South African Voice Artist wins major Voiceover Award

Adam Behr is an international voice artist, feature film puppeteer and creature effects supervisor. originally from Johannesburg, he moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1994 .He has won the 2007 Voicey Award for "Best Male Voice of the Year" . He is currently in the role of Voice producer, setting up North American animation voice talent for several South African animated feature films. He will also be involved as a voice actor in these projects.

Adam Behr has been active professionally in film and television since 1987. Educated at the School of Dramatic Arts (Wits University, S. Africa), he is a trained voice artist , producer, puppeteer, actor, production and costume designer, art director, director, casting director, special make-up effects artist and business administrator, with numerous credits in each one of these categories.

He's worked on many major Hollywood projects, including Muppet movies, Cats and Dogs, I, Robot, Alien vs Predator 2, Snakes on a Plane, Snow Dogs, Slither, The Santa Clause 2, Scary Movie 3, The Sixth Day, and Willard, among others and TV credits include, The X-Files, Millennium, Stargate SG-1, The outer Limits, Poltergeist, The New Addams Family, The Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles: The Next Mutation, and many more..

As a Voice Artist, Adam has worked with many of the world's top companies such as CNN , Sony, Coca-Cola, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, ,KBR-Halliburton, Mattel, Mainframe, Electronic Arts, John Hancock ,Harley-Davidson, Blockbuster, US Health, Redtaxfrog.com, CCP Games, Nandos.com ( voice of Nandos Canada, ) and in South Africa (working remotely from Canada) Private Property.co.za commercials and other media, BMW and Harley Davidson Stores, Restaurant chain commercials and more...He has a home voiceover studio and mobile voiceover studio.

Adam's job as Voice producer for International feature films will encompass these areas:

Sourcing and engaging experienced animation voice casting directors, voice directors, and Canadian and American audio recording facilities. Using his existing relationships to access a range of voice talent to audition without audition cost from home studios via mp3 and email.
Brokering agent and union deals to accomodate each production's financial and legal parameters.
Co-ordinating recording sessions and rehearsal sessions.
Helping to the search and engagement of celebrity voice talent.
Helping to manage financial transactions for payments of personnel and facilities in Canada, through local production entities.

In addition to the volume of daily work he does from his home studio with clients all over the world , he also voices animation characters, currently working on the US animated series "Edgar and Ellen" .He works in many different dialects and accents, and in addition to narration, animation, commercials and other presentations, Adam is on the verge of a promising foray into voicing movie trailers, having studied with Don La Fontaine, the "in a world..." guy who has been the world's top trailer voice for the last 30 years.

Adam's role of International Voice Producer, is to provide much needed North American voices to foreign animated productions, and other voices who are experienced in feature film level voice acting. Many of these will be done from cost-effective Canada , as well as some celebrity talents from Los Angeles.

Working electronically is typical today in the world of voiceover, with clients patching in with talent from different parts of the world . The advantage of using an established voice group - is that they are people who have worked together a lot- have a natural synergy , and many years of experience voicing well-known animated characters. They will also all be in one room and be able to play off each other for dramatic advantage - and the technology today makes it very easy and cost -effective to work with a director remotely if need be.

Here is what top Hollywood Voice coach , Nancy Wolfson of Braintracksaudio.com had to say about Adam's Voicey Award:

Nancy Wolfson:

"I have a lovely testimonial on my web site that Adam wrote - it thanks me, but I feel it really says much more about him and what he has accomplished thanks to the on-line services he has used to catapult himself to the top:

"I am proof that even a person with a foreign accent living outside the United States working remotely can make it in Hollywood VO with the right training from Nancy Wolfson."

I wish I could take all the credit, but the fact is, I had the pleasure of training a gentleman, enhanced his genetic sound and intellect with what I had to offer, took it to market with what Voices.com offers, and who now makes us all look like winners every day as he realizes his dreams, booking after booking after booking.

Of course, there is a world beyond Voices.com, and Adam is a winner in that arena, as well - he's working every pipeline there is, and this exemplifies where the entire business of VO is going and how it is getting there.

Adam has made the most of a cyber career, having studied and had his demos produced by not just me, but the best teachers and producers in North America (including Marc Graue Studios), garnering the most highly sought-after agents in the top markets, the best-of-the-best agents in small markets, representation internationally in places far outside the American "box," and now enjoys relationships with clients who "buy" him all over the world.

When he first started studying with me, I told him it would be tough to create a career in VO without living here in Hollywood or NYC. He was not deterred. Many of us told him it would also be difficult for him to create big earnings for himself because he has a swirl of a semi British-sounding kind-of-Mid-Atlantic indescribable accent - not only not mainstream American, but not archetypal British, either. He is from South Africa, but has lived in North America for over thirteen years, so it is difficult to pigeonhole his accent into anything mainstream or obvious.

He was one of the first who trained with me through my entire coursework over the phone (from another country, mind you!) and his launch into the market inspired agents' willingness to work with people who could shoot the auditions over the net and not have to live here to be physically present for the auditions.

He finished my coursework and procured top LA representation from his home in Vancouver before many of my students studying with me here in LA who began at the same time he did even got thru the first six chapters.

His New York agents were suspicious when I told them Adam intended to create a career in trailers. I was told to tell him, "We all know how elephant-through-the-eye-of-the-needle breaking into THAT area of the business is...so how's he going to break into American trailers when we know only five guys get hired to do them and none of them has an accent that would make them sound anything but American."

But Adam has never been daunted by seemingly insurmountable odds, and the very week he was told this, he was booked to voice the trailers for the largest multi-player on-line video game in the world, selected from hundreds of top talent who had auditioned.

One of the two trailers was later used as their flagship E3 presentation ( North America's major Videogame expo).

He has since booked major network DVD trailers and upcoming independent feature film trailers.

Like many companies in the business world - Adam looked beyond the borders of the country he lives in (Canada) and made the world his marketplace. He now has clients in the US, Canada, UK, Austria, India, Iceland, Holland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, South America, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Hong Kong, Eastern Europe, and more.

He works almost daily in many of the following dialects in English or other languages: Afrikaans language, English/British, English/American, English /African, English/Middle Eastern, English /East Indian, English/South African, and English/Australian.

He has voiced work for leading corporations - many of whom have hired Adam as their "international" voice for worldwide useage. A partial list of his buyers includes: Sony, CNN, Coca Cola, Land Rover, Canon, Deloitte, KBR-Halliburton, Mattel, Mainframe, Electronic Arts, BMW International, Hugo Boss Stores, John Hancock, Blockbuster, US Health, Redtaxfrog.com, CCP Games, Nandos.com., and Harley Davidson.

Servicing this many international clients has complications that most cannot fathom much less juggle without error as Adam does on a daily basis; he works for buyers in many different time zones, different currencies and honors a multitude of different cultural concerns.

Adam is consistently chosen to work in regional or ethnic accents over and above speakers from the regions or countries themselves. Just a few years ago he was a voiceover student, now he makes a great living out of voice over."

Adam founded "Adam Behr Kinetic Arts Ltd.," a Vancouver-based design and fabrication studio specializing in animatronic puppets, special costume effects, prosthetic make up and other related effects work. The studio produced puppets and other effects for many leading shows and commercials. However, Adam now focuses on voice performance ,puppetry performance supervision for feature films , and producing. He has a Gemini Award Nomination for Best Achievement in Make Up for Stargate SG-1 and now a Voicey Award for Best Male Voice of the year.He is represented by 8 Agents in five countries.

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www.adambehr.com

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