We recently connected with Mike Ciporkin and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

My upbringing and inspiration for acting started with TV shows, movies, and cartoons of the late 80’s and 90’s: ‘Power Rangers’, ‘Batman the Animated Series’, ‘X-Men’, ‘Doug’, ‘Ren & Stimpy’, ‘Hook’, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’, ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’, ‘Spaceballs’, ‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights’, and so many more. Live musicals like ‘Phantom the Opera’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ further shaped his love for musical theatre, while films like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Matrix’ ultimately solidified Mike’s desire to one day pursue acting as a career.

In 2018, I stumbled across a social media voice-acting contest and entered on a whim. Not even making it past the first round, something stirred inside of me. And thanks to making some new friends from the contest who encouraged me along with my wife, I ultimately came across a 16-week long acting workshop class that taught me everything about the ‘Business of Voiceover’ from top to bottom. I was immediately hooked and dived in deep, purchasing all of the additional products, services, and coaching necessary to help me officially begin my voice-acting journey. I told myself that the only limitation I would allow would be my own skill and determination.

One booked role slowly beget another and through countless late nights and early mornings, I began to book more and more roles allowing me to further re-invest and expand my growing ‘business’. For me, pursuing voice-acting has essentially been something of a life-long aspiration now fulfilled.

Mike, 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?

I got into the business thanks to a fellow voice actor creating a social media competition. Through the feedback and encouragement of now-dear friends and certainly my own wife, I made the decision and commitment to fully invest my time, money, and resources into pursuing voice-acting seriously. As hard work beget more and more ‘success’, my dedication combined with growing accomplishments continues to give me the confidence to further invest into myself and my business.

As a multi-nominated and Award-Winning professional voice actor, my career accomplishments and diverse client bookings showcase a proven ability to not only win industry awards but also voice for international household brand-name products and services. From documentaries and training modules to multi-million dollar super car commercials, video game characters, game trailers, Japanese anime and cartoons, and everything in between…. I’ve been immensely blessed to book work across virtually all genres of the voiceover industry.

I believe that in this industry there’s not really such a thing as ‘better than’, but I do believe my versatility as an actor and my professionalism in and outside of the recording booth are what make me an appealing voiceover talent and is further validated by the positive feedback, reviews, and repeat clients I’ve had the pleasure to work with over the years.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

It’s my opinion that in order to be competitive in this highly competitive industry, that ‘knowledge really is power’.

I was extremely fortunate that the first 16-week long workshop I invested in, really focused on the core fundamentals of what it takes to create and grow a voiceover business. From the technical audio, acoustic, and engineering aspects…. to the importance of branding, social media presence, networking with industry peers, and continually improving via acting coaching and workshops.

So for my journey, I would say I was ‘lucky’ in learning about all of the necessary resources that it takes to create and grow a voiceover business. It’s very much a passion of mine that I try to pay it forward by providing free audio quality and acting feedback to my peers whenever possible to help encourage and inspire them. ‘Iron sharpens iron’ after all!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I think my career and presence on social media could be considered more of a ‘slow burn’.

I’m not some young-gun talent living right in the heart of Los Angeles or New York. I’m a happily-married father of five kiddos, living on the island of O’ahu, still working a military career on our US Navy ships out of Pearl Harbor. I simply don’t have the time and resources to commit as some of my peers. And that’s okay!

So, for me… this is why I would say my social media presence on social media is more of a ‘slow burn’. My activity or lack thereof is based on the time and motivation I have available. I’ve certainly cultivated some beautiful friendships and productive business partners, but perhaps not at the same pace again as my younger peers who might have more time and fewer responsibilities.

I try to present myself online as truthfully as possible. I ‘Like’ and ‘share’ posts from peers, games, shows, and any other creative media that I am genuinely interested in or passionate about. I abstain from posting political content in any way, and if anything, I only occasionally and appropriately share faith-related content which is true to my core beliefs and values with a focus always on being encouraging and supportive, never condemning or overly critical. We have enough negativity and soap boxes in the world.

Thus, I’ve chosen simply to live, lead, and love by example. ‘I’m the same person online as I am in person, in public, and in private.’ is something of a philosophy I try to adhere to. Makes life easier in my opinion! :)

So perhaps, it could be argued my social media presence is more about ‘quality’ over ‘quantity’. I don’t have tens of thousands of followers, but I do have several dozen trusted peers that I know I can speak to at any time about anything personal or professional and to me there’s more value in that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.MikeCiporkin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeciporkin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeCiporkin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-ciporkin-34102319a/
• Twitter: https://x.com/MikeCiporkin
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MikeCiporkinVO
• Other: IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11052568/

Image Credits

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