Alicyn
Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alicyn Packard. Join us as we journey through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games.
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Hey everybody, welcome back to Alicyn's Wonderland. Today's guest is best known as Princess Leia on Star Wars: The Forces of Destiny as well as Reina on Baby Shark and you might recognize her from her massive success on Tik Tok. So please welcome Shelby Young.
Hey, Shelby!
Shelby Young
Hello!
Alicyn
It's so good to see you.
Shelby Young
It's good to see you too. Thank you for having me.
Alicyn
You're welcome. This is - this is the studio.
Shelby Young
I love it. I love it.
Alicyn
The woodland…
Shelby Young
The woodland?
Alicyn
The woodland Wonderland.
Shelby Young
The Wonderland cups. Big fan. Yes. Thank you. You have the same say I do choose. I do indeed. I have almost everything you said. You have the dessert platter, which I am missing. But I just got the salt and pepper shaker.
Alicyn
Actually, we could have a kickin’ tea party.
Shelby Young
Right? We could. That sounds so fun. I know.
Alicyn
And it's amazing. Because I feel like I know you from TikTok. But then if we hadn't met until then I think we ran into each other like two or three times in a day.
Shelby Young
Yeah! It was… What was it? It was the firestarter event.
Alicyn
Yes.
Shelby Young
And then the next day it was at sushi. And you were like Hi. And I was like, Oh my God. Hi.
Alicyn
Yeah,yeah, such a small relatives. We live in the same neighborhood. Is this true? That's why this shoot also takes place in the same neighborhood because very happy about. Well, yeah, so I'm curious to hear a little bit about like how you first got your start. I know you have a lot of on camera experience as well as voice acting. But how did you get started as an actor?
Shelby Young
Yeah, it was something that just kind of happened. I always knew I wanted to be an actor. My mom says I would stand in front of the TV and like, recite commercials and things would show. So I was I was a ham. But for fun. My mom saw an ad in the paper for a pageant when I was like, three maybe? And we went to that and it kind of just snowballed from there where I guess I won a pageant. So then I moved on to the next one. I remember absolutely none of this.
But I guess the judges were acting agents at the end. And so they were interested in representing me and it kind of all just happened from there. I started in the on-camera space actually theater then on camera. And then when I was a kid, my mom and I went to New York for a bit and I started working a little bit in voice over there. So I knew the world slightly. I didn't really grasp at that age like that. That was a career too. I thought it was like you're on camera, like that's an actor - very wrong. And then I looked at video game in 2011, 2012. That was no cap. It was just a regular audition through my on camera reps. And after I did that I was like, this is this is it. Like I want to do this for the rest of my life. So that really is when I decided to become a voice actor.
Alicyn
And that was when you were living in New York?
Shelby Young
That was back here. Sorry. I skipped the whole thing. I moved. We moved to New York, we moved to LA, we've been all over the place.
Alicyn
Let’s just stay here.
Shelby Young
Yeah. No, here.
Alicyn
Your MO cap. And then you -
Shelby Young
I did.
Alicyn
Wow. What did that experience feel like?
Shelby Young
Oh, it was incredible. I mean, it was a game called Dead Rising three. It was one of my first like lead roles in really anything like that. I’ve done some indie films in the lead role. But I did a lot of guest stars and that sort of thing. But it was with Tom Keegan, who I don't know if you've worked with him. But he is an amazing director and a very good friend now. But it was just so much fun because it was this mix of on camera stage and voiceover in a way you don't have to worry about the camera because the camera is a part of your headgear that you're wearing, basically.
So you're not worrying about your looks or anything like that. But it is on camera. It's like theater in the aspect of you need to know a full scene like six to eight pages of dialogue needs to be memorized. And you go through the whole thing. And if there's a mess up, they call cut and you start over which I guess is a little different than theater, but you got to know your stuff. And then voice over because it's voice acting right. But it was just like playing pretend you're in a room and there's nothing really there. And you're using your imagination. And I loved it. I love - I love it currently.
Alicyn
Yeah, and tell us about the MOCAP suit.
Shelby Young
So you're in basically a wet suit with ping pong balls on you. They put dots on your face so that they can track your facial muscle movements. And then you're wearing what I call headgear. But it's like a helmet with this metal thing that sticks out with a little camera right here. And it's the worst angle ever. If you see yourself, it's like looking up your nose. But I guess it's the best angle for the animators. But it's just it's really funny on that shoot my character and the lead male player character had a kiss scene and they wanted to capture facial data. So like we'll try to fake it first and then we'll do a real kiss. But try to fake it with your cameras just don't get them tangled, which we did. I was like we were 14 year olds with actual headgear on and we were like, we're stuck.
Alicyn
I remember those days.
Shelby Young
Yep, I had it too.
Alicyn
They don't have to do that with kids anymore.
Shelby Young
They don’t!
Alicyn
Technology.
Shelby Young
I know, right? All the kids now they also like they don't go through awkward phases. I feel like anymore?. Everybody's just so pretty already. And I'm like, Where was this for me when I was…?
Alicyn
YouTube.
Shelby Young
That's it.
Alicyn
Makeup tips on YouTube.
Shelby Young
Oh my gosh.
Alicyn
Well, that sounds like such an amazing experience.
Shelby Young
It was, it was really cool. And that yeah, that just kind of snowballed from there. I started talking to my then on camera reps being like, I want to keep doing this. And it still took a while it was still like another two years, I think before I signed with my agents, and the rest is kind of history. I've just started working with them. And I love them. And I really shifted my focus over to voiceover and mocap more than the on camera space right now.
Alicyn
Yeah. So are you still actively pursuing on camera or?
Shelby Young
No, not right now. It's something that I never want to say any door’s closed, because you never know what's going to happen. But I'm not currently like auditioning and trying for it. I'm just strictly focusing on auditioning for… for voiceover and stuff.
Alicyn
And also, we are very successful content creation career.
Shelby Young
Yeah, content creating is a new thing. I guess it's not I mean, it is new, but not that new. It's since 2020 now since two years, but I just started making videos during the pandemic, because I was bored and stuck inside like everybody else. And I didn't expect it to blow up the way that it has. But it kind of changed my life in a way.
Alicyn
Yeah, I mean, how did it like what was your first viral video? Do you remember?
Shelby Young
Oh, man might so the first video I posted on tick tock did pretty well, I wouldn't say it was viral viral, but it did. It got a hundreds of 1000s of views, I'd say. And that was just me showing like acting jobs I'd had in the past. So then I thought cool. I have followers from this. And then I posted like my own original content and nothing like oh, okay, I get it. But then I did this Siri video where I do smart assistants a lot for film and TV. And I just did this video on a trend, where it's my way or the highway. So I'm like, and if you call me and ask, make sure to put smart in front of it, and instant after it, which is smart assistant, but it blew up. And that was the first like real viral video. And I was like, what is happening right now?
Alicyn
Yeah.
Shelby Young
It was pretty, pretty crazy. And then the Disney Princess morphs, I started doing these videos where I teach people how to do different impressions. So I'll cover like five impressions in a one minute clip. And I'll just kind of explain well, you want to hold your voice in your nose if you're going to do Megara from Hercules and then add a little list to do for punzal. Like this is a big day Pascal. So explaining it I think people liked because it was a mini lesson. And those - that literally is when it all really took off.
Alicyn
Wow.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
So did you get a lot of stalkers from?
Shelby Young
No, I hope not. And if so they're good stalkers because I don't know them. Thanks. I've been very lucky that the majority of my internet experience has been pretty positive. Definitely there are hate comments that everybody gets and that's kind of unfortunately the internet but I - my thought process is I don't care. Yeah, I'm having fun. And I'm hoping most people enjoy the content. But the few people that don't I'm just like, I don't know why you took the time out to comment something negative, but that is a you thing and not a me thing and I’m not gonna let that bother me.
Alicyn
So I'm not gonna let it bother me. And it just drove up my algorithm right.
Shelby Young
I'm like, thank you for that. This is a monetized video.
Alicyn
So how much of your time are you spending then creating videos for social?
Shelby Young
It depends, honestly, because my main job of course, is voice acting. So when I have a busy week, sometimes I don't have time to do anything with the social media stuff. If I have a slower week, it depends on the video I'm making anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours depending on if I need to change locations of where I am, hair and makeup or if I don't care, and I'm just filming it while I'm in bed because it's a different style
Alicyn
Can be a filter…
Shelby Young
Exactly right. Oh my god TikTok filters have saved my life. I always joke with my boyfriend. I'm like no one on the internet knows what my real face looks like. But yeah, it really depends on those when I'm doing impression videos, that takes a little bit of time because I'm a perfectionist. And I want to make sure when I'm putting out an impression that it's a good impression. So I'll sit and I'll really work on it just the same as if I have a voice match audition before I jump in. And then with those more videos, it's hard because I don't cut so if I am on the third impression out of five and I flubbed something, I go back to the beginning and start over so those can take a little bit of time.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah. And so when you started your you know, content creating for Tik Tok? Were you already experienced at editing? Or is this something you've learned along the way?
Shelby Young
I mean, I've made like joke videos and edited in iMovie before but nothing like this. So no, this was something I learned. I had no idea how to use the TikTok app the first time I opened it. I still struggle because now I do a lot on YouTube shorts as well. And I still struggle on there sometimes. Snapchat, forget about it. Yeah, it's something I had to teach myself as I went.
Alicyn
Yeah, well, I love how like your videos are so snappy, thank you and have such a great cohesive style that I wondered if it was like just being on Tik Tok at the right time too. I mean, yeah, obviously talent and skill 100% as well. But there's like people that have been on the app for a few years sort of inherently know it's like cut this cut this make it shorter. Make it tighter.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
The slow zoom in. I feel like have you ever seen Dan pop in Myers like, Too old for TikTok and being like how do I do that?
Shelby Young
That's so funny. No, I think it's just because I honestly got addicted to watching videos before I ever even posted my own so I knew the style of video I liked and I was like I need to figure out how to do this myself.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Yeah. Well it amazing and has Do you feel like it's made significant changes in your your voice acting career?
Shelby Young
I would say it has definitely been helpful. There are a few jobs I've gotten because of tick tock. There are other jobs where I just worked on a game and I ended up voicing like 10 different characters for this game and I knew the director previously, but he had said he was like, I didn't know you had this range until I saw your Tik Tok video. So I knew you could play this little kid and then this old woman because I saw it online. So it's helpful in that aspect. But I always tell people when they're starting on Tik Tok, especially voice actor friends that if you go at it expecting something workwise to come out of it. Yeah, it probably won't.
It's one of those things that it's you being genuine and having fun will get you more attention than if it's something where it's like, you're just putting your demo reel constantly out there. Right? So it's one of those things I tell other friends that are like, do I need to be on TikTok for my voiceover career to take off? I'm like, not at all no, no, be on Tiktok if you like it, like if you love it, if it's genuinely fun, and you want to spend your time doing this, like, absolutely go for it. Nothing bad's gonna come of that. But if it's something that you're dreading doing, and you think you have to now in order to book a voiceover job, I don't think that that's the case at least.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Shelby Young
Yeah. What's your opinion on that actually?
Alicyn
You know, I feel like it's all kind of starting to mesh together. But I don't think it the change has happened yet. I don't think anyone's not working because they're not making TikTok videos, right? I do think you know, but it's, I think the challenge is, you know, showcasing your skills in a way that's not just like, hey, look at me Show All right, you know, which is like creating content and creating value. And I feel like you do that so well.
Shelby Young
Thank you.
Alicyn
I appreciate that. So I mean, I think it's a skill probably most people should start learning because I don't think short term video content is going anywhere.
Shelby Young
Oh, no, not at all. I do think it is such a cool thing. And a great thing to be able to create jobs for yourself in a way as well, because that's another thing outside of just voiceover with these short term or short form videos, I'll end up getting brand deals now with companies that I hadn't worked with before. And that was something I knew nothing about and wasn't expecting to happen.
But that's helped me also now with contracts, because I understand contracts a bit more after reading so many now on my own, because usually, that was something with just my agents to take care of that. Now I'll look over my voiceover contract sometimes if it's something that's not just standard, and I'll be like, what, what it was, what does this mean? Okay, interesting. Maybe we should this out.
Alicyn
Yeah, asking for what you want. It's an empowered place to be.
Shelby Young
Totally, totally.
Alicyn
Yeah. And that's hence the content, what a content creator is, and we're seeing this whole new side of entertainment pop up, it's very cool. It's an exciting time to be creating. But you know, that the flip side of that is, sometimes it feels like it's never enough. You know, no matter how many videos I make in a week, I feel like it's never enough, I didn't create that one comedy, one that I wanted to do, I still have the sketch idea that I didn't…
Shelby Young
I have a list on my phone of like 50 ideas that I have no idea what I will get to, but eventually I will because what happens is, you write down these ideas, I don't know if it's the same for you, but I'll write down these ideas. I'm like, This is what I'm gonna do today. But then I'll be scrolling and I'll get an idea for something different and I'll do that instead. And then I'm like, Oh, I'm just adding to my never ending list.
Alicyn
You can make a sketch about that.
Shelby Young
I guess!
Alicyn
The never ending.
Shelby Young
Another thing that like because it became work that I do hate my own brain for like getting stuck on sometimes is I never used to care or be concerned about views or likes or any of that. And now it's one of those things because of working with brands. I don't worry about this as much I guess with voiceover but I want them to see my popular content to make sure that they know that I'm someone that can get them a lot of views or, or whatever it is that they're looking for. So I get stressed now when a video doesn't do well and I used to never care about that. So that's the only thing that I'm still trying to like chill… chill with.
Alicyn
Do you have any advice for newer people that might be creating content to stay mentally well?
Shelby Young
Take a break. Take breaks, take breaks. That is the biggest thing take a full - I need to do this myself but social media breaks are so important because it isn't the real world. It is filters and it is the best of your life. It's not the moments that you're probably experiencing more often that you don't want to share online. I mean some people are really good about being very open and I have been too, either health issues or just feeling sad or mental health right but 99% of the content we see is you know people at their best people happy at a fun event. Looking great at the beach, whatever it is. So sometimes that can get to you and I just think taking a break is the best thing you can do.
Alicyn
Take a break. Take a break. Yeah, but shoot the content first.
Shelby Young
Yeah, shoot the content. Take a break, post it when you get back.
Alicyn
So obviously you are the voice for Princess Leia for a number of different projects.
Shelby Young
Yes.
Alicyn
Can you talk a little bit about how you first - your very first job?
Shelby Young
Yeah, my first job was Star Wars Forces of Destiny. It was my first real animated job. And it was just an audition, which is crazy. It was an audition I recorded at the time in my walk in closet that wasn't even set up to be remotely like a booth. It was when I was first starting out. I think I was on my old like, Blue Yeti, which my agency was like, get rid of that.
But it was I had an audition and it was code names and everything for it. But they had said they wanted a young it was wasn't as much about the sound, but they had said like a similar sound to young Carrie Fisher, but it was more about just the character being very strong. And I read on it.
Alicyn
Did you know it was Princess Leia?
Shelby Young
I figured it out, figured it.
Alicyn
Tipped you off.
Shelby Young
I read on it, and I forgot about it. And I think it was like two or three weeks later, I get an email from my agent saying, “Hey, congrats! You booked this!” And I was like, excuse. My excuse me, was, I'm sorry, what? And so that I found out I was playing Princess Leia in an animated Disney show like the dream like it was so cool. I cried. I called my mom I was freaking out. She'd never seen Star Wars. So she didn't get it. She was very happy for me. But she was just like, okay, and I'm like, No, Mom is Princess Leia like you don't understand. And I went in, we recorded and I think we were at Margarita Mix that first time. And the team was insanely nice. And just so cool. And it was a dream project. Like it was just the coolest.
Alicyn
Aww!
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
So and I heard that you hadn't actually seen the Star Wars movies till like 2011. Is that true?
Shelby Young
It is true. It was when I was working on that Dead Rising game. So we were filming up until the holidays. And then we were going to have a break and come back in January. And I forget who was on set. But someone found out I hadn't seen Star Wars and he started giving me a hard time and calling me your worship fullness, which is what Han calls lay out and make fun of her. And I'm like, please stop calling me princess calling me this. Like, I'll watch Star Wars over the break. Okay, fine. It's like just call me Shelby again.
So I sat down with my guy friends, and we put on a new hope. And I thought like, I'll just watch this one. And that's it. And then that finished. I was like, We got to watch them all. And so in the next like two or three days, we binge the OT, and then we did the prequels and I was hooked.
Alicyn
Wow.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Yeah. And so that but that was still before.
Shelby Young
Yeah, that was before you became before became a part of that galaxy. Yeah, that was crazy. It just, it's so funny. Like looking back now that he was literally teasing me calling me these names that Han would call Princess Leia. And then later I was Princess Leia and like a few projects, which is crazy.
Alicyn
Wow.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Hey, guys, this is Alicyn Packard. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that if you like the show, please, please, please remember to subscribe to this podcast. And leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much.
So after voicing Princess Leia for so long, is it weird then voicing a villain in the bad back?
Shelby Young
Oh, I loved it.
Alicyn
Let's talk about that.
Shelby Young
I love playing both sides. You know, it was just really fun and very different. There's something it's one thing to voice an already established character like that already, in itself is such a cool thing. But there's also this added pressure of, I want to do right by this character that's already been created by Carrie Fisher, right? Like the fans know who Princess Leia is.
And then it's another thing to completely create a new character in that same galaxy, which is amazing, but it's my own take on whatever I want it to be. And that was very cool. And yeah, it was it was awesome to play a baddie, it was my first villain role. Yeah, can we hear what she said? The Empire is not your enemy, when a mandatory curfew will be put into effect for your protection when I've just loved that, but it was basically that
Alicyn
Have you ever done a video every day? She talks to Princess Leia?
Shelby Young
No, that would be amazing. Different time periods but I wish.
Alicyn
It was like a little device or something goes back to the future. And you also you did ADR and Obi Wan Kenobi I did is yours all up in the mix.
Shelby Young
It's been kind of crazy yeah, I got asked on a Tiktok comment someone was like how many Star Wars projects have you been in? And I think it was 12 or 14 now which -
Alicyn
Wow.
Shelby Young
Blows my mind? Yeah, it's literally again like I'm such a fangirl for it that every time I ended up booking or getting asked to work on something in that galaxy. I'm just like, are this my life? Like I don't understand. But yeah, working on Obi Wan was really really cool. I do a lot of ADR and looping so you know we are very big secret keepers because we see these projects and post production before they come out so we knew the secrets of the show and that was a cool one to keep about that you've seen the show right?
Alicyn
I have not seen the show.
Shelby Young
I don't want to spoil anything man. I was only gonna give away something in the first episode in case you're watching Lucasfilm. It's already out but I did voice a droid. I got a featured little VO role in that episode. The first episode was really cool and I was not expecting it because there's no guarantee…
Alicyn
Sure.
Shelby Young
We tested it out and they're like, we might use this we might not. And then there it was on the screen and I was at Disney World with my sister. We're at the hotel watching it. I was like, they used it! It’s me! I’m the droid! I still get so excited every single time. It'll never get old.
Alicyn
I’m the droid you’re looking for!
Shelby Young
I am! Yes, yes! Yeah, it was very cool. That's great.
Alicyn
So in addition to Princess Leia, you off obviously I'm working on the Baby shark for Nickelodeon, which is like a completely different very different guy live show. Yeah. What do you think about working on preschool shows as compared to other shows?
Shelby Young
Yeah, I absolutely love it. It's to me at the end of the day, it's all acting. Yeah, but when I was a little kid watching cartoons, I remember just learning so much from them and being so excited by them and the thought of a little kid watching me and a cartoon and learning for my character like we just did. This is amazing episode I cried when I read the script. And when I saw it, I was a tear jerker, but it's this whole episode about adoption, and it's a Mother's Day episode.
And my character, Rayna Manta. I have a little son William, whose baby sharks best friend, but he's a pilot fish. And I'm a manta ray. And so he's not understanding why our family doesn't look like all the other families. And they touch on it. Because there's some LGBT couples, there's like, basically showing that there is no normal family like you can be a family no matter what.
And with him, it's just about the adoption story. And I tell him no matter what, he's my son, and I love him so much, and I could cry right now. But it was like, it was so beautiful. And I'm like, wow, like this is going out into the world. And little kids are growing up watching this. And like, I'm sure out there, there are little kids that are, are adopted, that have had similar questions that are going to learn from this and feel like oh, this is totally normal. Cool. Like, yeah, it felt very special with that.
Alicyn
Yeah. It's like you're making a positive impact just by the characters you're putting out there.
Shelby Young
Yeah, by having fun, honestly. Which is crazy.
Alicyn
Yeah. So I mean, when you're working on something so light, and something that's so wholesome, has a real educational and for preschool. Have you watched it with any kids? Have you seen the fan reaction?
Shelby Young
I wish I you know, it's funny. I used to nanny and babysit and all that, and I don't anymore, but I used to, I remember watching shows like Sophia the First and we would have watched Baby Shark together. But I do not have any little kids in my life to watch it with. I'd feel a little creepy knocking on doors mean like, Do you have a kid I can watch my show with? So no.
Alicyn
You can watch it with my kid.
Shelby Young
But no, I've definitely watched it myself. I've watched episodes that I'm not in because I genuinely think it's like it's a really good show. There are definitely those educational moments but something I really like about it is it's played it like a regular cartoon in the aspect of not like you know, Dora the Explorer, where you're talking to the kid. It's very much just story driven, and fun and wacky and funny in the voice acting. The cast is, they're phenomenal. Yeah, Fin-nominal. Fin.
Alicyn
Fin-omenal!
Shelby Young
Yeah. We make puns the entire time we record.
Alicyn
Do you record ensemble style?
Shelby Young
We've did a few times over zoom. We haven't been able to do it in person yet. But I'm like crossing my fingers that we'll get back into Nickelodeon and get to do that. Oh, that's the dream.
Alicyn
That would be so fun. And do… which director have you worked with on that?
Shelby Young
Serena Irwin?
Alicyn
Great.
Shelby Young
Yeah, she's amazing. Have you worked with her?
Alicyn
Well, indirectly. Yes.
Shelby Young
She's awesome. Yeah.
Alicyn
Amazing.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Cool. So and now as you're, you know, you've you've got a lot of work going on with the VO What do you see as the next step for you?
Shelby Young
Gosh, honestly, like just continuing what I'm doing. I want to do this until I die like I have no retirement plan. I am not going to retire. I will be voicing characters until my voice runs dry. No, I love this. I love this.
Something I would like to do in the future. It's voice direct as well. Yeah. I'm super interested in directing for animation. I've done a few very small like for fun projects. Oh, really? Yeah, there was during the pandemic, like the height of the pandemic, there's a creator society. And they did this little. It was a - what was it? We had one week, they put five of us strangers together over zoom to create our animated shorts. And we had to come up with the plot, we had to write the whole thing. We had to figure out the animatics. Or if we wanted to fully animate it, do the voice acting all of the above. And I ended up voice directing that little short, and we won most creative, which was very cool.
Alicyn
Awesome. Is that something we can see online? Yeah, it's online. I'm blanking on the title of what it was, but can send me the link. I'll put it in the show notes.
Shelby Young
Perfect. Okay, cool. But yeah,it was fun. It was a little girl who's scared to lose her first tooth but then it's in her mouth and the teeth are alive and they're freaking out about like what comes next.
Alicyn
Oh that’s so cute. That’s beyond the great wide open, exactly. Wow. Yeah. I mean, well, it seems like a natural fit to having been a performer most-
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Your life.
Shelby Young
Absolutely. Yeah. It's just something I because I - you know, and as a voice actor yourself, like we self direct ourselves constantly for auditions. I know. That's it. I wish I wish directed auditions were a thing sometimes. But oh, yeah. It's one of those things where you learn what's funny, like what works, what the timing is, of course, again, it's about feeling More than it is about what it sounds like. But you know, when it sounds right or when it sounds wrong, I'll even sometimes I'll just edit them because I just needed a half a second more of a pause, and I'll know that I need that. So it's one of those things that I would love to eventually jump into a booth and help figure out with other actors.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
That sounds amazing.
Shelby Young
Yeah, the dream.
Alicyn
The dream, it's all coming into fruition. A lot of dreams been formed on these hard plastic chairs.
Shelby Young
Said it here first!
Alicyn
That's amazing. So I mean, gosh, if we kind of ended is okay. I want to get back to Siri. I mean, we kind of, I just want to see, I mean, we kind of covered everything I didn't write. For the Senate. I want to make sure that we wrap it up in it. Is there anything else that you want to talk about any upcoming projects that you can?
Shelby Young
Not really I mean, I'm allowed to just say I'm Leia again in LEGO Star Wars summer vacation, and then I'm Skull in God of War Ragnarok. But I can't like say anything past those. Yeah. What just dropped? Elderscrolls just dropped.
Alicyn
Let's talk about that.
Shelby Young
Sure. I think I'm allowed to talk about it. Yeah, yeah, it's out. Its out.
Alicyn
We get two weeks. Yeah, there we go. Do you just announce a new project? Elder Scrolls?
Shelby Young
Yes. Elder Scrolls Online. High aisle.
Alicyn
High aisle.
Shelby Young
Yes, yeah.
Alicyn
High aisle as opposed to low iron
Shelby Young
as opposed to low. Yes, it's a it's a fun DLC, I voiced three different characters in it, which is really fun. My main character is really a Derval i There's a new companion character that Laura Bailey is voicing named Isabel. And I'm her best friend in this plot of this storyline here. And she was very fun. She starts out as this very kind of spoiled girl. But then she goes on an adventure and gets kidnapped and a lot of things happen. And she grows up a lot. And you root for her. How old is she? She's in her 20s. Yeah, and then I play a dark elf. It's a smaller part for that one. But I help there's a card game within the video game, which is pretty cool. And I'm one of the people you have to be in that. And then I'm a very devout Lightkeeper. And I have a deeper voice for her just to change things up
Alicyn
Keeping the light on the light.
Shelby Young
Keeping the light.
Alicyn
So how do you when you first get started audition sites for a project? Yeah. How do you approach preparing for the role?
Shelby Young
Yeah, absolutely. I usually skip reading the breakdown. I jump right into I'll look at character art. But I don't really want to read what the description is right off the bat. I'll get those notes and ideas from the actual script itself. Unless it's one of the ones where you know those block lines where it's just like nobody else sided. Determined.
Alicyn
So how do you approach preparing for a role?
Shelby Young
Yeah, when it's an audition, I'll usually skip reading the description. First, I'll look at character art just to see a jour or an idea of what I think that character might sound like what voice I'd see coming out of their mouth, but I like to get my infer from the script, I guess who the character is. First, I'll record that. And then I'll go back and read the breakdown and see if I kind of hit the notes the casting was looking for. And you know, sometimes those descriptions are super, super helpful and exactly what you need. But other times it can be a little confusing where it might say she's determined, but then shy, right? So it's one of those things where it's sort of up to you but I have worked on the script just a little bit there.
But I'll find the voice again, it really is about the image and then I put myself in that position. Like that's kind of I guess my acting style is I'm playing pretend as myself. So this is the character that is Shelby playing pretend so I'll find those natural, I guess Shelby isms that I'll add in sometimes just because that's how I would say it and that makes my read stand out from someone else's read just like you would put in your own Alicyn-isms that maybe I wouldn't snort laugh there, but that's what came out when you did it or I'll add it in like an umm uhh and that's not how someone else would do it. So I find ways to make it my own. But then yeah, I usually infer who the character is from the script rather than just the description.
Alicyn
And are you always just auditioning by yourself in your booth?
Shelby Young
Yeah, I am. I have a little stuffed Porg that I keep in there. He watches over me.
Alicyn
A what?
Shelby Young
A porg. From Star Wars. Yeah. He's my companion while I record and my cat that's all reaching grasping at the door, right? But no, it's it is me by myself. It's very rare. Unless it's a mocap audition, then obviously, I'll have a friend helped me tape it or be my reader. But yeah, it's usually just me, myself and I.
Alicyn
It's a good good group.
Shelby Young
Yeah.
Alicyn
Good group of ladies.
Shelby Young
Thanks. There. All right. She's wonderful.
Alicyn
And I can't be trusted. And so then once you know like, the process that you go through where you know, you've recorded a character, then you're waiting and then you see it on air. Yeah. What is it like to them experience? Have you ever had moments where you're like, is that me?
Shelby Young
Yes. It doesn't sound like me. Yes. Well, okay. So I'm a very just human being. And I am always convinced that I have been recast. And no one has told me until something comes out. Especially on really high profile ones that I'm excited about. Usually I skip to the end credits. And I look for my name, and then I go, “Oh no.” It’s happened. It's happened to every voice actor.
The first time it happened, I was super bummed about it. But I talked to like three friends were all like, Oh, you're fine. That happens to everyone. And it's something you can't take personally, because it's so easily that it just they went a completely different direction with the character, or that one time it was the production house has changed, and they just already had someone that they usually use for things. So it's just you never know what it is. And it's never like, we hate you. You were bad. You know, it was for the greater good of the project. But yeah, I'm honestly always just like, I hope it's me. I hope it's me. And it's me. And it's even, like, sometimes it's even projects where I've seen a clip and I'm already in the clip. I'm like, Well, maybe something will change before it does on TV. I don't know what's gonna happen. My boyfriend's like, You need to calm down.
Alicyn
Just making sure.
Shelby Young
Once it's out, I'm always just like, wow, this is insane. It's always a pinch me moment. Honestly, it is. It's truly like, I'm living my dream. Like I am doing exactly what I want to be doing. And so when those moments happen, it's that shock of like, I'm doing it like this is it?
Alicyn
Yeah. Do you ever you ever like wow, when you see your hear your voice coming out of that character? Like, I didn't even think that was me. Yeah,
Shelby Young
Absolutely. It's funny. I mean, I can hear myself so clearly, I think because I do so much impression work as well. I like, I really know my own voice. So I'm able to pick my voice out of even background voices when we're yelling, and it's a whole group of people. I usually can be like, Oh, I That's my tone. I can hear me there. But there have been a few times where I'm like, I can't believe I did that voice like I know. It's me. I can hear it's me, but it's not me. And it's very different. Okay, cool. I think The Bad Batch actually was one of those where I'm like, I know what my British accent sounds like. But hearing it come out of such a cool character. Like, such a commanding character too, I'm like, Okay, I did that.
Alicyn
Guess you didn't catch this. This is me. Pretty cool.
Shelby Young
No, but it's yeah, it's always really surprising. They're also sometimes that you know, we all cringe at our own work, too. I'm usually very proud of my voice work. It was the on camera stuff more than I would be like, Oh, God, I can't watch this. I can't watch this. Why is it so hard? I don't know. Even watching back my own TikToks I'll sometimes cringe at my own face. But when it's my voice, I'm usually like, Alright, that was cool.
Alicyn
Yeah, I can completely relate to too many angles
Shelby Young
Too many faces, too much too many things.
Alicyn
Too many things. So then what advice would you give somebody who was aspiring to be a voice actor?
Shelby Young
Yeah, I've said this before, I'll say it again, get yourself into acting classes. That is number one. It is acting first and foremost, a lot of people especially again, with social media, I get people reaching out to me, saying like, I can do this silly voice. And I know how to do this and do that. And that's great. And that's an awesome skill to have. But that will not get you far if you don't have acting to back that up. So if it's someone who is completely green, I tell them to not even worry about starting with a voiceover class. Just take whatever classes are available to you in your area, if that's a college course, or a high school drama class, or if you are somewhere where there a scene study classes and improv and cold reading. Yeah, those are very important skills to have then start with the voiceover classes. But it's one of those things that it's hard, it takes a long time before you start to see any successes and you have to genuinely love it and if you do, don't stop just keep going for it.
Alicyn
Yeah, yeah, I know that's been my experience too is things seem to take so much longer than in your mind like I had like a business plan coming out of college and it was like I think year five it was like “Win Emmy!”
Shelby Young
Obviously it only takes five years
Alicyn
They do touring stand up come with me, you know, series regular and yeah, things just take a long time.
Shelby Young
Yeah, people that don't live or in work in this industry. I don't think understand that. Because you don't hear about all of the failed auditions. You hear those success stories, right? You have people announcing the project they're working on so it's hard to gauge how long it took someone to get to the position that they're in unless they're openly talking about it. It's like those overnight Hollywood she was just discovered drinking a milkshake. Right like 15 years later, right? It happens every now and then. Sure. But it is such a it is a job it is a career it's a hard work and just like very different career than being a doctor but just like if you were going to be a doctor you go to school to train to be a doctor if you want to be a voice actor. You go to classes to train to be a voice actor.
Alicyn
Did you study acting in Los Angeles?
Shelby Young
Yeah, I was. I've been in classes my whole life. I still every now and then we'll hop into a workshop just to like keep up on animation trends because they are constantly changing. Yeah, but yeah, I took a few I used to study with Andrew McGarry and was a teacher I was without here for a long time and then John Houma, and then Anthony Langdale. But yeah. I took a lot of classes in my youth.
Alicyn
Yes. It's basically grads, basically. Right. And then when you were getting your career started, did you have a survival career? Did you have a day job?
Shelby Young
I used to? Yeah, absolutely. I had a bunch of random day jobs. I hopped around my favorite was probably being a party princess.
Alicyn
I did that too.
Shelby Young
Yeah. Yep.
Alicyn
I'm not surprised. You have your like little magic kit and everything magic. You do match.
Shelby Young
No, I did not do magic. I did face painting.
Alicyn
Oh, yeah. balloon animals.
Shelby Young
So Nope. I never got that far.
Alicyn
Yeah, we did. We had it was like, okay, 10 minutes for this and 10 minutes for that.
Shelby Young
Oh, man. No, I worked with one company that I loved. And they were great. And they were more it was an actual, like location that people would come into for parties than I did mobile parties with a different company. It was so so hard. So scary. They would send me with just like a giant suitcase full of dress up clothes kit and like, they would just send me by myself. And I'm like, I don't know where I am or what I'm doing. And I'm so scared.
Alicyn
Like picking it up like okay, Westlake Village in downtown LA. Yeah,
Shelby Young
Yeah, Culver City. Yeah, that was that the mobile part wasn't my favorite. The one that was actually stationary was so much fun, though. Oh my gosh. I've always worked with kids. So the nanny and babysitting. Yeah. And then I had just odd jobs. I worked at min cheese for a while the frozen yogurt place.
Alicyn
Do they give you free ice cream? Yes. They do amazing.
Shelby Young
They do indeed. But you have to lube with the machines learn how to do that. Wait, what? Yeah, you have to take them apart and lube the pieces after you wash them to then put it back together so everything runs smoothly, but it was definitely always a joke and
Alicyn
What kind of oil do they use for that?
Shelby Young
You don't want to know.
Alicyn
Actually, I do. I really do. Like an ice cream machine. Hey Susie, it's so great chatting with you about your multifaceted multi talented itself. And thank you for coming on.
Shelby Young
Thank you for having me.
Alicyn
This was so much fun. Thank you everybody for tuning in. Make sure to subscribe, and we'll see you next week.
Shelby Young
Bye!
Outro
Thanks for tuning in to Alicyn's Wonderland, where we explore the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Please remember to subscribe and leave us a review. For more episodes of Alicyn's Wonderland. Please visit us at www.alicynpackard.com See you next week.