The son of a college professor, Joe is now married to a college professor. He tries not to think too deeply about that.
Joe’s formal education included The American University of Beirut, Lebanon, Bucknell University in PA, and some graduate work in Trinity University’s graduate extension School of Drama at the Dallas Theater Center in Texas, before dropping out to become a DJ. This, of course, thrilled his PhD father.
The move from disc jockey to freelance voice actor wasn’t a great leap, but Joe took his time about it. After a few years of radio in Dallas, Washington DC, The Richmond area of Virginia, and Charlotte, NC, Joe decided to leave the corporate security and stock options of broadcasting and step into the void: Self Employment!
Joe became closely aligned with one of Charlotte’s first commercial production studios, “Jay Howard Production Audio”. He created the layout of the facility, designed much of the acoustic treatments, and became the audio engineer of record (pun intended) in Jay Howard’s “Studio C”. Joe blazed the trail for the studio’s transition into the digital age, tackling the DAW learning curve and then mentoring other staff engineers as they learned. He even installed the studio’s first LAN. Throughout all of this, Joe Van Riper steadily grew his voice business.
You’ve heard his voice introducing Super Bowl XL, guiding visitors through The Louvre Museum, The Billy Graham Library, The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, The NASCAR Hall of Fame, and universities such as Texas A&M and California Baptist. He has described everything that tourism has to offer in Finland and lauded new BMWs, Mercedes, Fords, Chevys… almost every kind of car, even (once) Rolls Royce!
Joe has explained employee benefits to new hires in hundreds of major corporations, demonstrated new ideas from kiosks at trade shows, trained new nurses, EMTs and other medical practitioners, enticed viewers of QVC with upcoming specials, regaled the worth of some political candidates while revealing the transgressions of others, and so on… His voice is all over the internet, describing products for Milwaukee Tools, Caterpillar, Garmin, Ace Bandages, Jackson Hewett Taxes, Billing.com and dozens more.
Simply put, if you’ve had long term exposure to American mass media, at some point in the past 30 years you’ve almost certainly heard Joe’s voice. If you’re looking for a professional voice actor with plenty of experience, a broad range, and multiple talents, you’re in the right place!
Joe Van Riper is Mr. VOiceover 