Emily McGonigal was watching cartoons with her sons when she decided to change careers. A lawyer in Essex, she has become one of the stars of globally popular children's series a decade later.
Beginning a New Journey
During her maternity leave from her legal career, Emily McGonigal combined caring for her newborn and son with watching cartoons. While watching shows like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol, she thought about how one could become the voice of these characters. This thought led her to change careers, especially since she had always been interested in acting in school plays and recognized her talent for creating different accents.
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McGonigal, who commuted from her family home in Colchester to her legal job in London, was looking for a better work-life balance. With the support of her husband, Ciaran, she converted a large cupboard into a voice studio and began testing her voice for online voiceover work.
Success in the World of Animation
After several auditions and working on corporate training videos and television commercials, McGonigal succeeded in joining the voice cast of the animated series Spike. The series, which is about a young dragon and his friends, was released on October 12 and quickly became one of the most-watched global programs in any genre.
She has managed to voice eight different characters in this series. McGonigal says, "These past few weeks have been truly surreal and amazing for me. I never imagined I would one day be alongside Peppa Pig in the top 10 Netflix shows." To maintain the distinction between characters, she writes biographies for each character and creates backgrounds for them.
McGonigal has become one of the prominent voices in children's animation due to her efforts in the industry, allowing her to work from home. She says, "With the right training and professional equipment, this work can be done from home, which was a revelation for me."
Now her sons, Finn and Jack, aged 11 and 9 respectively, have outgrown preschool animations, but McGonigal says they are not interested in their mother's job, which might be a good thing. She adds, "Sometimes they ask me not to try different voices when reading stories to them."
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