Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Becky Boxer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Becky, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I have had the honor of working on so many amazing projects over my decades long career as a VoiceOver Artist. Each project brought something special to my life and career, and helped shape who I am as a person and artist. However, the project that truly changed my life was SIMS 3. SIMS was first released in 2000 and then upgraded, reimagined and re-released in 2004 (SIMS 2), 2009 (SIMS 3) and 2014 (SIMS 4). Each game features three adult female voices, and in SIMS 3, I was Voice A. In SIMS, characters speak a jibberish language called “Simlish,” and the secret to speaking “Simlish,” is that it is almost entirely improvised!
I love improv and sketch comedy. In fact, I started studying improv as a teenager at the famous Second City in Chicago under (then unknown) Steve Carell! He was the best teacher I could have asked for, and when he was unavailable, his close friend, Stephen Colbert, stepped in! Then I went on to study Improv with The Piven Theater Company, (known for training actors like John Cusack and Jeremy Piven), and Columbia College Chicago, under more Second City Greats, including Martin Demaat, Sheldon Patinkin and Jim Zulevic. While finishing my degree, I auditioned for The Second City Professional Training Program and I was immediately accepted. Improv has always been one of my life-long loves in acting, and ironically my favorite improv game is called “Jibberish”, where we improved scenes in a made-up language. Sound familiar? So, when the SIMS 3 audition came though my agent at William Morris, I was excited and ready.
When I booked Voice A, I was thrilled! VoiceOver is often a more quiet, behind-the-scenes acting job, where you audition all day and most gigs just take a few hours. For SIMS, however, I was flown out to Palo Alto at least once a week, (sometimes I would even fly out Monday, back Tuesday and then back out on Thursday-Friday), I was put up in a beautiful hotel, given meals and spending money and got to improvise and play “jibberish” for 6 hours a day. It was a dream come true! Male Voice A, (who I did all of my session days with), was none other then the super talented, Bill Salyers, (The Regular Show, Spiderman). We had so much fun working together and with the entire SIMS Team at EA. It was the first time in my life as a VO Actor, that I actually felt l like I had “made it”.
When the game was released in 2009, it was the Best-Selling PC Game of ALL TIME and it’s release on gaming platforms and cell phones grew the fan base even larger. On the cell phone version of the game, the only voices were the “A” voices, and Bill and I felt the love. SIMS is such a special game in the way that it connects with the world, and allows people to live out dream lives and alternate realities. I felt so honored when people told me that I was their voice! It was truly one the most incredible creative experiences in my life, allowing me to take risks, come up with something new everyday, and laugh a lot!
It felt like the end of an era when EA moved onto SIMS 4, and I’ll never forget that last session. I cried. I think we all did. I knew it would end eventually, but of course you hope it never will. However, walking away that last day, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude that it happened at all. That, for those YEARS, I got to live out my voiceover dreams almost every week (after the initial release there was tons of expansion packs so we were always adding content). I am extremely grateful for the experience of being a SIM and to forever be part of this incredible franchise. I have had many other meaningful voiceover jobs before and after SIMS 3, yet nothing can ever quite compare to the life-changing experience that was SIMS 3.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve had a raspy voice since I was a kid and always seemed to have a knack for quirky characters. However, it was through a stroke of luck, that a prominent Chicago Voiceover Agent answered her phone herself and launched my voiceover career. She said she had a “good feeling” about me, signed me immediately, and I booked the voice of Tampax on one of my first auditions. Then later, I spent almost 20 years represented by William Morris Endeavor in LA. I have been the commercial voice of many brands including, most recently, Visit California, Purdue Chicken, Michaels, and have been in tons of other commercials over the years. Also, I have been lucky enough to narrate shows, be the voice of networks, voice characters on tv and movies, and play a bunch of amazing roles in games. Some of my faves besides SIMS 3, have been Malphas in Devil May Cry 4, Ingrid in Nikke: Goddess of Victory, Communist in Fallout 76: Skyline Valley and voicing zombies across the Resident Evil Franchise and in movies like Zombieland: Double Tap. I think one of the things that sets me apart from others is the rasp in my deep voice, my willingness to take creative risks and play and my gratitude for getting to do a job I love. I am also really good at sounding “natural” in commercials, especially ones where I get to have a little sass or deadpan vibe. I’m good at playing your friend, or that girl you wanna hang with. In animation and games, I have a penchant for playing baddies of all kinds and have worked really hard at my monster sounds and voices. I also can do boys voices (like I do as Flare in S.M.A.S.H., currently available on Amazon Prime), and continue to surprise myself with new characters, such as playing an ancient priestess in an upcoming game (nda) and a good ol’ girl steelworker in another (nda, to be released soon).
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
At the first agency I was represented by, I was thrilled when the accountant handed me my initial round of hefty paychecks from Tampax. I felt unstoppable. He warned me that this account, this initial success, was in no way evidence that I was on a one-way road to success. He told me that there would be ups and downs, and to “save up”, because there would be rough years to come.
I kind of believed him, but for a long stretch there I felt like that wasn’t going to happen to me. I felt like I’d broken some kind of artist code for success and it was all up hill from here. Then, reality came crashing down, hard. I’m going to be 100% honest with you, there were many lean years following my initial decade of success. There were years where I would only book a handful of jobs, or maybe even just a couple. There were times when I struggled to support myself, and where I felt hopeless, like maybe it WAS all over. Sometimes, I would even book a big job and it would just never be released, and that would devastate me. The lean moments often made it hard to keep going.
I had to pull myself out of a dark hole many times, on top of the world one minute and feeling like a “failure” the next, but I kept going. I kept giving voiceover my all, creating new characters and reading all those auditions and hustling, even when I felt like there was no point. I sought therapy, practiced self-care, stayed focused, and refused to give up. And guess what? It came back. I came back. I booked different commercials, and now I am doing a lot of games. I had to keep going because voiceover is more than my career, it’s my passion, the way that I express myself, and part of who I am. I have accepted that there will be ups and downs, and it’s important to acknowledge all the difficult and invigorating feelings, that come with the rollercoaster reality of this business, and keep going.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative, is the inspiration and healing power, creativity and the arts has given me and others. I struggled with my mental health as a young person. Depleted by depression, mood swings, social anxiety, low self-esteem and issues around my body and food. I was even hospitalized for anorexia. I felt overwhelmed by the intensity of my emotions, and did not know how to express these feelings in a healthy way. Creativity, and the arts helped me to heal. First of all, I kept a journal for many years and it was through these writings that I realized I needed help and got up the courage to ask for it. Once in the hospital, I found the creative arts therapies to be very healing, and provide me with many of the tools I needed for growth and resilience throughout the rest of my life and career.
After my hospitalization, I volunteered at hospitals in pediatrics for many years, focusing on bringing my love for writing, art, improv, music, movement and drama to other youth who were suffering. Years later, I helped develop a Creative Arts Program for a nonprofit working with sexually trafficked youth, and was able to bring in other working artists to teach these young people new ways to express themselves and work through trauma. Ultimately, I went back to graduate school and earned my Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work, with a focus on Creative Arts Therapy, and have since shared many of these life-changing therapies with homeless youth, young adults and hospice patients throughout Los Angeles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beckyboxer.com
- Instagram: @bexboxer
- Facebook: Becky Boxer
- Twitter: @becboxer
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjgfcKex_crJ8LhXdOwiKvbat0I1om0wi&si=zB2SJwvPNrobojuk
Image Credits
Tyler Curtis