Hi! My Name is Mandi Kaye. Who Am I?

Four years ago, I decided to finally watch the Battlestar Galactica reboot. I know, right? What the heck took me so long?

Once I got started, I took to Facebook to share my thoughts (not a live-tweet, but a live…book?) in a rolling commentary and found that folks were utterly delighted in my reactions to a show that was already much beloved. Those interactions gave me the final boost I needed to start my own podcast – Pop Culturally Deprived. A show dedicated to watching cult hits and classics for the first time. And I was shocked to discover that this shy introvert loved the sound of my own voice when I would edit and listen to the episodes. 

I loved using my voice to tell a story. I found that my podcasts (yes, plural) gave me a platform, and I quickly became passionate about using my voice to tell stories. Which, in turn, made me passionate about becoming a voice actor.

My voiceover journey is atypical; I don’t have any formal acting training. What I do have is sheer determination and an infinite online world of resources and opportunities that have helped me learn and grow. I started on Reddit. I’m not sure how many voice actors can say that, actually. 🤔An author was sourcing narrators for his first audiobook – he was looking for a collection of narrators to each read a chapter of his anthology, and I was selected! It was my very first voice acting job, and it paid a whopping $15. I loved every minute of it. The following year, John asked me to be the sole narrator of his next book.

When I was Googling for resources, I found websites like Behind the Voice Actors and Casting Call Club. I spent a lot of time auditioning on CCC – even landing a few (unpaid) roles – before I took my first official class. CCC’s VA 101. After that, I was officially smitten with voice acting – and the rest is history.