The Man With 1,000 Voices
Hang around Tom Kane long enough, and you’ll start to hear voices. Lots of them.
The Overland Park resident talks for a living, but not in his natural Midwest accent. The sounds emanating from Kane’s mouth range from a spot-on Morgan Freeman, the wavering voice of Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film and TV series to the forceful movie trailer announcer for Disney/Pixar studios. Occasionally it might be Sir Sean Connery, the British voiceover for Mercedes-Benz radio commercials or Professor Kauffman from the classic cartoon Scooby Doo!
Prairie Village native Kane is a prominent voice actor who is among the best in Hollywood, although he, his wife and six children moved to the relative serenity of Johnson County from Malibu Hills four years ago. He works remotely in a high-tech home studio where the backyard’s bucolic pond is dotted with ducks and swans and returns to Tinseltown’s hubbub when his work requires on-site announcing—like the 2008 Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre.
“That was indeed me, announcing the whole show,” says Kane. “I was also the voice for the 78th Oscars show in 2005. Both were hosted by comedian Jon Stewart.”
Kane traveled last summer to Hollywood to announce the American Film Institute’s (AFI) Life Achievement Award tribute to legendary actor Michael Douglas. The first AFI show Kane announced was in 2006 and honored iconic actor Sir Sean Connery. Kane got to test drive his best imitation of the famed Scot’s instantly recognizable voice to the man himself while getting a drink at the gala’s after-party.
“People bombarded Connery all night doing their best James Bond voice,” says Kane. “I found myself standing next to him at the bar and said I was probably the only guy in the room who actually got paid to do Sean Connery’s voice.”
Kane, whose meticulous British accent is well known in Hollywood, was hired to do Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) on the soundtrack of the 2003 film League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in which Connery starred. The suave actor told Kane at the AFI bash rather reluctantly to let him hear it. Above the buzz of the party, Kane did Sean Connery’s voice into Sean Connery’s ear.
“He looked at me, shrugged and said, ‘It’s not bad, but I’ve heard better,’” says Kane.
So how does one become a mega voice talent?
For Kane it started as a child, doing silly voices for family and friends.
“I was the class clown,” says Kane. “Now I get paid for it.”
Kane says he’s always been a good mimic, riveted to cartoons and television sitcoms as a youngster, soaking up voices, accents and different dialects. He performed a bit of theatre during junior high and at Shawnee Mission South and in a fairly bold move for a 15-year-old, decided to call the owner of a local waterbed store one summer day when he heard a bad radio commercial promoting the business.
“I was a bored teen with absolutely no tact,” says Kane. “I told the guy that I could do a better voiceover job. He started cussing at me and hung up.”
But Kane hit the jackpot when he called the local American Cancer Society after hearing a poorly executed public service announcement (PSA) and told them he was their guy.
“They actually took my number, and an hour later a rather large Kansas City ad agency called and said they understood I was willing to donate my time to do a PSA,” says Kane.
The scenario that Kane describes as his first voiceover job has overtones of a Laurel and Hardy comedy routine. Because the long-haired, pimply faced teen didn’t have a license, his dad drove him to a downtown KC recording studio where a producer greeted the pair.
“He handed my dad the script, and when my dad pointed to me and said I was the one, there was some confusion,” says Kane. “The guy escorted us to the studio, and through the glass I saw wild gesturing between the producer and his bosses. I was oblivious that I didn’t exactly fit the bill as a professional.”
When the creative team asked Kane to do the PSA with an accent, the budding talent channeled the old man’s voice from the late 1970s Pepperidge Farms commercials. As Kane recalls, the mouths of the agency personnel dropped open and his career was born. Three days later, the agency called to hire Kane for five TV spots. At this point, Kane was surprised to make money doing something he enjoyed.
When Kane entered the University of Kansas to earn a degree in television and radio production, he had logged nearly 50 spots and continued to do local and regional work, building an impressive portfolio with nearly 500 commercials. Upon graduation he moved to Chicago and worked for advertising powerhouse Ogilvy and Mather as a writer and producer. After hiring voiceover people for a few months, Kane decided to get his demo reel to one of the Windy City’s largest talent agencies.
“They signed me to do work for brands like Mounds and Almond Joy and Hellman’s Best Foods,” says Kane. “Several months later, I moved to Hollywood with my new wife, Cindy, and a nest egg. I got lucky and landed the Chrysler-Plymouth account in two weeks.”
Kane did work on TV hits America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Simpsons and began to score movie trailers and cartoons. The in-demand voiceover actor now does promotions for HBO, narrates documentaries for channels such as National Geographic and Discovery, reads radio spots for national clients, is a prolific movie trailer voice and does lots of character work for his first love, cartoons. Kane does three to five recording sessions a day and five to 10 auditions weekly.
Are Kane’s children star-struck by their dad’s occupation?
“Absolutely not,” says Kane. “It’s what dad does for a living. They think every kid’s parents have Luke Skywalker [actor Mark Hamill] over for dinner.”
To see what Tom Kane has up his creative sleeve, visit www.tomkane.com.
words: Kimberly Winter Stern
photos: Laurel D. Austin