Bill Young

Bill is one of the most experienced and reliable voice artists in the country, having voiced many thousands of television and radio commercials, as well as corporate reads, narrations and anything else that needs a microphone and a small padded room. If you have a 30 second script of wall-to-wall dialogue that’s running 31, and you want it on time and more laconic, get Bill Young. He can deliver that!

Upon leaving drama school in the late 70’s, Bill quickly created the Kirribilli Pub Theatre, a highly successful incubator of off-the-wall comedy that packed out houses for the ten years of its existence. It was here where he rubbed shoulders with stand-up comic and voiceover legend, Jim Pike, who introduced him to the world of Russian guitars, classic motorcycles and, more importantly,…(drum roll)…VOICEOVER!

With his innate feel for comedy and timing, Bill quickly became the voice of beer giant Tooheys, and for the first twelve months of this new career in VO, that was all he did. Beer! His ‘How d’ya feel’ campaign became the most successful radio campaign of the time, scooping up innumerable awards and generating substantial sales for the amber product. Other brands quickly recognised the unique selling power of Bill’s ‘beer voice’ and he can confidently say he has voiced the vast majority of Australia’s ales/lites/full strengths/olds/news/pilseners to great success. Even Peroni couldn’t resist his dulcet tones!

Bill is also a master at ‘the natural read’ and has the envious ability of turning what could be sometimes harsh copy into a relaxed, tongue-in-cheek, over-the-back-fence conversation which entertains and, more importantly, sells its arse off. Having trained as an actor, he works particularly well in an ensemble, bouncing off other voice artists in the studio to create a wonderful creative atmosphere which produces great work. Bill takes direction well, understands quickly what a director is after, and is happy to contribute creatively in the process. On many occasions his subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle!) contributions have been integral to the success of a commercial.

He is highly respected in the industry and has worked for all the major agencies, radio stations and production companies. He has voiced many highly successful campaigns over the years including the RTA (A message from the RTA), government and political advertising, corporates, and innumerable clients. On top of that he is also one of the regular voices on the ABC’s Media Watch programme, as well as being a regular contributor to Radio National’s radio plays. Documentary, corporate and training film narration is another string to his impressive range of skills. His narration of his documentary A Very Short War is a great example of his work.

He is one of Australia’s most experienced character actors with over 20 feature films under his belt (Hacksaw Ridge, The Great Gatsby, Superman Returns, Japanese Story, Chopper, The Matrix, The Road to Nhill), a wealth of television experience (Water Rats, Love Child, Rake, The Hollowmen, Home and Away, Devil’s Dust, Bodyline etc etc) and an impressive array of theatre credits. And if that wasn’t enough, he works occasionally as a director of film and documentary (The Roly Poly Man, A Very Short War) as well as theatre.

Bill puts in. He has been a member of the MEAA (Actors Equity) since 1975, and volunteered for eight years on the management committee of the Actors Benevolent Fund of NSW Inc, the actor and voice artist charity, serving as Treasurer for four years.

You won’t regret booking Bill for a job. In fact, you’ll have a great time!