This is a wonderful interview by writer and author Joan Schweighardt.
Voice Actor Lucio Leone Comes From The World of Finance, But Don’t Let That Fool You: He’s Been Preparing For Voice Acting All His Life.
We had a wonderful time getting to know voice actor Lucio Leone, who has just completed an Audible version of the novel Before We Died.
Some months ago we interviewed the book’s author Joan Schweighardt. Unlike her other fiction, which is narrated by female characters, Before We Died is narrated by a man—specifically an early 20th century Irish American dockworker who travels with his brother to the Amazon to become a rubber tapper. Not only is the novel filled with Irish-isms and some gritty slang, but once the brothers reach Amazonas, they encounter people who flavor their own discourse with Portuguese and even Caribbean phraseology and/or accents. With all this colorful language going on, Joan did not imagine she would ever find the right person to narrate the Audible version of the book. But then she did.
Hi Lucio! We loved interviewing Joan about her novel, and we were excited to hear that she found the perfect voice actor to narrate a story that is populated by characters with a range of dialects. Yet she tells us that you only started voice acting recently. Tell us how you got to it.
Until about a year ago I was working in the finance and banking sector here in New York. But ever since I was old enough to critically process the media I’d been consuming—which is to say when I was about 11 or 12—I knew I wanted to be a voice actor. Bringing characters to life like that, pinning sound to them, and molding them through the way they assert themselves orally, mystified me. However, I have always been a “practical” guy who “needed a real job.” Voice acting remained more of a fascination for me, a talent I practiced because I enjoyed it, for years. I was part of the Radio Guild during my years at Cornell, and later I did some odd jobs for a Hudson Valley radio cluster, but that’s as far as any concept of professional work went.
This past summer, however, in light of both my growing distaste for the finance industry and the realization that I was coming on 30 years old and headed in a direction I didn’t really want to go in, I decided the time was ripe to shift gears.
How did you prepare yourself for this sea change?
I spent the end of last summer remodeling my office into a sound studio and sure enough, I picked up some jobs and voice roles online. At the outset, I intended to focus on character and advertising roles, through peer-to-peer sites like Voice123 and Casting Call Club, and I was regularly getting small parts and contracts. Then an opportunity to record audiobooks for a local nonprofit, the newly-established American Brain Society, opened up, and I took on the job. It spurred me to look into more audiobook narration, which is what led me to ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange). Before We Died particularly drew me in; I enjoy historical fiction, and even from the single audition page on the ACX website, I could tell this book offered both an enriching read and a challenge in bringing it off the page.
To what do you attribute your ability to juggle Irish-isms, slang, Portuguese phrases, etc. so easily?
For one thing, I’m fluent in Italian. Fluency in a separate language exposes me to sounds and diction that aren’t normally present, if at all, in English.
Given your name, I assume your knowledge of Italian began at home?
Yes, my mom grew up in Brooklyn, a daughter to Sicilian immigrant parents, and my dad is from a mountain town 100+ kilometers east of Rome, called San Donato Val di Comino. He was 12 when he emigrated to the Bronx.
Whether we’re listening to a radio newscast, a radio advertisement or an audiobook, it is often the rhythm in the narrator’s voice that first draws us in. How did you develop this aspect of voice acting?
My past voice work has definitely helped me nail down a good understanding of natural cadence. But as mentioned above, I’ve been a ravenous consumer of audio media since I was a kid, be it through podcasts, audiobooks, music or spoken word albums. That has given me a strong base understanding of tempo and flow.
It’s all in the voice, for the most part. But are there additional skills a good voice actor needs?
Imagination is key to taking the clay of the character provided by the book and molding it into audio form. However, it cannot go unbridled either. While I ascribe to the idea of “death of the author” to an extent, an analytical and caring eye must be turned toward the characters, settings, and stories as they are provided by the words on the page. To me, the work is the author’s first and foremost, and that should be respected. Where the imagination and analysis converge is where I feel the true voice can be found.
For example, my original reaction to the character Baxter, the narrator’s brother, after my first reading of Before We Died, was to give him a rough, brusque timbre. But later I got to feeling I was forcing him into this box I’d created, instead of letting him grow in my mind organically. So I dove into a few of the scenes where his presence was central and worked to develop a more three-dimensional feel for him as a complex young man with a “slightly more malleable than he lets on” worldview.
What are the most challenging aspects of being a voice actor?
With the Internet providing a far-reaching world marketplace, voice actors (especially those who aren’t in unions or don’t have dedicated agents) essentially act as small business owners. Between acting as marketer, business analyst, audio engineer, performer, and so forth, one has to wear many hats. Juggling all the roles is a new challenge I’ve never experienced in my professional life before. But then the autonomy I’m afforded is something I’ve never experienced before either.
How did moving from finance to voice acting affect your lifestyle?
My life, I’d say, has changed for the better. The autonomy I mentioned has made me think of any time, even “work time” as mine and mine alone. Hence I feel more motivated to balance my life with those things that previously got left on the back burner, like my health, time with my family, and personal enrichments like reading and learning.
How can our readers catch up with you?
I have a portfolio with samples of my work at https://lucioleone.journoportfolio.com/vocal-samples/
Where can we find your audible narration of the novel Before We Died?
It’s available under the book title at Amazon, Audible and iTunes.
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