SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Snyder resident speaks about favorite life
by PATRICK J. NAGY

Toni Silveri

Toni Silveri jokingly says she has lived many lives. She's been a jazz singer, a professional chef, voiced over 2,000 commercials, and acted in numerous films.

But the Snyder resident feels her best life is the one she's living now as the founder and teacher of the Voice Actor Workshop of Western New York and since last July, an agent with All Coast Talent, a non-union Internet voice acting talent agency.

"I just love people doing what they love and working to become better," said Silveri, a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Screen Actors Guild. "Now I have the opportunity to help others. That's why I became an agent."

Silveri thought she would never become an agent, mainly because she had no idea how to let casting directors know of her clients. But through the Internet, she's able to e-mail an MP3 of a client's audition.

"I can finally say you can live in your own hometown and compete via the Internet on a national level," said Silveri.

Although All Coast Talent is only seven months old, some of Silveri's clients have found good work. Jack LoCastro was chosen as the voice of the talking phone for a national Time- Warner Cable advertisement. Phil Scheeler also had a part for a national Time -Warner Cable commercial but his was for the company's music ads. Martin Yap was picked as the voice for all national Six Flags theme park commercials. Margo Davis can be heard in a regional ad for Independent Health, but she recently voiced a national Internet animation short called "Clicker Clatter". Amy Lyndon was booked for the on-screen role of Shelley in ABC's "Ugly Betty".

When Silveri has found a client work, she's elated.

"It feels like I won the lottery," said Silveri.

All Coast Talent is an extension of the Voice Actor Workshop of WNY, which was created in 1995 after Silveri and several other professional voice actors started to meet weekly to read scripts. Silveri, a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association of America, now teaches 48 promising voice actors every night and several private sessions during the day out of her home. The workshop provides training at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced/working pro level and focuses on correcting diction flaws, proper breathing techniques, and speaking clearly.

She also analyzes the voice-over business, including self-promotion and proper audition protocol. She also brings in top professionals to share their expertise. Pat Fraley, who has voiced over 4,000 characters and written several best-selling books on voice acting, will be teaching two master classes this August.

Growing up, you wouldn't think Silveri would be working in voice acting. Raised in Buffalo's East Lovejoy neighborhood, Silveri suffered from a lisp that placed her three times a week in speech therapy. Silveri overcame her speech impediment to sing solos in grammar school and win a national public speaking contest in eighth grade.

After attending New York University Drama School and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Silveri would eventually move with her husband, Leonard, to Los Angeles, Calif. where she learned the voice acting business from legends like Daws Butler (voice of "Captain Crunch", "Yogi Berra", and "Elroy Jetson") and Ralph James ("Orson" from "Mork & Mindy").

Silveri's first break in voice acting came in the early 1980s as a phone caller in a national advertisement for Purex laundry detergent. Her most well-known spot came in the early 1990s when she was cast as the mother in a Chevy Blazer commercial during one of the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl appearances. She also voiced the West Coast movie trailer for the 1988 movie, "Mystic Pizza" which starred Julia Roberts, provided the voice for a "Smurf" in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon and narrated the Constitution for the Disney Channel.

Her on-screen roles are numerous, including the mother in "Checkout", a 2002 movie filmed in Rochester, as well as appearances on "One Day at a Time" and "The New Monkees."

In 1992, the Silveris and their daughter Talia moved back to Snyder but Toni and Leonard returned to Los Angeles in 2004 so she could learn new trends in voice acting.

"I'm still a student and have been one all of my life," she said. "I'm always trying to better myself as a performer, especially now that I'm a trainer."

Silveri is still working. A week ago, she was chosen as the voice for Giant Eagle Supermarkets. Her dream job has yet to happen.

"My dream is to be the announcer for the Academy Awards," she said. "And who knows? It's not too late. Stranger events have happened. You just have to go with the flow."