ABOUT

Tell us who you are!

Isabel Adomakoh Young, 28, Actor and Voiceover, self-employed.

So what do you actually do?

I get hired by companies to be in the media they're making.

That could be a theatre or tv show, or adding recorded speech to video or audio pieces, which could be commercial (adverts), corporate (business content) or art (radio or film).

What has your career path been?

Even now I’d say my career isn’t only one thing - actor - as I’m a writer and drag performer too.

But to look at acting - I did an English degree at Cambridge University. Lots of students there wanted to be actors but I wasn’t sure - although I did lots of plays, acting as a career didn’t feel possible for me, so I had an eye on other paths.

When I graduated I assisted a literary agent through a scheme called Creative Access, which places BAME graduates on paid internships. Meanwhile, I decided to do some acting training. I did evening classes with Identity School of Acting and then took a month off work to join the National Youth Theatre. I was very lucky that my boss allowed me to do that. I began thinking about agents and had one or two meetings, but they didn’t result in offers of representation. 

I left the agency and spent a month with Talawa Theatre Company on their TYPT course for black theatre-makers; I took the leap of inviting agents to the final show and ultimately received 6 offers, after emailing maybe 25 agencies and even more casting directors.

Getting photos together and drafting a letter took ages as I consulted people about it all. I also auditioned for NYT’s Rep Company, and after an unsuccessful attempt (I got to a final round but wasn’t chosen), I was offered a place in the 2018 cohort.

Having savings meant taking 9 months off earning was an option for me; others in the group crowdfunded or had family support, a few even worked around the schedule but it was 6 days a week and very intense hours. I had to pitch the course to my agent as it would take me off the audition circuit for a long time.

She understood that it was an investment in my future - and it paid off, as a week after graduating I was starting rehearsal at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I did a 9 month season with them in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Since then it’s been a combination of theatre and screen jobs. I started voiceover work during the pandemic, which required learning technical skills like sound editing on Audacity as well as best practise, and dealing directly with clients. 

What is the best part of your job?

No two days are the same and you have to be on your toes all the time, ready to become whatever's needed, working directly with lots of different people to make very different pieces!

Why do you do your job?

I love the variety of working as a performer. The immediacy of the relationship with an audience in live shows is electrifying, but then working on screen you don’t tend to get the long rehearsal process, so it’s immediate in a different way.

I suit a career where you get to make your own decisions about what kind of work you pursue (although it’s usually someone else’s decision whether you get hired!). That independence grows as you get more experience and influence. 

I’ve done some office jobs before and I think I’m better suited to something that involves lots of human interaction and physicality in the day, although I love solitary work like script prep or character development too.

I also like that you can have multiple projects ongoing, for instance be auditioning for a tv show while performing in a play. It’s never dull!

One piece of advice for someone starting in your role?

Learn how to handle your money, eg invoicing, tax return, unions, what rates to charge (agents help with this).

Being self-employed means you are your own business, so knowing your stuff from early on will make life much easier.

Check out Isabel’s Twitter below!

DAY IN THE LIFE

By definition, as an actor there is no typical day, so I’ll write about downtime, theatre and screen

DOWNTIME

This is genuinely a huge part of acting. Unless you’re very fortunate you may well spend a large proportion of the year seeking work and doing unpaid/lowpaid projects. 

Morning:

I’ve been doing The Artist’s Way, which is a great book-guided course I use to keep creative juices flowing between jobs. Before getting out of bed I grab a notebook and do 3 pages of free-writing. It’s hard, but I try not to look at my phone til it’s done! Then it’s exercise time - either a YouTube workout in my garden, an exercise class, or a run round the park listening to an audiobook. A few nuts and apricots keep the hunger at bay.

I don’t tend to eat properly until post-shower - alongside emails, admin and coffee. I’ll chase invoices for jobs I’ve done eg teaching a workshop, a one-off performance or a voiceover job, and see if any auditions have come in. In these pandemic times most are via self-tape rather than in person. 

If I have been sent scenes to record, I learn lines while I run or do chores; I have an app that plays recordings over and over. Voiceover also works via castings, so on mornings there’s a job I fancy listed on the forum, I’ll set up my microphone in my bedroom and record short pieces of script (using a software called Audacity) to send to potential clients. If they like me they’ll book me, then I’ll record various versions of the script for them to cut together a favourite version from. All this usually happens over a few days or a week. Alternatively, they’ll book a live session where they listen in and give feedback over Zoom as I record - less flexible round my schedule, but I can charge more!

Afternoon:

I have to hope the living room is free so I can set up my phone and lights to record myself auditioning. Usually I get a friend to join a Zoom call and read the lines of the other character. I do each scene a few times until I’m happy, then send them to my agent or the Casting Director; if the CD likes it, the Director and Producers will see it, and hopefully, book me to be in the show or film!

But usually you just never hear back. It’s pretty horrible even for seasoned actors - our union, Equity, is trying to change this with a campaign called Yes Or No.

I also like to do workshops to try to keep skilling up. Some great companies like Mono Box and Wildcard do sessions where you can pay to spend a couple of hours learning clown, or playwriting, or movement with professionals. Since the pandemic a lot of these are online which makes them even more accessible - though the movement stuff can be a bit odd in your bedroom!

Evening:

If I’m not performing I’ll try to keep up with culture and see what’s being made, so I’ll often go to the theatre or cinema. Even watching tv counts as research. With lots of my social life in the industry now, I often have friends’ shows to support too. I take guitar classes and learn Spanish, because even the most random skill can come in handy as a performer!

THEATRE

Morning

I’ll wake up round 8, have a quick shower, coffee and breakfast, then pack a lunch and head to the rehearsal space. On the way I’ll look over the scenes we’re working on today, or learn lines. Depending on the production, I might also have to learn another actor’s lines, ready to go as their understudy. The rehearsal space isn’t always in the theatre itself, because if your play hasn’t opened yet there’s probably another one on. As you get closer to your first performance, the set will be built and the building will be more available - after the previous show finishes. 

10am: A working session could be whatever the Director wants; trying out scenes lots of different ways, sitting down discussing the text or issues it addresses, doing exercises that help you understand the world of the show or the relationship between characters, learning choreography, looking at relevant materials or history… Sometimes only a few actors are in the main room, and others have time off or sessions with other people on the Creative team, for instance with the Fight Director practising the moves for a safe violent moment in the show, working on music with an MD, or with an Intimacy or Movement director practicing romantic or physical sections. Some theatres have a Voice Practitioner who will help you make sure you’re heard in such a big room and don’t wear out your voice. If you’re not with a specific person you might run lines with a fellow actor until you’re needed. On some shows, there is no script and you create the show as you go, in which case sessions might be given to ‘devising’ - creating material together like writing songs or text, or improvising.

Mostly you can bring lunch or buy it from nearby, and there will be a little kitchen you can use. If you’re in a big company with lots of buildings like the Royal Shakespeare Company, there’s an actual canteen where you can buy food. 

The afternoon would be the same, depending what type of work you’re told to do. You might also have things like press, where journalists talk to you about the upcoming show, the model box showing where the Designer presents their set design, or costume fittings where the costume department try things on you that they’ve put together to bring the Designer’s vision to life. This can be weird because they stand and discuss how you look, but a good department will always listen to you and not make you feel self-conscious. 

Once rehearsal is done (after about 8 weeks for a big show), your work becomes more evening-focused, although usually shows will have some matinees (day-time shows) too. This means you’d sleep later and only come to the theatre for ‘Call time’, usually a few hours before the play starts. Then you’d warm up your body and voice, get into costume, makeup and any wigs or microphones, practise any complicated or dangerous moments in the show like fights and go to your dressing room to let the audience into the theatre… and wait for your call onto stage! 

SCREEN 

This can vary hugely depending on the scale of the project but for large-scale work you’ll be sent some information the day before about the shape of the day to come.

There are often tens of people involved in scheduling where everyone needs to be, and time is tight because there’s so much money and so many people involved. Mornings can be very early to get as much daylight as possible, or shoots can go on into the early hours if they need dark. Even if it’s a set they’ve build indoors and will light artificially, there’s so much prep it’s often an early start.

First, you’ll travel to ‘Unit Base’ the main area for the offices, sets, trucks etc, and get breakfast, then wait in your dressing room or trailer. An AD (Assistant Director) or other Production Team member will tell you when Hair and Makeup are ready for you, and take your lunch order (this is less because you are a big star than because catering need to know how many people want what.)

You might also need prosthetics, a wig, or a microphone. You’ll get into costume, with some help if it’s ornate, in your dressing room, and be walked to set when you’re ready. 

The crew will have been setting up the first shot; the Director and 1st AD will run a rehearsal so performers know what they’re doing, and after ‘Final checks’ where Hair, Makeup and Costume people check you again, you begin shooting. You will likely do the same section over and over through the day, as they move cameras around to get different angles, closeups etc.

The director will work with you to create a performance that works both emotionally and technically - there are lots of considerations in filming! When you’re not visible in the shot they’re working on, you might be ‘relaxed’ which means escorted to the waiting area to have a chat and a snack, and prepare for the next bit you’re in. This is a good time to look over any recent script changes that have been made too. You can lose track of time but someone will bring lunch or take you to fetch some.

Things can get a little stressed on set if they haven’t managed to capture everything they hoped to, so it’s important never to waste any time and make sure someone always knows where you are. Eventually they’ll let you know you’re done for the day; you hand any props back to the Props department, then it’s back to your trailer. Your Makeup artist might be available to remove it for you, and that kind AD will have ordered a car to take you home/to your hotel, if it’s a high-budget project.

On days you’re not shooting scenes, you might have a costume fitting, stunt practise, hair and makeup test, or a rehearsal, where everyone in a certain scene sits and reads and discusses it, and the director shares any thoughts they have about the mood, the important moments, the practicalities of shooting it etc.

Often though, you won’t have a rehearsal before the shoot day, so it’s important to work things through alone or with fellow actors and come to set with ideas to offer.