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National Success, Local Address

Michigan-based voice actor's stellar career earns him
Screen Actors Guild honors.

Sign Up Now For
Friendship Circle's
Mitzvah Volunteers

Amy Lynn Smith

Special to the Jewish News

y

ou may not know Barry Zate's
voice — or at least you don't
realize you do. But chances
are you've heard it dozens of times. His
voice is distinctive, no question, but he
adapts it to the requirements of each
assignment so nimbly that one project
may sound nothing like the next.
Zate's achievements as a voice
actor are impressive, with extensive
credits ranging from major television
networks like ABC and CBS to lend-
ing his voice to Heineken and BMW
Motorcycles commercials.
He's worked hard to get where he is
today: at the top of a field that earns
some of its leading players seven-fig-
ure salaries. In fact, Zate was recently
honored by the Screen Actors Guild
(SAG) as one of the top voiceover
artists and celebrities headlining the
annual SAG Foundation Poker Classic
fundraiser.
In an industry where nearly every-
one is based in Los Angeles or New
York, he's worked his way to the high-
est tier without ever moving away
from Michigan.
Zate has made the most of technol-
ogy to lend his voice to projects across
the country and around the world.
"The technology essentially lets
me be in their studio while I'm in
my professional recording studio," he
explains. "Even five years ago, you
would've had to live in Los Angeles
and New York to do the work I do."
Best of all, he doesn't have to uproot
his wife and daughter and leave the
rest of his family behind in Michigan.

Love At First Listen

Zate grew up in Southfield and caught
the broadcasting bug at his high school
radio station. He went on to get an
internship at WXYZ radio in high
school in the 1980s.
During college, while others were
studying broadcasting, Zate got a job
at a commercial radio station as a DJ.
You may remember him on Detroit-
area stations like Lite FM and Magic
105.1 as an on-air personality.
But about 10 years ago, Zate
decided he wanted to take his career
to the next level. He connected with
renowned L.A.-based voiceover
coach Marice Tobias. Through her,
he learned the significant difference

16 January 23 • 2014

JN

Friendship Circle volunteers

F

Barry Zate at the mic

"My days are jam-packed with ongoing
assignments, auditions and recording jobs."

between an announcer and a voice
actor.
"Being a voice actor is about being a
character. Much like acting onscreen,
you don't notice the actors are reading
their lines. They become the charac-
ter:' Zate says. "Once I learned that
difference, I began getting recognized
by agents who started booking me for
more and more substantial work."
Zate has announced for shows
including CSI: Crime Scene

Investigation, Mike & Molly, Hawaii
Five-0 and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Zate is
also a character voice in Nickelodeon's
animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
show. He's also a national commercial
voice and can be heard pitching for
Chevrolet, Fidelity Insurance, Nike
and Brooks Brothers. Locally you've
heard Zate on commercials for Priority
Health, Art Van Furniture and Meijer.
Zate's voice acting work has also
been heard on movie trailers for major
studios. In fact, it was his voice on the
trailer for this summer's Star Trek Into
Darkness. He's worked as the announc-
er for everything from The Tyra Banks
Show to Big Ten Hockey.

Best Of All Worlds

Zate values the flexibility he has work-
ing from his West Bloomfield studio,
which lets him pick up his daughter
from school and be more involved
with his family. Zate is active in the

Jewish community, too, including at
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
At the same time, Zate works very
hard to get the volume of high-end
assignments he does.
"Sometimes booking a job is all
about how you turned a phrase no one
else thought of:' he says. "It's not like
you just go up to the microphone and
start talking."
Zate often gets calls from his agents
in the middle of dinner or while he's
out with his family, asking him to
voice a new script right away. He now
carries a portable studio and has been
known to sit in his car and cover his
head with a blanket for soundproofing
to get a recording done.
"That's the cool part of technology
— it allows me to be everywhere —
but it's also the curse because clients
expect everything right away:' Zate
says. "My days are jam-packed with
ongoing assignments, auditions and
recording jobs. Sometimes I'll do 15
to 20 projects a day, which I could
never do if I had to travel to a studio
for each one."
It's a lucrative career, but, there's
something else that's equally meaning-
ful to Zate.
"I get to do what I've loved ever
since I was a kid, and every time I sit
down in front of a microphone it's just
as much fun to me as it was when I
was 14:' he says.

❑

riendship Circle in West
Bloomfield has been offering a
Mitzvah Volunteer Program for
six years that runs three times annually.
The four-week program is designed for
12- and 13-year-old volunteers. The
next session begins at 5 p.m. Sunday,
Feb. 9.
The program includes a hands-on,
nonverbal lesson in Friendship Circle's
Weinberg Village, a beginner's lesson in
sign language and much more. The goal
of this program is to teach young men-
tors how to overcome the barriers of dif-
ferent disabilities and not let that get in
the way of forming friendships.
"My son, Cameron, has recently com-
pleted the MVP orientation for men-
tors with the Friendship Circle," said
Jennifer Dollar. "He has been actively
involved with assisting kids with special
needs at his school, Reuther Middle
School in Rochester Hills, for the last
year and a half, but was looking for
something else to become involved with
to help others.
"Cameron has ADHD and has strug-
gled to make friends. His volunteering
and work with Friendship Circle and
with children with special needs has
helped boost his self-confidence, self-
worth and self-esteem.
"The MVP orientation program was
especially helpful. It provided tips and
ideas that Cameron could use not only
with the Friendship Circle programs,
but also with his volunteer activities at
his school and in the Rochester com-
munity.
"The program is not only a huge asset
to the community, but also to the kids
that are involved with the volunteer
program," she said. "The coordinators
there have done an excellent job work-
ing with Cameron and making them-
selves available for questions even after
the orientation is complete."
To learn more and to signup, go
to www.friendshipcircle.org/mvp or call
(248) 788-7878.

❑

