((PKG)) PIA / BENNETT – SIRI
((Banner: A Modern Job))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Map: Atlanta, Georgia))
((Susan Bennett, Voiceover Artist, Original Voice of Siri))
Hi, my name is Susan Bennett and I’m a voice actor and the original voice of Siri.
For a really long time in my life, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. And I started doing, working in clubs, singing and playing, and one day, as far as getting into voice work, it was basically kind of accidental. We had finished singing a jingle that day. I think there was a group of six of us and the voice actor didn’t show up to read the copy of the spot. So, the owner of the studio said, “Susan, you don’t have an accent. Come over here and read this copy.” And I went, oh, ding, ding, ding. So, I got a voice coach and a talent agent and I’ve been doing that ever since.
I did the original Siri recordings in 2005 and Siri appeared on October 4th, 2011. And I didn’t know anything about it until a fellow voice actor emailed me and said, “Hey, we’re playing around with this new iPhone app, isn’t this you?” And I went, really!
So, I went on the Apple site and I listened and I went, oh, oh my!
On the one hand I thought wow, I’m basically the new voice of Apple. That’s pretty cool. But the fact that I apparently had auditioned without knowing it, that really took me aback. And it took me two whole years to reveal myself as Siri because of that. Because I knew it was going to affect my career and I just wasn’t sure how it was going to happen. You know, on the one hand, a lot of people who are not in the business will go, “You’re Siri that’s so cool, that’s so great.” The people in the business are going, “You’re Siri,” and, maybe can’t hear anything beyond the Siri voice. And so, it’s like anybody that gets characterized as one particular thing.
((NATS: Susan Bennett, Voiceover Artist, Original Voice of Siri))
Siri, what are the top 10 books of 2017?
Here’s what I found on the web for what are the top 10 books of 2017.
((Susan Bennett, Voiceover Artist, Original Voice of Siri))
Siri was a life lesson for me because I had to face certain insecurities. The fact that I’m basically an introvert and I’m a very private person. Oh, do I want to be this person that’s on everybody’s device all over the world? And so, you have to accept it and figure out a way to spin it to the positive for yourself and which I’ve done and it has actually turned into a whole new career for me. I had no idea.
Like everything in life, you know, Siri had a big positive and a big negative and I have no way of measuring the negative, except I can see that since I did come out as Siri, a huge percentage of the work that I do is Siri related. On the other hand, I have done auditions for a Siri like voice and not gotten it.
The first two iterations of Siri, she really had a little bit of an attitude. I know that the first time I talked to Siri, I said, well, “Hi Siri, how are you? What are you doing?” And she goes, “I’m talking to you.”
I think Siri would like to make an appearance and say a couple of things. Always face your fears. Always keep the faith. But most of all, always have a sense of humor, LOL.
