A Guide to Finding Voice-Over Auditions: How many is enough and where to get them?

This is a three-part blog: the first two detail my journey auditioning on international and local (Malaysia and Singapore) markets with stats and numbers, while the third is an FAQ-style summary of my advice.

Part 1: Starting from Scratch on International Waters

Auditions, auditions, auditions. Casting calls, casting calls, casting calls.

When I started voice acting in 2019, I created an Upwork profile and received my first ‘Invitation to Interview’. I read the requirements and submitted an audition for the lead role:

I sent in a WAV file in stereo 🤦🏻‍♀️ and it was completely raw. No background noise removal, no compression, no nothing 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤦🏻‍♀️  Listening back feels a bit cringe, so proceed at your own peril.

I got a reply: the lead role has been filled, but they offered me a supporting role. That’s how I landed my first ever voice acting gig – voicing Constance in VAST Horizon, a sci-fi audio drama podcast.

For the next few months, I responded to all invite-only jobs and occasionally submitted to public ones. When Covid hit, I moved back to Malaysia and started taking voice acting seriously.

I discovered Casting Call Club (CCC), a site packed with character-based casting calls. With so many projects available, I always filtered for paid ones.

My first audition on CCC

Between October and December 2020, I auditioned for 94 roles and landed 2.

In January 2021, I auditioned for 53 roles and booked 8. Of those:

• 2 went at a normal pace

• 3 dragged on but were eventually completed

• 3 never materialized

For projects I was cast in, submissions ranged from 1 (just me) to 138.

Here’s my CCC audition data:

Timeline	Auditions	Roles Landed	Cast %
2020 Oct - Dec	94	2	2.13%
2021 Jan - Jun	305	20	6.58%
2021 Jul - Dec	109	8	7.34%
2022	50	0	0
2023	12	0	0
2024	2	0	0

A veteran voice actor once told me the average success rate for securing roles is around 1-3%, and it’s even lower in the big leagues. Based on that, I wasn’t doing too bad, right? Let’s break it down.

Out of 571 auditions, I secured 30 roles. 

Of those, 14 were never realised – some projects faded away without updates, while others had Discord servers with 30+ people but never moved forward.

Out of the 16 successful projects, 5 dragged on for months or even years. This happens often when it’s a creator’s side project. It’s taxing to reprise a role after long gaps because I had to rediscover the character’s voice, quirks, and storyline all over again. What happened last episode? Why am I yelling at this character?… wait, who is this again? How do I pronounce his name? Etc etc.

Warlock’s audition called for an Australian accent, but they ended up choosing me (yay!).

By 2022, I had fizzled out from CCC

In 2023, I decided to stop auditioning there.

Looking back, while CCC typically offers low rates, I did land some valuable projects that helped build my experience and résumé, like this documentary on an investment scam, Meili in Sea Hears, Warlock in Heretical Tavern, narrating Dead by Daylight‘s Rin Yamaoka backstory (worked on my Japanese accent and portrayed rage), and a student project.

While stats can give you an idea of progress, they don’t tell the whole story. Your success rate depends on the type of roles you’re applying for: Are you targeting characters that suit you? How quickly are you submitting auditions? How many other actors are vying for the role—pros or part-timers?

The main reason I auditioned so frequently on CCC until 2021 was for practice. As a newcomer, I lacked experience in voicing characters and editing audio. My focus wasn’t on getting cast, but on sharpening my skills. I wanted to improve in areas like decoding audition briefs, delivering varied reads for the same character, and honing my audio editing in Audacity.

At that stage, it was quantity over quality.

Over time, with time and training, the results followed and I started booking more projects. That’s when I realized it was time to level up. If you're consistently landing roles in student and amateur projects, it's a sign you're ready to move on to the mid-league.

Bye CCC, Hello Twitter (or X)

Around the same time I started CCC, I also:

• Created a Fiverr account

• Tried Facebook groups

• Created a Discord account

While I continued submitting proposals on Upwork, most of my work actually came through Fiverr, without me ever bidding on projects there. On Facebook, I landed the role of Tia in Y2K via the Audio Drama Hub group, though that was the only role I secured. I met Su Ling through Y2K where she voice-acted as my older sister, and I was subsequently offered another role by Karin Heimdahl (the creator of Y2K) in her other project, Chaika. 

I use Discord mainly because project creators often set up servers for discussions, and there’s usually a channel for casting calls. I did land one role exclusively shared on Discord—a puzzle-adventure game called The GodKiller. Otherwise, most castings aren’t limited to Discord alone.

A snapshot from The Godkiller. I voiced multiple characters in this fun game that features engaging dialogue and singing.

As I phased out of CCC, I revived my Twitter (now X) account. The single most helpful resource for paid opportunities is @VACastingRT, which compiles and reposts castings. Most of these projects came from creators who were serious, including indie developers with proper budgets and timelines with fleshed-out scripts. I landed roles like Angelique in The Secret of St. Kilda, which has one of the best plot twists I’ve ever voiced.

Here is a snippet of me (as Angelique) with a Chinese Malaysian accent having a very interesting conversation with Erika Sanderson (as Wee Mary).

Fun fact, they were initially looking for someone with a European accent, maybe French, but ended up with me (yay!)

Audition Data Collection

In 2022, I started tracking my audition data, although the difference between ‘Casting Call’ and ‘Roles’ is unclear in retrospect. I think ‘Casting Call’ was meant to be a single casting where I auditioned for multiple roles, so… yeah, don’t pay this too much attention.

‘Agency’ refers to agencies that reached out for auditions – not ones I’m signed with.

In December 2022, I joined The Sheppard Agency, run by Erik Sheppard. I receive 12-15 castings a month, all with competitive rates in the pro league. These castings specify session and usage rates, including details like project type (commercial, internal video, ADR, documentary), cutdowns, territories, air duration, exclusivity, client directions, and of course, the script.

Even though Erik and I have never met or spoken on video, I appreciate that he fights hard for fair rates for us talents. I auditioned for roles that fit my specs (I pass on anything requiring a native American accent), and AFTER A YEAR of feeling I wasn’t contributing anything, I finally landed a big one—a commercial for Google.

That’s me, laughing like a dolphin!

Part 2: Auditioning in Malaysia and Singapore will be up in a week!