Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristin James. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kristin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I had always been interested in acting, I was onstage in preschool, but I guess I never considered it a “real job” until I got to college. I originally attended Mississippi State University as a pre-vet student in their early entry program. One class a lot of us (early entry students) were put in was Speech, which naturally was in the communication building. That also happened to be the building where the theater was located, and all the fliers for auditions. I quickly fell into theater for all of my extracurriculars, but was still convinced I was soldiering on with vet school. Fall finals roll around. One class I was taking was chemistry, another was intro to theater. I studied just about every waking second and knew the chemistry material inside and out. I still somehow only made a B on that final. I know a lot of people would be happy with that, but I was not one of them. The next day, as those of us who do too much and push too hard know, I fell ill. We’re talking full flu, no little tickle or cough. But I still had one final left. My theater final on Hamlet. I did not study even a little bit. So feeling like death, I dragged myself into that final. I got a 104. That’s when I thought, you know, I was the least healthy I’ve been all year and put in basically zero effort outside of class and still excelled here…maybe this is a sign? My last three years at college I was a theater student and I’ve never looked back.

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.

Leaving college with my shiny new degree I had a “well, what now?” moment. I obviously wanted to use the degree I had just earned, but wasn’t entirely sure how to do so full time. All my life people had said to me that “you have a cool voice, you should do something with that!” so I looked into voice over specific classes in my area. My first coach, Joe Loesch, was amazingly supportive. He told me about ACX.com and I’ve been off to the races making audiobooks ever since! I do other genres of voice over occasionally, but audiobooks is where I’ve found joy in work. Now I work regularly with a handful of publishers as well as independent authors making audiobooks full time. I think I was most surprised that the genres I read for pleasure weren’t necessarily the genres I enjoyed narrating the most. If I’m just reading for fun at home I’ll grab a fantasy novel 9 times out of 10, but when it comes to narrating, I’m happiest if I have a thriller. Now, some of my favorite works I’ve narrated have been fantasy, (She Who Rides the Storm by Caitlin Sangster, A Fate of Flame by Tessonja Odette, Island of Exiles by Erica Cameron, and Magic and Misrule by KM Merritt are just a few of my favorites) but there are also projects in that genre that I would drop if it wasn’t my job. I have yet to feel that way about a thriller. Big props to Ellery Kane for working with me independently and helping me discover this about myself.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

A question I get asked a lot is, “You’re a voice actor? How do you even get into something like that?” Since you’ve read the standard, “went to school for theater, continued taking voice specific classes after graduating, ect” answer, I thought I’d get a little more personal.

When I was ten years old I had a heart attack. Thankfully, I was in the hospital when it happened. I was receiving treatment for Kawasaki Disease, which Wikipedia defines as, “an autoimmune disease in which the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. It is largely seen in children under five years of age. It affects many organ systems, mainly those including the blood vessels, skin, mucous membranes, and lymph nodes. Its rarest but most serious effect is on the heart, where it can cause fatal coronary artery aneurysms in untreated children. Without treatment, mortality may approach 1%, usually within six weeks of onset. With treatment, the mortality rate is 0.17% in the U.S.”

It turns out I was in that unlucky “rarest but most serious” category and had 2 aneurysms on the arteries in my heart.

During the attack I was rushed to the ICU where I spent about 5 and a half days of my 11 total days in the hospital. I don’t know how much experience you all have with the ICU, but patients aren’t really allowed to do much of anything except to rest and focus on getting better.

Fortunately, I had some very good friends who not only visited me, but also brought me a very influential present. I was given Lois Lowry’s “The Giver” in audiobook form (on cassette!) performed by Ron Rifkin.

Listening to that story I was able to forget for a little while that I couldn’t play soccer or softball anymore, that my days would be dominated by a medication schedule, or that I didn’t know when or if I would be able to go back to school. I was able to just get lost in the world that Lowry created and Rifkin brought to life.

I still have that copy.

That experience has always stuck with me. I don’t remember that time as blood tests and IVs, but rather as the first time Jonas ever saw color.

If Lowry and Rifkin could do it for me, then maybe, just maybe, I could do it for someone else.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Growing up, it was a rule in our house that “if you ask, you don’t get it.” This was meant to mitigate meltdowns at checkouts and make grocery shopping less annoying for my parents. Because, “if you’re very good while we run these errands, you *might* be rewarded at the end” with a piece of candy or something, but if you were to ask, “Hey do I get something this time?” you would instantly forfeit any reward you may have gotten because you asked. Whereas I understand the reasoning behind it, I feel it should’ve been dropped after elementary school, because all it’s really done long-term is turn me into a terrible self-advocate. Gee, it’s a good thing I’m not an independent contractor who has to reach out and ask for work in order to keep functioning in a capitalist society…oh wait. So yeah, the idea that if I ask, I won’t get the thing I’m asking for was a very hard lesson to unlearn and work through.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kjthevoiceactor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kj_the_voice_actor?igsh=MWtnY3M4dmg0OXdzcg== and https://www.instagram.com/elizabethsnaughtybooknook/?next=%2F
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KJtheVoiceActor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-james-051b2656/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCacalvy0ORweDZLrXRJsbQ