Today we’d like to introduce you to Ovais Malik.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My Voiceover journey began at a young age, but I truly had no idea that’s where I’d end up as an adult. Growing up, I’d do impressions and voices for my friends in elementary school. I even developed a barter system in that enabled me to get food in exchange for doing impersonations of my teachers, other students, etc.!
I literally grew up around creative arts and music. I did a little bit of theater as a kid and would make horror movies at home with my brother; script and all! Both my mom and brother sang, which played a big part in me becoming a musician later on in life. I’d watch my favorite cartoons after school and always wanted to know who the voices were BEHIND the characters I was watching. Once I was in college, I started to really look into how one “becomes a voice actor,” and that set me on an adventure that included training, recording demos, and relentless marketing to get myself out there. I wanted to see who would pay me money to do the things I did for candy and food as a 4th grader.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest thing I learned early on was that your success and/or failures are contingent upon the amount of work you put into what you’re doing. This applies to literally anything you do in life. I wanted to make Voiceover my business, so I had to treat it as one, and that obviously comes with its own unique challenges. When you work in the entertainment industry, you quickly learn how cutthroat it is, and having already been a musician for a couple of decades; I had learned this painful reality the hard way. The industry as a whole is designed for very thick-skinned and determined people because you hear “no” way more often than “yes.” This applies to even the most successful people in the industry. It’s just the nature of the beast, so if you’re not prepared for that, it can end your career before it even gets started!
I started out on what’s called a “Pay to play” or “P2P” site with a free 30-day trial and was lucky enough to book my first job there that allowed me to pay for their 1-year membership. I believe it was around $400 for a sporting goods kayak commercial on the East Coast. I probably sent out another 40-50 auditions before booking anything else. I used to record in a “booth” that I made out of foam board with 4 panels and some pyramid foam. It allowed me to travel with my makeshift “studio,” if you will. My good friends and current bandmate’s parents were gracious enough to allow me to use their room to record my auditions. It was much quieter at their place than mine. When that option wasn’t available, I sat inside my tiny closet and recorded. Pro-tip, this is actually something that works great in a pinch because all of the clothes hanging dampen the sound and give you a pretty clean recording! From there, the grind of audition after audition, marketing, and trying to find opportunities just to get auditions begins. That’s the hard part of the business, and the one thing that you have to keep in the back of your mind is that 99% of the time, you’re starting out at the bottom in terms of the type of work you’re going to get. Living and working out of the LA marketplace for 12 years has pinned me up against the best competition in the world. LA and NY are the biggest marketplaces. There are others like Chicago, Austin, and a few others as well, but when you’re in an ultra-competitive market, you have to bring your A-game otherwise, you simply won’t work! The struggles never completely go away; you just learn to manage them better.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a multilingual voice actor who does work in English, Urdu, and Hindi. I’ve lent my voice to brands such as Toyota, NCSOFT, MetLife, and many more. My favorite areas or “niches” of VO are Videogame, Commercial, and Animation, but I’ve also worked in Promo, Trailer, and ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement.)
I’m most proud of the work I’ve gotten on my own. I have 6 agents that represent me throughout the US and internationally, but some of the coolest jobs I’ve done have been from marketing myself! I think being able to speak 3 languages is what sets me apart from most other voice actors. It’s not uncommon to hear of a bilingual actor, but one that speaks 3 languages is quite rare! I do the majority of my work in English but have gotten both voiceover and on-camera work speaking Hindi and Urdu.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think “success” is subjective. For me, it’s doing what you love and knowing you’re living out your dreams. Doing things on your terms. I own my own business as a voice actor, but I’ve worked many jobs where I had someone else I had to report to. I work more now than I ever have in terms of hours put into the day/week, but I don’t feel like it because I’m doing what I love, and I’m my own boss. It’s not always about how much money you make, it’s also about how good you feel when you work and whether you feel energized coming back day after day doing it. I look forward to the new challenges that come my way every morning and love that every day is a bit different from the other.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ovaismalik.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialovaismalik
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ovaismalikvoiceover
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOucT5Qt2uWdwN8DvXtksnQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-724027454
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5415237/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
