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

Helen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Short answer: Yes! I am happy and proud to say I make my living from narrating, acting, and voiceover.

Ever so slightly longer answer: When I graduated from college I made an ultimatum with myself: if I didn’t make any money from acting within the first year of being out of college, I would reevaluate and do something else. I left school wanting more than anything to be an actor and make all my money from creative pursuits. But I wanted to be realistic. I knew I didn’t know much about this industry, and I didn’t want to be some sad story of a deluded old lady who foolishly still thought “it’ll happen!”

So I gave it my all, and asked for a lot of advice along the way. I will always credit the incredible friends I have made with any success I have garnered. People who were to sit and have coffee with me while I asked rookie questions are the backbone of my career.

I followed the types of jobs that seemed to be calling my name and calling for what I am best at. I never thought voiceover would be such a huge part of my acting career, but here we are! I found that voiceover jobs were the jobs I was able to get in the room for, and they were the jobs I seemed to be consistently booking. I booked the first voiceover audition I ever did–a campaign for a shampoo company. It was union, and it paid more money than I had ever seen before. It paid for the demo reel I wanted to professionally record, and it paid for all the coaching and classes I had taken. That seemed like a pretty good sign!

From there I kept auditioning and eventually joined the union, SAG-AFTRA, and then put my love of literature to good use by becoming an audiobook narrator. Audible Studios took a chance on me, and I eventually branched out and began narrating for lots of studios and publishers: Hachette, Penguin Randomhouse, Harper, Tantor, and Apple News+ to name a few. Audiobooks let me put my degrees in English and Acting to good use, and let me do the thing I always wanted as a kid: to play all the parts. I get to play roles I would never play on stage or on camera: animals, spirits, very old men, demons, you name it! It’s so exciting to take on myriad voices and accents and breathe life into all of them. And to call that my day job: it’s heaven.

Helen, 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?

As most artists are, I am a multi-hyphenate. A fancy way of saying I do a lot of stuff! I act onstage, on-camera, and in the booth. I do indie films and television, and I record audiobooks, commercials, and videogames. I teach, I write, and I self-engineer. I have a broadcast-quality recording studio in my house, and I record audio every day from home. In everything I do, I work to bring out humanity in every story I tell. I want to give every character, every voice, every role the nuance and care that they deserve. I work hard to give clients everything they dreamed of and more, and I try to be as timely and professional as humanly possible. If they ask for it by next week, I try to have it ready by the end of the day.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Being an artist and working at your art every day is an act of resilience in itself. My life is not exactly the romanticized version of “the struggling actor, facing rejection at every turn.” The hardest thing I’d say is hearing nothing. Submitting hundreds of auditions, sending your headshot or reel or resumé to agents or casting or whoever you are dying to work with, and getting radio silence. Working hard on your craft or on a specific self-tape, sending it, and not knowing if anyone even opened the email. I think I’d rather hear “we watched your tape, it’s great, but not what we need for this particular role” than nothing at all. I try to remember that every time I memorize a monologue, or submit myself to jobs, or hop into the booth to tape an audition–that is what being an artist is. Actively creating art. Even if it’s a tape no one will hear. I know I did my best, and made something special. I try to celebrate days when I simply worked hard all day. Days, when I booked something big, were special, but I try to make sure to be just as proud of myself on days when I worked really truly hard.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

People can’t make art if they cannot afford to exist. In order to create a “thriving creative ecosystem” we must address problems riddling our country and the world that are as basic as “houselessness” and “hunger.” There should be more funding for the arts in schools, but even further, for everyone. In other countries, theater, for example, is funded largely by the government. If you want art, money must be put into it, and art must be accessible to the public. Free museums, free theater, free classes, free materials, grants, residencies–these are all things that I would love to see more of. When I researched residencies for my partner I was shocked at how many of them charge unthinkable amounts of money to essentially live in the woods and write. At that point, you might as well book a BNB and go write there. Opportunities to meet other artists and create shouldn’t be so deeply gatekept by money. I strongly feel that currently, we have a big nepotism and wealth problem. The wealthy and the well-connected (and children of those categories) should not be the only people who get to make art and make a living. We need security nets for all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds.
Art should be as free as public libraries. I truly believe that if public libraries and public schools were an idea now, they never would have come to be. And that is, how you say BAD!!
For now, on a small scale, I think supporting artists and their art on a personal level is something every person can do. Buy things on Etsy instead of Amazon when you can. Go see your friend’s play. Trade skills by teaching a friend an art form they have always wanted to learn. Buy a subscription to a local theater. Help build sets. Subscribe to the local newspaper. Mkae and watch tutorials on youtube. Volunteer as a PA for someone’s passion project. And make and share art online and with people in your social circles.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.helenlaser.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hlaserwolf/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/helen-laser-actor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgS309W35kx-gd4kNBcJNkw
• Other: Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Helen+Laser

Image Credits
Ilana Saltzman, Drew Nordeaux, Nelson Luna, John Deamara.