Jake Phillips sits in his home recording studio Saturday in front of his microphone and audio recording software. Phillips works as a full-time voice actor making more money working from home than he did when he was raw materials warehouse manager at Yokohama Tire. Paloma Green/Dispatch Staff	
			When Jake Phillips started uploading recordings of himself reading Bible verses and books to YouTube in 2013, he thought he was just creating mementos for his newborn daughter, Abigail. He never imagined it would launch a career.
Phillips said he was close to his father, who died around the same time Abigail was born. He took great comfort in an old recording of his father reading from the book of Joshua. Phillips wanted Abigail to have something similar, so he created a YouTube channel so she would always have a collection of recordings of him reading.
“Then people started like, ‘Oh, I liked the way that sounded. Could I give you 100 bucks to do this thing?’” Phillips said. “It was a complete accident, but that happened enough times that I was like, ‘Maybe I should just actually put forward some effort.’”
So, Phillips upgraded his microphone, learned about sound proofing and started recording in a closet. Now, 13 years later, he is a full-time voice actor with a home studio in his garage.
When Phillips began landing commissions, mostly for audiobooks, he was working full-time at Yokohama Tire in West Point as a raw materials warehouse manager. Although he didn’t love the monotony or being inside all day, the tire plant job was a good one that he was not in a rush to leave.
In 2016 Phillips was sitting in his living room watching “North America,” a Discovery Channel program narrated by Tom Selleck, when he decided on a full career change.
“I remember I was right over there,” Phillips said, pointing to a chair near his home’s fireplace. “I was like, ‘I think I’m going to leave Yokohama and I’m going to do this for a living.’ And it was almost another two years before that happened.”
Phillips kept training his voice and learning new accents. Then with his wife’s support, he took the leap and quit his job in 2018 to commit to voice acting full-time. He said it took about a year to know the gamble had paid off, and now he makes more than he did at Yokohama.
You may have even heard Phillips’ voice when he introduced a Sunday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints on NBC in 2019.
“Normally they have a celebrity that does it, but I think the celebrity fell through and someone panicked and got on a freelance site (Fiver) and found me,” Phillips said.
Dropping the drawl
Phillips started “putting on voices” as a child. A family favorite, he said, was his rendition of an old lady named Ethel.
“Everbody thought that was really funny when … this little freckle-faced kid is talking like an old lady named Ethel who smoked,” Phillips said. “That was pretty fun, pretty rewarding to get … a cheap laugh.”
But as a kid he had no idea you could make a career out of voice acting. Phillips credits his success in voice acting to his time in the Army.
When Phillips enlisted in 2008 after attending Mississippi State University, he was sent to Kansas. During a training exercise he was talking on the radio, and his platoon sergeant, unable to understand his Mississippi drawl, told Phillips, “You need to learn to speak English.”
Prior to that, he had never thought of himself as having a thick southern accent, but he took the message to heart and decided to learn to imitate the less-Southern accent he was hearing around him. He perfected it, and now it’s the most requested of his accents for his work in commercials, audiobooks and video games.
Josh Gillis, owner of Catfish Alley Studio in downtown Columbus, has been friends with Phillips since they competed against each other in cross country track in high school. Gillis remembers Phillips as well spoken, but he had no idea his friend had a knack for voice-acting until they reconnected in 2016.
“He maybe lost his Mississippi accent a little bit, I don’t know. He is just a super talented guy,” Gillis said of his friend.
Phillips said he ends up changing his accent depending on who he is talking to in his daily life but tries to maintain his new accent for work.
“When I’m around local folks I probably relax (my accent) a little bit to blend in, so they’re not like, ‘Who’s that Yankee fellow?’” Phillips said. “… When I’m out at the studio… most people don’t want to hear southern, so I cannot have a whiff. So I cannot drop the G.”
Phillips now is part of an online community where he helps other people who are interested in voice acting learn how to get started. Phillips and Gillis have bounced ideas off of each other for both of their businesses, including social media and education-based projects.
“I never saw Jake as a voice actor. He probably never saw me as a studio guy,” Gillis told The Dispatch. “… We started putting our heads together. … We could do some work and have (his students) come to the studio.”
Phillips credits much of his success to his social media work and his personal brand as he is currently not working with an agent. He still uploads videos of himself reading to his YouTube channel both for his audience and his children.
Phillips just recorded a reading of “Winnie the Pooh,” one of the many books he has uploaded, so when he travels for work his children can still have story time with dad.
“If I’m traveling they’re always listening when dad’s gone, they’ll pull it up and listen to stuff… (to) still get a storytime,” Phillips said.
			
						
						
			
      
      
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        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.