How much does a voice actor earn?
Recently we have been asked again and again how high the salaries and fees of voice actors are. We did some research and found the unbelievable. Suffice it to say in advance that the dubbing voices play an important role once the dubbed actor is famous. The more famous the dubbed person, the higher the voice actor’s fee. But the way there is not easy and also very long. But for those who have made it to the top, every word they say is golden. Some voice actors collect fees of up to 320,000 euros per spoken series episod.
The dubbing business is booming, especially in Germany and Austria. We want to hear the American productions in German, so there is a high demand for voice actors. If you consider how many American films and series are shown on television in German-speaking countries. Especially through Netflix and other consorts there are heaps of series material that is dubbed in German. But American films also have to be dubbed so that we can watch them in our mother tongue. So Mark Wahlberg got a dubbing voice from someone else, but Leonardo DiCaprio also has a distinctive German voice .
Voice acting is challenging. Much has to be conveyed with what is said, the tone of the voice is just as important. Facial expressions, gestures and feelings must be accommodated in words. Many voice actors are full-time actors . In the profession they learned how to express themselves, how to play something and how important the voice is. But you don’t have to be an actor to be considered a voice actor. You can also train to become a speaker.
Voice actors’ fees
Voice actors usually work on a commissioned and freelance basis. As a result, income fluctuates depending on the order situation. Basically, they are paid per take, which is a maximum of 10 seconds. A take can contain one or more sentences, sounds or breathing sounds. The takes are paid differently, for a cinema film you get between 3.50 and 8 euros per take. You also get a basic fee, which can range from 60 to 150 euros per day. A leading role in a motion picture film contains 150 to 600 takes. A voice actor speaks around 100 to 150 takes per day. If you now start from average values, with a film with 5 euros per take, 100 euros basic fee and 300 takes, which are recorded in three days, you get a gross fee of 1800 eurosfor a dubbing job for a movie.
High salaries for dubbed roles
There are no upper limits. The voice actors of the Simspons (by Matt Groening ) get 400,000 dollars per episode – that’s the equivalent of around 320,000 euros per episode . The German dubbing voice of Homer Simpsons, on the other hand, only gets 10,000 euros per season. Incidentally, the dubbing actor had to be replaced in 2016 because the previous German Homer narrator Norbert Gastell died. Marcus Off provided the voice of Captain Jack Sparrow ( Johnny Depp ) in Pirates of the Caribbean. His fee was a good 18,000 euros per film. The more famous the person whose voice needs to be dubbed, the more money can be earned!