Throughout Queen Noveen’s life, a common compliment she’s received — whether she was reading aloud in class or having a conversation with a stranger — was that she had a distinctive voice.
Shortly after starring in her first play at the age of 7, the South Windsor, Conn., native joined the Hartford Stage company and began performing live theater and acting in commercials. But it wasn’t until she graduated from AMDA College of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles that she even thought of pursuing a career as a voice actor.
“I didn’t know what voice-over work was,” says 32-year-old Queen Noveen, which is her stage name, adding that the niche wasn’t available at her college at the time. “I think when people want to get into the entertainment industry, the first thing they think about is being in front of the camera, being an actor or being a musician because that’s what you see.”
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Because voice-over performers work behind the scenes, they are somewhat “out of sight, out of mind,” she adds. Though people may not recognize her face, Queen Noveen’s powerful and slightly raspy tone has served as the voice for characters in video games like the BAFTA-winning game “Red Dead Redemption 2,” animated kids shows like “American Girl” and “L.O.L. Surprise! House of Surprises,” as well as in documentaries, commercials and theater productions. For 2½ years, the Jamaican American actor was also the global voice of E! Network, and she’s been the announcer for several events including a 49ers football game, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, MTV Movie and TV Awards and the NFL Honors, which is referred to as the “Voice of God” in the industry. Voice-over is a production technique in which a voice is recorded off-screen and used for animation, video games and other productions. Live announcing is a form of voice-over that is performed during live productions such as awards shows and corporate events, and public address (PA) announcers speak during gatherings such as stadium games.
But people outside of the tight-knit industry are starting to become more aware of the unseen performers behind the mic, thanks to people like Queen Noveen, who regularly posts about her work and advice on how to get into the industry via her TikTok account, where she has nearly 240,000 followers.
“When people [started] to see my social media, it was like, ‘Oh, so this is a thing. Oh, so you can actually do it. Oh, so she’s not a Siri!’ says Queen Noveen, who’s been in the industry for nearly a decade. “There’s so many realizations for everyone. So it’s like opening up a whole new world that’s kind of already been there, but making more people aware of it.”
In an industry that is predominantly white and male, Queen Noveen is well aware that she’s one of few successful Black voice-over performers. “You don’t see a lot of us, especially in the position that I’m in,” she says, adding that she often receives messages from kids who look like her. “That’s not something that I had growing up, so I think it’s really important to educate and inspire them.”
Queen Noveen recently sat down with Behold to discuss how she got into the entertainment industry, the biggest misconceptions about voice-over work and the class that she plans to launch next year for aspiring performers. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
After performing in musical theater for several years and studying it in school, how did it feel once you finally realized that your calling was in voice-over work?
It was eye-opening and it was incredible. I love musical theater. I love dancing, singing, acting, all of it. But after I graduated, that’s when I felt kind of lost because you have to go on all these musical theater auditions, and I went on a lot, but I wasn’t booking anything. I was like, “I feel like this is probably not right for me.” I just didn’t know what was right for me. So once I got into voice-over and I hit my first class out of the park and I had so much fun, I felt like this is where I belonged. That’s when I was like, “All right, I think I found my niche.” After I signed with Atlas Talent Agency, I immediately started getting auditions. I booked my first project ever like two weeks later. I was like, “This is crazy!” Of course, I love being eccentric so theater is still my heart, but I love that I can still be crazy when I have to audition for different characters. Like I’m still being myself, which is really fun, but now I’m finally using the powerful voice that I have. It’s kind of like a natural talent that I didn’t know that I had.
You’ve been voice acting and announcing for live events for nearly a decade now. What’s your favorite part of your job?
The live events, definitely. I think that still comes from my theater background because being in theater [and] onstage is all live. No room for mess-ups, and if you do, the show must go on. Keep it going and pick it up. But I really just love the thrill and excitement of it. It’s so chaotic, but I live for that and I love it so much. It just feels like you’re in the moment. You’re in the moment with the audience. You’re in the moment with the fans out in the field. It just feels amazing. It’s kind of like just performing on the spot, which is so me and [something that] I love to do, and I’m so glad I found a career that actually allows me to do that.
What do people often misunderstand about voice-over work?
A big one I would say is overall people think that voice-over is easy, just stepping up to a mic and reading, but there’s so much that goes on behind the scenes. I’ve been in the industry for almost eight years and people are just learning about me now, but there’s so much work that I did beforehand that people aren’t aware of. [Also], the finances that it takes to train yourself, to be prepared, to get into the room [and] network with people. But in the industry itself, I think you have to have thick skin to accept no’s. You’re going to get a lot of no’s, especially in voice-over. You won’t get a verbal no, it’ll just be dead silence. You can audition for many, many projects and not hear from them again, and sometimes you won’t hear from them until a week, month or year later. So you can’t get hung up on auditions. You just do the work, have confidence in yourself, know what you’re doing, submit it and that be it. Don’t think about it again.
Speaking of misconceptions, you try to debunk a lot of them through your social media content, specifically through your TikTok content, by providing resources on how to get into the industry. Why do you think sharing this information is so important?
I get a lot of questions about “How do I get into voice-over? How do I get to your level? What’s the first step I need to take?” I want to be that steppingstone for someone to get into the industry. When I got in, it wasn’t easy like, “All right, do this. Do that. Do that. Then, OK, now you’re big!” I kind of just guessed and was like, “I’ll just start taking classes and see how it goes,” but I want to be a guide for people, especially for kids who want to start looking into this. You don’t have to be a certain age to get into voice-over. They’re always looking for children, they’re always looking for teenagers. At any age, you can be in voice-over. But I really want to be able to educate folks on how the industry works, what you need to do, how to get an agent, demos, all that kind of stuff. I want to continue to open more doors for them as well and show them that this is a path. You don’t see a lot of [people of color] in this industry, so here I am opening that door wide open. I’m like, “Come on in, guys. Let’s do this. Let’s bring these barriers down.”
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On TikTok, you regularly post challenges, in which you welcome people to read a script you’ve provided and try voice acting. One video that stands out is a young Black girl who did your challenge. How does it make you feel to know that you’re showing people like her that they can pursue this career?
She does every single one of my duets. She’s so cute. Her name is Mariah. It warms my heart and makes me so happy. I feel like a proud big sister or a proud auntie. “Like yes, girl, you got this! Go ’head!” And you see her do different tries when she’s like, “Ugh, I gotta go faster this time.” Then she does it and she kills it! There’s many little kids of different ages doing it from all parts of the world. Some of them have accents and they’ll preface the video like “My English is not so good,” and then they do it and I’ll comment and be like “You did so great!” I just love encouraging them because it makes them feel good too.
Next year, you’re planning to launch a voice-over intro class so people can learn from you directly. What will the class entail?
The class will be called “Ready. Cue. Announce!” and they will begin in January 2024. More details, including how to sign up, will be announced on my social media and via my website at queennoveen.com by the end of the year. It will be a voice-over intro class, covering what voice-over is, the different aspects and avenues of voice-over, auditioning, creating a demo, getting an agent and industry etiquette. Later on, I want to do a live announcing class. Those will be for people who have been in voice-over for a little bit or at least have a résumé and an agency because you won’t be getting live announcing unless you have an agent.
I know there are people from around the world who want to learn from me, so right now I’ll probably do virtual and maybe an in-person class in the future.
Do you still aspire to perform in front of the camera or onstage?
It’s definitely still an aspiration, but it’s something that I’ve had to put on hold because voice-over has gotten so busy. But again, that’s where my acting started, so my heart will always be with theater. So any day that voice-over slows down or I have a period of time of freedom, I would love to jump into a production. I have done some productions before I started getting busy. So I was able to juggle voice-over and do some theater, but I was just getting a little too chaotic right now. But my heart is still there and I love every moment of it. I’m able to go see my friends in their shows and support them, so that’s where I still get my thrill at least a little bit.
How do you take care of your voice?
In general, I don’t smoke, I rarely drink and I’ve never taken drugs other than prescription drugs. I’ve just always been someone who’s generally taken care of my body. I exercise. I always drink water. I have a water bottle with me everywhere I go and at night I’ll sleep with a humidifier beside my bed. My throat gets really dry easily and being able to have that there and to keep the air around me moist is better for it, so I definitely put it on high the night before a show.
During show day, I’ll have a green apple because apples help to get the extra saliva out of your mouth. And funny enough, Lay’s chips, the oil in it coats your throat so it helps get gunk out of your throat as well. It’s a little trick that I learned from musical theater. But I’ve always said to people, any way that you would generally take care of your body is what I do. If you take care of yourself, your voice will take care of you.
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