This Northern Rhode Islander Has a Talent for Talking

Connie Wallace at the Voice Arts Awards ceremonies. Photography courtesy of Connie Wallace and Andrew Nasser.

Connie Wallace opens her bedroom’s closet door. With dresses and tops arranged on hangers and purses lined up on a shelf above, it looks like it could belong to any well-dressed woman. Except for one thing: Recording equipment, including a microphone, headphones and a computer, sits on a small desk alongside the outfits.

Photography courtesy of Connie Wallace and Andrew Nasser.

From this humble space, Wallace has spent the past few years building a full-time career as a voice-over artist. It’s not uncommon for her to spend eight hours a day there.

“I could set up my recording studio somewhere else, but the closet doesn’t bother me,” says Wallace, who lives in northern Rhode Island. “It’s like an escape, plus the sound is good.”

Her wide vocal range allows her to play anything from a business executive to a cartoon character to a grandmother. But simply having a nice voice isn’t enough to make it in the industry, she says — a lot of practice and acting is involved. 

“In one day, I can be fifteen different people,” she says. “If I have stress, or if I’m not feeling great, this completely takes my mind off everything.”

Wallace’s work came out of a pandemic pivot. After retiring from a position at a cruise line in late 2019, she invested in recording equipment and launched a travel podcast. Then COVID emerged. As the country hunkered down, she hit pause and wondered what else she could do. She had dabbled in radio years prior and had done a voice-over spot as a teenager, so it was something that had long been in the back of her mind.

She then sought out some voice-over education and coaching. As the months passed, Wallace steadily improved, created demos and eventually secured her first agent. 

Connie Wallace at the Voice Arts Awards ceremonies. Photography courtesy of Connie Wallace and Andrew Nasser.

“I think I have six agents now,” she says. “They’re working hard to get me auditions in all parts of the country. I just got two in the last half-hour.”

They were for commercials for an emergency department and the music-streaming service Spotify. Some of her previous projects include narrating videos for a liberal political action committee and playing a nagging mom on a radio commercial for the coffee chain Aroma Joe’s. She’s also lent her voice to award ceremonies and corporate training videos.

Wallace has received national recognition for her talent. She was thrilled to walk the red carpet at Warner Bros. Studio in Hollywood during the SOVAS Voice Arts Awards, which are known as the Academy Awards of the voice-over industry.

It’s been meaningful reinventing herself in her sixth decade after retiring from a longtime career. “It’s never too late to try something new or accomplish your dreams,” she says. conniewallace.com