From a Time.com Q&A with David Duchovney (published April 16th):
TIME: You’ve made your share of commercials. Anything from the early-struggling-actor days?
DUCHOVNEY: They used to pay well. They could get you through the lean months. I did a couple of beer commercials. I did a vitamin commercial and a lottery commercial. When I started getting notoriety it was cheesy to appear in a commercial. Everyone was saying, “I have to get a commercial in Japan.” It was okay to appear on camera in Japan. But not in America. But that’s changing. Like with Luke Wilson and Catherine Zeta Jones. Seinfeld did the credit card one. It’s a sign of the changing times and I don’t think it’s an aberration. I think you’ll see more familiar people doing these.
TIME: So are you thinking about it? You do voice-overs for Pedigree dog food, but what what would you push onscreen if you had to push a product?
DUCHOVNEY: I’m not thinking about it. I’m not grabbing at the money. My kids are fine. We’re okay. It’s not something I think about. At one time there were voiceover artists, now there are celebrity voiceover artists. It’s unfortunate because these people need the money less than the voiceover artist. Commercials were traditionally a way for actors to support themselves to work on stage, movies or television.
Thanks to Scott Reyns for posting this to the Voice-overs.com forum.
April 20, 2010 @ 10:53 am
Interesting observation. Among those whose toil in ‘creative’ work, the opportunities are not evenly distributed nor will they ever be. Something like 80% of the fish are caught by 20% of the fishermen. Regardless, one should put your best foot forward and ‘hone your craft.’ Be concerned with what IS within your control, not the things that are outside of it.