Instagram. I would post recent work (with permission from the client), I would post my thoughts about what was happening in the industry. But what but my platform the most was “daily walk” videos, filmed in all sorts of weather, with no make up on, no special editing or effects. Just me walking while filming and offering “tips and tricks” to the VO world at large on a daily basis. I think what was unique about these (I’m bringing them back) was the realness of them. People could relate to them. Again, no bells and whistles, nothing fancy. Just real, raw, unedited advice. AND they were always under 2mins because people don’t have the time nor the attention span for more! So my advice to anyone wanting to build their audience? Be consistent, be REAL, be yourself (I promise you, it’s the ONLY thing people want to see), be brief, and be kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emmaoneillvo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaoneill/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmaoneillvo/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmaONeillVO