Clifton Yada
Voice Actor
Introducing Clifton Yada, member of the Voice Actors Branch, and one of the important writers of The Creators Society’s Member Spotlight.
Born and raised in Fresno, CA., Clifton grew up in a family of grape farmers. What does this mean, I asked. Of course, my mind immediately thought of wine! But I found out they would occasionally sell grapes to wine makers, but mostly, the grapes were grown for the raisin industry. Well, I love raisins too! I really wanted to hear more, but that will have to wait, because Clifton had a lot to say. “I had a great childhood of running through fields with my brothers and learning to drive tractors before cars,” he explained.
In high school, Clifton got involved in a video production class. He was able to create and act in as many sketches as there was time. Of course, he caught the acting bug, and decided that this was something he might want to do forever. How do you decide what you want to do forever?? He knew, even before high school, that he “...always loved making people laugh and having a captive audience.” Wanting a captive audience means theater and acting! It also means an outgoing personality.
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Clifton moved to San Diego for college and attended San Diego State University (SDSU) for his Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre (Performance), followed by a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Degree in Performance at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Clifton said, “At SDSU, I started to learn what acting really meant. I learned from so many amazingly talented and generous professors who really caught me up to speed in developing a craft of my own. Grad school was where I was able to first dip my toes in the voiceover world.” He explained that UNLV had a full broadcast studio, and master classes in VO, including accents and dialects.
“After school, moving to Los Angeles was the place to be, and I immediately took voice over classes with Kelly Moscinski at The Voicecaster, and fell in love,” he continued, “For Acting, you can be so many different people; for Voiceover, you can be anything! It is so freeing!”
He took every class offered at The Voicecaster, and even got his first demo produced there. Working in new media on a project that earned him SAG-AFTRA points, Clifton quickly turned into a professional union member, and found agency representation with Arlene Thornton & Assoc. He’s been with this agency for seven years!
“I have also taken VO animation classes with Richard Horvitz and Kris Zimmerman Salter. Richard is a well-known actor, voice actor and comedian known for Invader Zim (2001-2006) and Invader Zim:Enter the Florpus; the original Alpha 5 on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Turbo; Billy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy; Grey Matter in Ben 10, and so many more. Kris is an exceptionally popular casting and voice director known for her work on the Cartoon Network shows Cow and Chicken; The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest; Ben 10; as well as the video game series, Metal Gear; plus too many to add here.
“The more amazing talents and mentors I meet, the more I am blown away with how nice everyone is in this VO Industry,” he said. “Eventually, voice acting full-time in Animation, is a definite dream of mine,” Yada added. The pursuit of this dream led Clifton to The Creators Society! “I couldn’t be more thankful. This is a community of professional, talented and positively driven people I have learned so much from. As a member on the Communications Committee, I get to write about some of our incredibly talented Society members. I am honored to do what I can for this community of ours, and look forward to learning from and working with even more of you, going forward.”
Currently, Clifton can be heard on radio, voicing two commercials for the AM / PM Convenience Store chain. He is not only skilled in Voiceover, but also various Accents, Dialects, Combat Fighting, Dance and Improv. Wow!
Clifton lives in LA with his wife, son (4) and daughter (1), along with two loving cats!
Need to know more? Look up his website at CliftonYada.com Find him on Instagram: @CliftonYada
