Victoria Carroll always dreamed of being an actor.

She studied acting in London and New York, and after trying to make it in L.A. for three years and struggling to pay rent, she moved to the Czech Republic in October 2015. A friend had recently relocated there and "a lot of Hollywood movies film there," she says, so she knew there would be opportunities for English-speaking actors.

Within days of arriving in Prague, she got cast and appeared in a play. A member of the audience then changed the trajectory of her career.

He turned out to be a voice actor in a video game called "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" and asked if Carroll would be open to auditioning for one of the lead roles, Theresa. She'd never considered voiceover work but "I have sort of a policy in my life," she says, "which is, if something is interesting, I say yes to it." She ended up booking the role, which covered the cost of her rent, she says, and realized voiceover work could be a good moneymaking avenue.

Carroll has since built up a robust, full-time career as a freelance voiceover actor. "If you name a company, I've probably worked with them," says the 33-year-old, listing "Google, Apple, Nike, National Geographic, Adidas, Pepsi, Coke" as examples.  

In 2023 alone, she brought in more than $251,000 from her work, much of which has come from freelancer site Fiverr.

Here's how Carroll, who's now back in L.A. where she lives with her husband and kids, has built her booming business.  

She worked '18-hour days' and 'seven days a week'

In 2018, after Carroll's part-time video game gig ended, she decided to look into how she could pick up more voiceover work, "just seeing if I could earn some extra money."

A Google search led her to Fiverr, where she created a profile that included both American voiceovers and British voiceovers. The gigs she offered cover a wide variety of content: "video games, commercials, telephone lines, YouTube videos," she says.

She also upgraded her equipment.

Initially, for projects outside the video game, she recorded on a snowball microphone, which can go for about $50 these days. When she started booking more professional gigs, however, she bought a Shure SM7, which these days can go for about $400.

Demand for Carroll's skills picked up quickly.

"Around six months in, I started making maybe $2,000 a month," she says, adding that she rarely said no to a client and at times worked "18-hour days" and "seven days a week." By the end of 2018, she realized she was making enough money to move back to L.A. and did so.

"In my first year on Fiverr," Carroll says, "I think I made, like, $60,000. And for me … I might as well have been a multi-millionaire." She also realized she might not need to pursue acting anymore.

"I think I'm a voiceover artist now," she says she thought. "I think this is my job."

'Minimum every day I'm working four hours'

Carroll has now made nearly $1 million on Fiverr through her work. She's hiked up her prices, become pickier in the projects she takes on and stopped working as much she did at the onset. Her gigs now go for $30 for 50 words, $60 for 100, $300 for 500 words and so on.

"Minimum every day I'm working four hours no matter what," Carroll says. "A long day would be eight hours." She also has a voiceover agent who's helped her find gigs, though, most of her work still comes from Fiverr, she says.

She sets her own hours and records in her closet or at a home studio. She works on "dozens of projects a day," she says.

Carroll cites various reasons for her success including her diligence about responding to emails quickly and making sure her customers are satisfied with their recordings. Her background as an actor, she believes, has also helped.

"Even if it's a product or an ad or a really dry medical video," she says, "the client still has a story they want to tell. And they want emotion and passion in their project."

'99.9% of the voiceover actors I know record in the closet'

The gig is not without its challenges.

Voiceover work can be isolating — "99.9% of the voiceover actors I know record in the closet," Carroll says, adding that, "you're in, like, a tiny little dark studio that's totally soundproofed and you're oxygen deprived and the lights are shining on you." She's gotten burned out from the conditions.

But, overall, Carroll loves her work and there's a lot of a flexibility in freelancing. As a longtime struggling actress, she also never imagined she'd reach the kind of success that she has. "In my head, I'm always this broke person trying to pay her rent," she says.

She's even been able to fund and produce a documentary, "She is a Shaman," coming out in November. Making the kinds of sums she does "still feels surreal."

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