Heroes in Business - Daniel Ross, Donald Duck Emmy Award, Voice Over Actor

Episode Date: March 5, 2023

Voice is Everything. Daniel Ross, Donald Duck Emmy Award Winning Voice Over Actor is interviewed by David Cogan famous Host of the Heroes Show and Founder of Eliances entrepreneur community.  

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. That's right. And make sure, again, you go to alliances.com because that's also to click on radio and you'll see many past interviews. edalliances.com because that's also to click on radio and you'll see many past interviews. Thank you for the feedback we continue to have when I head on the chairman of CNBC. So make sure again, you go to edalliances.com and keep commenting, send that feedback. That's what we live for. All right. I'm super excited by the way now too. Are you ready for this we have daniel ross on our show he is the winner of a recent emmy award and he is the voice of i'm going to have him steal the thunder this time because you'll all recognize the character uh with that daniel ross steal the thunder who are you the voice of Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. It's me, your buddy Donald Duck.

Unbelievable. And you did that with, like, no synthesizer, nothing? Just my mouth parts. Hi, David. It's nice to meet you. Awesome, awesome. Very nice to meet you. Okay, how did you know you had the ability to do this voice? Were you doing prank phone calls and your buddies were like,

hey, you got to do this as a career? No, no, not at all. I mean, I definitely did some prank phone calls in my day. I used my powers of vocal superness for the uses of evil rather than good. But my mom taught me how to do the Donald Duck voice when I was three years old. And so Donald has been a through line in my life since the very beginning. And it was just, you know, an impression for friends and colleagues, make kids laugh until I had an opportunity to actually audition for Disney. There was a call for people to submit. I took a chance, and here we are all these years later.

How was that feeling when they said, yeah, you're it? I was beside myself. I mean, at first, it was, you know, a phone call where my agent says, hey, you booked something. And I'm like, oh, good. I got to work. You know, I get to feed myself and pay my bills. And then it slowly started to sink in. Wait a minute. This is Donald Duck. This is probably the most recognized character voice of all time, known by generations the world over. Oh, my gosh. So I immediately called my mom, who affectionately loved to be called Mama Duck.

And so we did some quacking over the phone. And that was really exciting. Does it hurt kind of your vocals if you do it for an extended period of time? I always wondered about that. Doesn't hurt my vocals, but like, you know, working out a muscle, eventually it gets tired. And so there was one session where my tongue and my cheek actually swelled up because I had overexerted myself. And my voice director chimed in and said, hey, Daniel because I had overexerted myself. And my voice director chimed in and said, Hey, Daniel, I think I think we should take a break. And I'm like, No, no,

I'm fine. I'm fine. Everything's okay. And I needed to stop. So I learned there. Fantastic. So again, we've got Daniel Ross, make sure you go to actor Daniel Ross.com. And of course, his social media at actor Daniel Ross, what were you doing to actor Daniel Ross.com. And of course his social media at actor Daniel Ross, what were you doing before, you know, you became a voice for Donald duck. I worked, uh, you know, jobs just like everybody else. I was working at, uh, at target for 10 years, uh, in management. I was a store manager at Blockbuster. I waited tables, worked in doctor's offices, you know, just everything to survive. But when this happened, I was working overnight at Target, 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. with all the freight coming in, the trucks going out. That was my job,

the hardest job out there. And I had my days free so I could audition and go network and do stuff. But yeah, that was a pretty brutal job. And I'm glad I do this now. What kind of secrets can you share with others that, you know, they feel that they have a unique voice that would be good for TV and film and cartoons and that, you know, that would love to break into the industry? Because how do you like even where do you even start? because where do you even start? That's a tough answer because there's lots of different ways to kind of break in. But really, I think it depends on understanding your instrument, what it is that you're capable of,

what it is that you have to offer. Because when you come to Hollywood, agents, managers are going to look at you and say, show me the dollar signs. And you have to be able to eloquently explain to them how you're going to make them money. catch and say, show me the dollar signs. And you have to be able to eloquently explain to them how you're going to make them money. And so I think having a solid background in acting training is really important. We're not just doing silly voices in front of a camera. We are bringing

characters to life. And so I think the foundations of acting are crucial. Improvisation, I would highly recommend studying improv as well. What other roles have you done? So I've been one of the voices of Lucky the Leprechaun. You're not off to be lucky charms, are you? I've been one of the voices of Starscream from Transformers. Decepticons, this is Starscream. Make for the rendezvous point. The AllSpark will soon be ours. And most recently, you could hear me as Gizmo and Stripe from the Gremlins movies in a game called Multiverses.

Gizmo, bye-bye, bye-bye. Gizmo, caca. So I've played some fun characters in my time. All right. So, Daniel, how do you train your voice to be able to switch to the different characters? Because 99% of people don't do what you do, right? We talk in our thing. The only way we sound different is when we're screaming or quiet or that.

How do you shift the voice to make it happen? You know, that's one of those things I don't quite know how to explain. It's just my people trick, something that I've been gifted with that I can shift and maneuver through different voices. I'm a mimic. And so I hear something and I usually I'm able to do it. So to be able to switch it up and tell somebody how to do that, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. To be able to switch it up and tell somebody how to do that, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. Incredible.

And, I mean, it sounds like a fun position. I know that there's a tremendous amount of work. You got to, do you have to memorize lines too? Are you able to read? Or how does that, you know, if you're behind the scenes doing a voice? Yeah, I would say voice acting is probably the most difficult medium of the performing arts, in my opinion. Lots of different layers, lots of different training that goes into it in order for you to be successful. Lots of different means of creating different characters. It is a very difficult medium,

and it's, again, one of the hardest jobs that I've ever had, but I enjoy it tremendously. I wouldn't be doing anything else if I had my druthers. I love it. I love it. And again, we're talking with Daniel Ross. He is the voice of Donald Duck. He won an Emmy award because you're listening and watching David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. Make sure you go to alliances.com, E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com, the only place where entrepreneurs align. All right, so they say your name in front of many people, you win the Emmy award. What kind of feeling is that?

I mean, that's kind of just be an out of body experience. No? Oh my gosh. I was, as I've been telling people, I was completely dissociated. Like I had no idea where I was, what was happening. It was an amazing moment. And I think just to be nominated in the first place by the Emmys, I mean, that's an actor's dream come true to begin with. And then let alone the people who I was nominated up against, Broadway performers, incredible actors, and then to win the category. I mean, every one

of these is a whole other level of excitement. But for me, it had so much deep meaning because I lost my mom this year to cancer, Mama Duck. And so the last thing that she and I watched together was Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas, which is what I won for. So to be acknowledged in that way, to have a platform to be able to talk about my mom and her creative inspiration, her legacy of joy through me, is something that you couldn't even ask for. It's just, it feels like a dream come true to me. So it had such significance beyond just the acknowledgement of my work. It was the incorporation of the person who helped me get to where I am today and was my biggest cheerleader. We've got time for one more question. And I think the thing is, is, you know, you found your passion, which is very difficult, I think, for people to do. And you're able to do it and make a living doing it.

That in itself is extremely rare. It really is. And it's a gift. What advice, though, do you have for children out there that, you know, they may be playing with Transformers and want to be in the next designer? They may be watching a movie to be a next voice and stuff. But how can they go about doing and making an impact as you have affecting so many people? You know, when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was grow up and be a dinosaur. And it turns out as you get older, you kind of turn into a dinosaur anyway. So I kind of got my

wish, but don't be afraid to let your dreams change. You know, find something that you're passionate about, pursue it as much as you can. And if you find something else that intrigues you, don't be afraid to go after that, too. For me, I thought I was going to be exclusively on camera, that I would be doing, you know, film production. That was going to be my life. And I pivoted to go into voice acting. And I'm so glad that I did because it was something I didn't anticipate. So for anyone else out there who's looking to do what I'm doing, believe in yourself, be patient, be passionate, and really understand if it's in the entertainment industry what you have to offer. That will get you the farthest. Pursue your dreams,

be passionate, and don't be afraid to let them change. Well, Daniel, you definitely pursued your dreams and you made them happen. You followed the dream and paid great honor to your mother who taught you how to do the voice of Donald Duck, bringing joy of the famous Disney character to fans everywhere. You know what? That's a hero.

That's right, Daniel Ross, voice of Donald Duck and others, winner recently of an Emmy Award. Reach out to him at, Daniel Ross, voice of Donald Duck and others, winner recently of an Emmy Award. Reach out to him at actordanielross or actordanielross.com. This has been David Kogan with the Alliance's Hero Show. I'm Daniel Ross. Happy Holidays, everybody!