We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kevin Gerard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kevin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

If I were to start over, I would take initiative on things that I wanted to do.

I started voice acting recently, in 2020. But the interest in doing voicework had been there since I was a kid. I would think of myself as an entertainer, as I loved seeing the reactions of my parents, or my friends, or some people I had just met, as I tell some sort of tale from a camping trip or a holiday excursion. It was always something I looked forward to whenever I had a story to tell.

While I may only do voice acting as a hobby, my skills have grown in such a short time. I only imagine “What if I got started earlier? Where could my career in voice acting have been had I started after high school in 2012? Why did it take me 8 years to finally start up something I had been passionate about for most of my life?”

I felt I could’ve been so much further along my voice acting career path had I started sooner. But what could have been is not something I regret. It is a lesson. Starting when I did has opened more doors than I expected. I have made new friends that will last a lifetime, experiences that I have shared with them, and determinations to expand on.

For those who want to get a start on something, I say go out and do it. Take that chance.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Kevin Gerard. I am a state worker, as of right now an Associate Governmental Program Analyst, and a voice actor on the side. I am involved in a few voice projects, mainly as the main antagonist Tozu of Project: Eden’s Garden, the main protagonist Soren in the game Judgement, one of the two voices of the Wendigo in Sirenhead: Southpoint, and Blackheath in Royal Duality. I am a connoisseur of Korean BBQ, a fan of animation and video games, an adventurer to be and a nerd when it comes to Dungeons and Dragons. I was a Boy Scout that made it to the highest rank of “Eagle”, and have always found pleasure in being out in nature, be it hiking or camping. As a scout, I try to be the best I can be and set an example for others. I do this by helping others where they need it and asking nothing in return, leaving the environment better than I had found it, and going the extra mile for the things that are important to me.

I started working for the state while going to school, as the state had a student assistant position to learn the ropes. I wanted to work for the state, as my dad had also worked within the state since I was little, and the benefits of the state were certainly worth it. I am part of the California Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative. We are currently working on ways to improve opportunities for children and youth throughout the state of California to receive services regarding preventative, early intervention, and behavioral health services.

For voice acting, I started early into 2020, when Covid kept us all at home. My friends were hours away and we had to stay at home. I had a lot of free time on my hands. So I ordered myself a microphone and began recording and auditioning for projects that caught my interest. I had gotten very lucky in a short amount of time, as I had become acquainted with a variety of individuals with a large following online from Youtube and managed to impress them enough to engage in a routine partnership.

When it comes to what I am most proud of, it would have to be the balance between work and play that I have been able to achieve. I work the standard 8 to 5, while still being able to do my hobby with great success. I have spoken with my Deputy Director at work to allow me the opportunity to blend my hobby into my job, by recording the instructional videos for the schools that will be utilizing our services throughout all of California. I am surprised and overjoyed that in the short couple of years that I have been doing voicework, I have been able to apply my passion into my work in a way that aims to benefit the population as a whole.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Throughout my state and voice acting career, I am constantly faced with rejection. I had said earlier that before I even had a full time state job, I worked as a student assistant for the state. In order to keep that job, I had to pay for more school classes. Every other day, I would go to my classes, go to an interview wearing a nice suit and tie, and proceed to go to work, only to receive a rejection letter the next week. I lost count after 100 applications and 50 interviews before I switched my strategy up and started applying for state jobs that were less ideal for most people. After about a year of dealing with rejections and interviews that would leave me without a response, I finally landed a job at a state prison. It may not have been the flashiest job, but it was a full-time job. It was that foot in the door. From there, I was set within state service.

The same can be said about voice acting. Showbusiness and the like is full of it. The difference between the state and voice acting is that voice acting doesn’t send you a rejection letter a majority of the time. I have submitted over 150 auditions for projects on CastingCallClub and Twitter, and the expectation is that you are bound to hear nothing at all. The community that I have grown familiar with has a phrase when it comes to these kinds of things. Its better to just “Send and Forget”. I can count the number of projects that I have been in on my hands out of all of the auditions I submitted. But the message here is that just because you are rejected, doesn’t mean you weren’t good enough. Someone else may have been a better fit. You just got to keep at it and try for the next big thing. Rejection should not discourage you, but encourage you.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

One of the most rewarding parts of being a creative is seeing a project start off as an idea, watching as the pieces of it come together, and once this piece of art is fully recognized, seeing how people react to it. As a kid, I have always been a bit of a storyteller. I would enjoy doing impressions and silly voices and watching as the audience I am speaking to laugh at something silly or stare with disbelief or horror at some frightening experience. As a creative, I live to see the faces of those who enjoy the art, the media, or the games I help create. There is something about listening to people talk about their theories on what will happen next, seeing the inspiration that projects bring to their fans that results in more art and creativity, and seeing the hype that people feel, that really makes the creative process worth it.

Being able to work on something like Project: Eden’s Garden, with an assortment of artists, animators, musicians, sound designers, programmers, and much more, also gives a new perspective on things. I will say that I was, and still am, very ignorant to the amount of work each process takes for making a game. But seeing it first hand, being involved in it and seeing the amount of time invested to perfect the dialogue, voice the characters, set the tone of the scenes, has humbled me. It is a great honor to be able to work on something like this, and being able to experience the excitement of fans of the project is the best part of it all.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevingerardva/
• Twitter: https://x.com/KevinGerardVA
• Other: [email protected]