Host Ashley Boti talks with Brian LaFontaine — a professional actor, director, coach, and voiceover artist with more than 25 years working across film, television, theater, podcasting, corporate hosting, standup comedy, and improv. Brian's path didn't start with a plan: after losing a scholarship, he turned to standup comedy, which led to theater, then film, television, and voiceover work.
The conversation digs into what actually makes public speaking frightening for most people — not the size of the room, but the unknown elements of it: not knowing what an audience is thinking, whether you're connecting, or how you're being received. Brian breaks down how he helps clients work through that anxiety, drawing on decades of treating every audition and job as its own high-stakes performance.
"I didn't go to school to be an actor. After I lost my scholarship, I started doing standup comedy, and that led to me doing theater, which led to me doing film and television, getting an agent, voiceover work — all the on-camera work I've done for the past three-plus decades. Over the course of my career as an actor... there's not one day where we have job security. What I really am is a professional job interviewee. There really has not been a day in my career, honestly, where I have not been trying to get a new job. That's what we do — there's no job security."
"The biggest challenge for most people is just that anxiety and fear of public speaking — being in front of an audience, whether it's an audience of one or an audience of hundreds, because there are a lot of unknown elements in that experience. The biggest one being that you have no idea what the person who's listening to you is thinking. Even right now, you and I have never met before today — I have no idea truly what you're thinking."
Brian is a professional actor, director, coach, and voiceover artist with 25+ years of experience across film, television, theater, podcasting, corporate and event hosting, standup comedy, and improvisation. Through Brian LaFontaine Coaching, he helps clients build the connection and presence they need to speak with confidence in front of any audience.
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