Shogo Miyakita
Actor
The Secret of St Kilda (2021-)
Role
“Georgie.”
Bio
“Shogo Miyakita is a British-born voice actor with a home studio in North London. His natural accent is RP, but is known for his assured and versatile dialect work.
In March 2024, Rise of the Rōnin was released on PS5 in which Shogo plays Toshizō Hijikata. Earlier this year, Shogo recorded an upcoming audio drama for Big Finish and audiobook titles for The Games Workshop.
Since 2019, Shogo has worked on a wide variety of projects including commercials, corporate narration, ADR, audio drama, eLearning, explainers, ad campaigns and video games.
Shogo can also be heard as Heimdall in last year’s Marvel Move: Thor & Loki series.”
“If I can’t hear it, it doesn’t exist.”
How did you become aware of the show?
“I saw a casting call on Twitter and auditioned. For all of its failings, there are lots of accounts on Twitter dedicated to signal boosting casting calls - of all types - but also specifically for voice work.”
What was your aim in getting involved?
“I’d spent a few years working in corporate and commercial VO, so was keen to get back into the acting side of things. With so many indie audiodrama shows being made, it was a convenient and somewhat low-stakes entry point back into acting..”
What was the biggest challenge?
“It wasn’t a huge challenge, since it’s pretty standard fare for the industry, but remote recording. I’ve since worked on a few audiodrama projects in-studio - and, even with the fastest fibre Internet in the world, nothing beats the immediacy of recording in-person.”
What would be your dream project?
“I’ve still not managed to get a foot into animation work. Shows like Adventure Time make for great comfort viewing while allowing for some pretty bold creative decisions, so I’d love to get involved with something like that.”
How did you land the role? Any tips for a strong audio reel (or virtual audition)?
“I auditioned!
Read the brief, spend some time crafting a believable and real human being to wear the role. If time permits, after recording, leave it alone for a bit then come back to it with fresh ears. If there’s anything in there you don’t like or think you could improve, do it again!
Don’t be afraid to make interesting choices (staying within the brief, of course.) If you’re allowed to submit multiple takes, put your best take first..”
How does acting for audio compare to other media, for you? Any skills or techniques you’d recommend learning for it?
“Something hugely valuable I’ve learned only relatively recently is: ‘If I can’t hear it, it doesn’t exist.’
I don’t have much of a stage or screen acting background, but even I will act things out when I’m recording. This is pretty vital to a convincing performance, but if it doesn’t come through in the voice, it doesn’t serve the listener. Incidental noises, grunts, emotes, whatever you want to call them, help frame the context of the dialogue for the listener.”
If your character was an occasional part, how did you characterise them quickly and memorably?
“For me, it’s all about posture. I try to find the physicality that suits the character, then that helps to colour the performance. Crucially, it helps me to remember how to play the character if we’ve spent some time away from production.”