Hi there! I’m Kelly, a native Estonian voice artist and actress, and here’s a bit about me. There are mainly three instances that I can recall, which brought me here.

My love for acting started in middle school with a simple school play. It was Christmas time, and every class had to do an end-of-the-year performance; we decided to parody a then-popular TV show, “The Psychic Challenge”. My role in it was small — I played a drunkard, whose only objective was to aimlessly wander around the stage and then drag a fellow classmate (also playing a drunkard, who had previously “crashed” the show and then fallen asleep) backstage.

As I was definitely one of the quiet loner types in school and had always struggled to connect with others, I was nervous. Imagine walking onto the stage or the set, you’ve memorized your lines, they call “Action!” and then everybody starts speaking a different script than yours. And also, this is not the play or movie you thought you were in. I had more or less always felt that way.

How was I going to go on stage and do this ‘acting thing’ that’s all about connecting? Although it was a tiny role, I hadn’t done anything “big” like that, especially in front of others.

But as soon as I stepped on stage, something changed. I wasn’t nervous anymore; the crowd didn’t bother me (as introverted as I normally am–which is very). In fact, I could feel the audience–I knew if I was losing them or if they were coming along. It’s hard to describe, but this world–the world of acting–made sense to me in a way nothing ever has before. For that minute or however long, people connected with me and I with them. The ‘wrong script, wrong play’ feeling ceased to exist, and I knew that at the very least I’d found something worth exploring.

The next instance came in high school. Estonian schools have something called the job shadowing day, which is exactly what it sounds like — you pick someone to shadow at their work for a day. I wanted to shadow Kristel Aaslaid, an actress from “Padjaklubi” (transl. Pillow Club). Padjaklubi was essentially a comedic TV series about four women with very different personalities living together in a tiny apartment; it ran for 15 seasons, but at the time it was the second season. I wanted to know how such a series got made and what it meant to be an actor.

It was a positively insane idea — if you’re not from Estonia, just imagine wanting to shadow one of the most known actresses on one of the most popular TV series in your country — but somehow, I did end up there. I spoke a bit more about it here, but it was that experience which got me thinking more seriously about acting and my future.

Sometime after graduation, I tried out for drama school, but ultimately didn’t make it. Why not? That’s anyone’s guess — not good enough, too old, not the right type, who knows? Unfortunately, you never hear why. I have heard that in Estonia they don’t like to accept older people (I was early to mid 20s), and there’s a lot of talk about ‘types’. All I can say about that is that I did meet someone later on who used to work at the school and after they heard my story, their response was “Oh, you must’ve not been the type they were looking for that year.” So, there’s that, rather cryptic.

I didn’t try out for the school again as life just began to turn out differently. But the right type or not, I didn’t stop.

I joined Kandikohtlased (this name loosely translates into ‘the loonies of ‘kandi’ AKA the crazy ones of Järvakandi, my hometown). I got my first hands-on acting experiences with them. The troupe was small, but diverse. Everyone there had different methods for learning and preparation; they taught me valuable skills in teamwork. I also learned what my own work ethic was–be as prepared as I could be but leave room for creativity, always be on time, be a good scene partner, take direction well, and be kind.

Around the same time, I also started investing more into voice over–I had already began in 2018, but now it was slowly going from hobby to work. I sought more experience and wanted to try a different area of acting in addition to the stage. I started with character acting since I was most familiar with it, and eventually that expanded to many different genres–from videogames and explainer videos to commercials, e-Learning, IVR, et cetera–in English and Estonian. Now, I’m here!

I ultimately hope to contribute something good and worthwhile to the world. For me, acting is a way to connect and learn. But it is also a way to create that experience for others. Be it in voice over, or on stage or screen…

I hope you’ll join me on this journey!