We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeffrey Bentley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeffrey below.
Jeffrey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
When my son was born in 2015. Up until then, I was mostly doing these things for fun. I didn’t realize what to do or who to reach out to in order to make this my professional career, because my family wasn’t part of the entertainment circles. My son was the one who inspired me to do this, even before he knew it. I pursued voice acting, which is remote work, because I wanted a career where I could still spend time with my kid and be there to watch him grow into the person he is meant to become. While doing so, I wanted to show him that you really can follow your dreams as long as you keep going and never ever stop. 1 step a day is better than no steps at all. And since then, I’ve chosen to pursue this part of The Arts and learn the business side of things as well, which hasn’t been easy. I very much enjoy still having my creative imagination constantly coming from my inner child. The world is my daily playground, and the circles I run in now are absolutely AMAZING to me and for me!
Jeffrey, 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?
Well, for starters, I was born in Oakland, California. I moved to Northern Nevada when I was 3. Totally my choice. My family will argue that I’ve been acting all of my life. On stage, though, in front of an actual live audience, I didn’t start acting until I was 16. I was in a musical called “The Music Man”. I was ‘Salesman #4’ in the opening scene who went “What-do-ya-talk?” I was also a ‘River City Kid Dancer’ for the rest of the show. Up until I was 16, I was actually the shy kid for the first 15 years of my life. When other kids were out playing on the field at recess, I would actually sit on the wall and draw whatever came to my mind on one of my various sketchpads that I always carried around.
I was raised on classic cartoon characters: Disney, Warner Bros., MGM, Hanna-Barbara, 90s Nicktoons, “Cartoon-Cartoons” on Cartoon Network, Fox Kids Club, etc. I would mix them up because I didn’t know anything about copyright, I was just a kid. So, I would put Bugs Bunny with Mickey Mouse and Sonny the Cocoa Puffs bird all on the same piece of paper, and send them on crazy adventures, storyboard style. Then, when I was 12, I started creating my own characters. From elementary through middle school, my drawings and the characters I created were my main friends. Little did I know that, while all this was going on throughout those years, I had a learning deficiency. I’ve always been an audio-visual learner. I can still watch a movie or listen to a song, and have it memorized about the 3rd time I’ve heard it all the way through. Text, for some reason throughout those years, eluded me.
When I entered as a Freshman in high school, I was at a 6th grade reading and comprehension level. Then, my mother placed me into ‘Sylvan Learning Center’. I would go there for 3 hours every Saturday for a year. After a total of 48 hours of attending Sylvan, I went from 6th grade to an 8th grade reading and comprehension level. By the time I entered as a Sophomore in high school, my comprehension was passed where I needed to be. That was the same year I got into theatre. I was more confident in my own skin, I could memorize the text and lyrics that were printed in front of me, and I learned how to sing, dance, and act on stage all in the same year. I didn’t even know I had a signing voice until I met John Lorentzen and his wife, Laura, who ran the musicals every spring at Reed High School. I started with ‘Music Man’, then at age 17 I played my first lead role as Monsieur Thénardier in ‘Les Miserables’, and my senior year I was able to play a pirate in Act I and a keystone-cop in Act II in ‘Pirates of Penzance’.
As the years have passed, I have been fortunate to be in 42+ live shows, while playing some of the most eccentric characters out there: Dr. Frank N. Further in ‘Rocky Horror Show’, Max Bialystock in ‘The Producers’ (I wore a fat suit for that one), Igor (pronounced EYE-Gore) in ‘Young Frankenstein: The Musical’, and even the voice of Audrey II, the plant in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’. I have also played more straight, relatable characters as well. Jonathan Harker in an adaptation of ‘Dracula’, Malcom in the musical ‘The Full Monty’, even Feste the Fool in a steampunk version of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’. I’ve even brought to life some well known cartoon characters to the stage: Jafar from Disney’s ‘Aladdin’, and I even played the character Toad, based off of the children’s Frog and Toad books, in the musical ‘A Year with Frog & Toad’.
Now, don’t get me wrong, main roles are fun, but I LOVE playing multiple parts in one show. I remember playing 9 characters in Act I of this show called ‘Weird Romance’. In Act II, I played a scientist named Daniel. Another straight-laced relatable character. However, when I was in ‘The Brothers Grimm Spectaculation’, I got to play 13 characters! What a rush that was. That was in 2009, and I knew I wanted to pursue something more. That year I got accepted to Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where I learned what it took to end up on Broadway. Because of some miscommunications, I did not graduate from there; however, I returned to Northern Nevada in 2011 with A LOT more experience under my belt. That was the moment I started to get cattle-calls in town for live-action work, and got to stay in my home state while still being around my family. It was a good balance.
In 2012, I tried to do my first audiobook through ACX (Audio Creative Exchange) through Amazon. It didn’t go so well. Nevertheless, the acting bug behind-the-mic had bit me just as much, if not more, as the theatre bug did. Between 2012 & 2015 I realized that I didn’t have to change costumes, makeup, my hair styles, or even shave my beard off anymore to play multiple characters… all I had to do was keep training my acting muscles while keeping my instrument, A.K.A. my voice, clean.
While undertaking Voice Acting from home for the past 10+ years, I realized I gained other titles along the way: Audio Engineer, Video Editor, Script Writer, Demo Producer, Director, Song Writer, Host, Voice Acting Coach, and I have even gained the title of Executive Producer over at Malevolent Mouse Productions, thanks to my dear friend, Ivey Smith, and her business partner, Daniel Kather. I’m still getting used to this job title, and what it truly means to be an Executive Producer. The best way Ivey described to me was this,
“Your job is to help directors speak “actor”, and vice-versa.”
It was one of those moments where it truly hit… THIS is what I bring to the table. Because not every director has had acting experience, and not every actor has directed something. I have teased Ivey over and over that I’m “the missing link” when it comes to connecting creatives to the business people in the entertainment industry… but it’s actually become my job. And I love it! I love connecting people. I have also discovered that not all actors can do what I do. Not everyone can switch from Max Bialystock to Frank N. Furter to Igor, and make all of them believable. I have at least 100+ voice matches now when it comes to the world of Voice Acting, and I get to help those who are in need of a voice for Commercials, Promos, TV Shows, Video Games, Feature Films, etc., and it’s AMAZING!! I can be Captain Jack Sparrow, Oogie Boogie, Winnie The Pooh, Daffy Duck, or Christopher Walken, just to name a few, and I get to do it all from the comfort of my home studio. As a Voice Actor, I have a freaking fantabulous job! And I would love to help you, yes YOU, anyone who’s listening, with your next project.
It took awhile for me to discover this about myself, but now I truly understand what it is I bring to the table: Consistent open communication between everyone (cast and crew alike), Leadership, Creative Innovation, Kindness, Honesty, Versatility, and Whole Hearted Passion when it comes to every project I am a part of. In this business, there is no room for ego… But there’s ALWAYS room for growth and authenticity.
To quote Weezer from their song ‘Troublemaker’:
“There isn’t anybody else exactly quite like me.”
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
In this creative business, the most rewarding thing we have is to be able to consistently use our imaginations in our jobs. We are encouraged to wear our heart of our inner-child on our sleeve, and pass it along daily to our fellow thespians and creatives alike to remind them that it’s ok to “PLAY”. When it comes to creating, there are no bad ideas. However, don’t stay “married” to your first drafts. It’s ok to rewrite, redraw and/or start over, but never ever lose that creative spark that you were born with. It is a requirement of us creatives to keep our minds and hearts fresh, young, and open. Just because we’re getting older, doesn’t mean we gotta get old.
As Albert Einstein once said, “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere.”
And as Robin Williams once said, “You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
And last, but not least, as George Bernard Shaw once said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
You bet your boots, there are!
1) Wendy Braun: Actress, and Success Coach for Actors & Creatives Alike
https://actorinspiration.com/sbw-regular-enrollment/
2) Wendy Alane Wright: AMAZING Talent Manager with 30+ years of experience, still helping actors pursue their dreams to this very day!
https://hollywoodwinnerscircle.com/
3) Eliza Jane Schneider: Dialectologist, Working Voice Actress & Owner of Competitive Edge Voice Training
4) Alan Shires: Working Voice Actor & Owner of ‘The Voice Actor College’
Fantabulous place to start your VO Journey!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jeffreydbentley.wixsite.com/jeffreybthatsme
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffreybthatsme/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-bentley-vo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeffreybthatsme/videos
- Other: My LinkTree https://linktr.ee/jeffreybthatsme
Jeffrey Bentley | Voiceover Artist VISUAL SHOWREEL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGm8fFY8plM
Pooh Bear: HUNNY | A “Happy” Parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_XsE8h8bbU&t=2s
My TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@jeffreybthatsme
Image Credits
TMCC (Truckee Meadows Community College); GLM (Good Luck Macbeth Theatre); AWR (Abbey West Recording); Malevolent Mouse Productions; and myself Behind The Scenes.