The sound of success
Enrique Josephs was cooling his jets at LAX waiting for a flight. A call came in on his cell from his agent. A quick trip to the men’s room where he opened up a suitcase on a changing table to reveal his mobile recording studio. Ten minutes later ... mission accomplished. Spot recorded and delivered to the client.
For a voice-over artist, working in strange locations at all hours of the day and night is part of the business. It’s a career that Josephs, better known to his friends as EJ, never even knew existed if not for a chance meeting at a summer event on campus.
It’s already been a meteoric journey for the 26-year old with many big dreams still in his future. Among his credits is work for NFL Films, the History Channel, MLB Network, ESPN and the Emmy-nominated Harry Connick Jr. television show. Along the way though, there were lots of twists and turns and a bit of luck.
Josephs was a highly-recruited football offensive lineman from West Chester. One of his high school teachers, John Adams, the father of a former BU football player Stefan Adams, suggested he give BU a serious look for both its football team and its strong mass communications program.
“The late Mr. Adams really influenced me to attend BU,” said Josephs. “I loved playing football and had dreams of becoming a news anchor. He thought Bloomsburg University would be good for me with both a strong football team and mass communications department.”
“My early goal was to be a news anchor,” said Josephs. Those dreams of being an on-camera celebrity soon changed. “I realized I liked being behind the scenes as an editor or on the radio more. I could let my personality come through without being worried about the camera.”
After his football career ended due to injury, fate would intervene for EJ when former teammate Franklyn Quiteh recommended his friend to the BU athletic department for a job as a PA announcer at the school’s home games. Once the staff heard him on the microphone, Josephs was quickly hired.
“Working as a PA announcer taught me how to make adjustments on the fly in a stressful situation,” EJ continued. “Initially I was fearful of what people would think of my voice, but I grew into enjoying the interaction I had with the fans as well as still being part of a sport without actually playing.”
In the mass comm department, EJ was actively involved in many areas. “I started volunteering more for projects the mass comm department was working on with Jason Genovese, now chair of the department, and Mike DiGiorgio (former assistant in the IT area),” Josephs added.
“EJ always had the talent, the golden pipes, but you need more than that, and he knew it,” said Genovese. “He had a work ethic that has already carried him to great heights in the television industry and will continue to do so.”
“As a senior I attended the first Confer Radio Institute held at BU,” said Josephs. “I met Pat Garrett one of the top voice-over guys. I never knew doing that kind of work could be a career. Pat let us use his equipment to record demos and also told us to keep working and not give up. It was great advice that I never forgot.”
But a journey from ‘keep working hard kid’ to NFL Films doesn’t just happen. Along with skill, EJ needed some luck and a few breaks.
By day Josephs was working as a video instructor at the Glen Mills school for troubled youth. By night he was interning for an independent baseball team, the Camden River Sharks, learning as much as he could and getting tips from the public address announcer Kevin Casey, now the voice of the Philadelphia Union professional soccer team.
On a career day at Glen Mills, an engineer from NFL Films was on site. A co-worker of EJ’s introduced him to the engineer. After a brief conversation, EJ was asked to send in a demo.
“I scrambled that night at home to put something together and quickly sent it in,” Josephs continued. “The company surprised me by calling me in for an interview. It went so well, a few months later I was offered a job as a production assistant, ironically just a few days after landing a full-time position with the school.” (He quickly quit his job at the school.)
EJ’s big break came just months later when he was tabbed to be the voice of the post-game spot announcing the opportunity to purchase gear and a highlight DVD of the Super Bowl. Later he worked
on a highlight film of the Super Bowl becoming the first seasonal production assistant hired for that role.
“I had to sleep at NFL films multiple nights to meet the deadline,” said Josephs. “The same producers who recorded his demo gave him a shot to do the narration on the Super Bowl 50 highlights. It was huge. They loved it.”
Later that year EJ caught another big break and landed a spot as the voice of the NFL’s Top 100 when the original voice of the show was arrested. “I was working with the show’s Emmy Award-winning producer doing some training. After the original voice-over artist was dropped, the producer hired me to be the new voice that year. We had to re-record two episodes which had aired already and now I am one of three regular voices of the program.”
Most recently Josephs did the narration for the History Channel’s summer show “Evel Live,” which was the most-watched live show outside of a sporting event on television in 2018 with more than 3.5 million viewers.
“The production company for the show, Nitro Circus, had heard some of my work and asked me to audition,” Josephs said. “A short time after sending in my audition, my agent called me to tell me I got the job.” Of course, that day was also his first day of vacation in Virginia.
“I had to call a friend, who called someone he knew, and I landed time in a studio. In all, it took about two hours to record all the narration so I didn’t lose too much of my vacation.”
While the profession may seem simple to an outsider, just like an athlete, EJ has to train, practice and of course take care of his most valuable asset…his voice.
“Each week I work with a voice coach because it’s easy to strain the vocal chords if you’re not careful,” said Josephs. “Recently, I went to a concert, but couldn’t scream. I also drink a lot of water, tea with honey, and eat lots of apples. I’ve also stopped drinking milk because lactate creates too much mucus. And, my girlfriend’s grandmother put me on to echinacea and I haven’t been sick in more than three years (knock on wood),” said Josephs laughing.
“Originally I was very hard on myself and would critique all my work,” Josephs continued. “I don’t do it as much now. Now I’m just interested in making sure my clients are happy with my work.”
So what’s next for the guy who originally was hoping to be a news anchor?
“It’s been an amazing few years for me, but I do not want to be complacent,” said Josephs. “I see my future in promos, commercials and narrations. It would be great to be able to do a long-term series for Nat Geo or the Discovery Channel. I’d love to be synonymous with one show.”
“Ultimately, the Olympics for voice-over artists are movie trailers. Right now two guys have most of the work in this area. I’m not rushing things; I’ve still got a lot to learn about the industry. But movie trailers is where I hope to one day land.”
Despite his growing status in the voice-over world, EJ still finds time to give back. “I’m mentoring three young men at my church in the voice-over business and recently spent an hour on the phone with an intern from NFL Films answering her questions. “For me, it’s about helping others on their journey,” said Josephs. “I learned a lot by trial and error. My goal is to help others achieve their dreams.”
Dreams. We all have them. For some, the dreams don’t always come true. For others, like EJ, each day is a dream come true and more exciting than the last. Where that dream takes him, only time and his voice will say.
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