A VOICEOVER actor who was inspired by Mario has spoken of the highs and lows of a dream career.

Dan Pye from Hunwick, has been doing voice overs since he started working for a radio station back in 2003.

His career has seen him lend his voice to many different outlets, including Channel 4, BBC, Universal, and Amazon's Audible.

He is proud of his Geordie accent which he believes is unrepresented in the media.

Mr Pye said: “I think a regional accent gives Tv and radio more personality, there’s so many accents in the UK, there’s a lot in the North East alone.

“I still hear adverts for local North East businesses using southern voices, which I find strange and frustrating.

“A lot of companies want a clear southern accent or no accent at all."

Mr Pye said he had always been interested in doing voice overs from a young age.

As he grew into his teens it became a passion and shaped his career decisions.

Mr Pye added: “It all started from a young age, I became more and more aware of voices on the radio as I started listening to different medias more. It became a real passion to use my voice, I pursued this with a media course at Newcastle College. After this I managed to land a full-time job in commercial radio in the sales department.

“I would be script writing for adverts on the local radio stations.”

However, after a having a talk with his boss at the radio station he gave up on the voice acting dream.

Mr Pye said: “He told me my voice was too nasally and that I wouldn’t get anywhere with it.

"He told me to give up, so I did, just like that.

“I thought I had no chance, and I was wasting my time so I pursued other things.”

Mr Pye then opened a comic book café in Durham.

The café was successful and started hosting its own ‘comic-con’ however the costs of it proved to be the downfall of the business.

Mr Pye had arranged for a massive convention at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, with a number of guests, including Charles Martinet, the voice actor for the Super Mario games, including Mario himself.

Although the event was not successful it set new things in motion.

Mr Pye said: “I got talking to Charles Marinet at the convention and asked him about voice overs.

“He asked me why I gave up and he told me in this industry you get a lot of criticism but you can’t give up on your dream.

“With this I started applying for voice overs again.

“A few years on, I am doing voice overs for video games, just like Charles, who has become a sort of silent mentor for me.

“He is always in the background to motivate me."

Although the pandemic has affect the media industry, Mr Pye has seen an increase in work.

“I have seen an up turn in work as a result of all the London recording studies closing down for the pandemic.

“Many looked for people who were capable of working from home.

"I have the equipment and the software to do this from my office at home.

"This has been great for me as I have been able to do a lot more and I am applying for a lot of auditions."