Combining her love of performing and literature, one Westchester woman has found her perfect role behind the mic

Westchester is home to many artistic people, and Kelli Tager is proof of this open secret. She’s a preeminent voiceover actor whose many awards are a testament to her talent. However, to hear Kelli tell it, she didn’t always know where or how exactly she would use her acting skills to not only pay the bills, but also to find true happiness. As they say, if you find your true passion in your career, you’ll never work a day in your life. Kelli says she’s lucky that that’s what she’s been able to find.

A star is born.

You could say she was born to be an actor. 

“I was a theater girl from the moment I hit air,” says Kelli, whose mother also pursued acting.  

While growing up in Saratoga, California, she had her first professional theater gig when she was still in high school. When she graduated, she was drawn to the opportunity to come to Los Angeles to study acting. She majored in theater arts at UCLA, but after getting her B.A., her theater and film dreams did not go far. She quickly realized that pursuing a full-time career on stage did not fulfill her the way she thought it would.

With less than great theater experiences, she chose to pursue writing for a time instead.

 “I didn’t get far, and none of it felt like home,” says Kelli.

Eventually, she headed abroad to earn a master’s degree in Shakespeare Studies in Stratford upon Avon in England. Because what true thespian wouldn’t jump at the chance to study where the father of some of the best theater plays ever written lived? She says it was a “vacation with homework.”

When she returned home, she knew she wanted to work creatively, but still wasn’t sure what exactly that would look like. While searching for her creative spark, she ended up finding love instead.

A page out of a romance novel.

Kelli met Erik Paschall through mutual friends, and while they were always friendly toward each other, something changed at one particular party he hosted where Kelli was a guest.

 “I thought he asked me out at the party, but he didn’t,” recalls Kelli. “I was so embarrassed, but quickly, we decided to go out anyway.”

Like straight out of a page-turning romance novel, a man she’d casually known for a decade turned out to be her soulmate.

Just eight months after that fateful miscommunication, they were engaged. They’ve now been married for 15 years and share two daughters, Clara, 12, and Anna, 10.

After they got married, Kelli realized she didn’t love film and theater acting enough to pursue it, but she continued to explore different career paths that she felt would help bring her fulfillment and joy. She tried her hand at working as an aide for kids with special needs and teaching children’s acting, but neither felt like a perfect fit.

Around that time, she welcomed a second daughter, and began to feel a bit stifled in their home space. Not surprising, as their family had downsized from a spacious home in Santa Clarita Valley, to a two-bedroom apartment at UCLA Family Housing, while her husband was completing his residency at UCLA in Psychiatry. She saw the reduction in space as a representation of how cramped she felt creatively and professionally.

“I was depressed without a creative outlet. I needed to release it somewhere and it wasn’t motherhood,” says Kelli. “And I’m terrible at crafts.”

A light bulb moment.

Things would fall into place during an anniversary trip. While on vacation, she met an animation editor, and reminisced about a time in her 20s when she worked on an anime show called “I’m Gonna Be An Angel.” Taking on a role voicing a teacher and a “baby rice cooker monster,” she had a blast.

“I thought to myself, I cannot believe I got paid to do that. That was so much fun,” recalls Kelli.

The conversation had jogged the couple’s memory of the fond experience she had working on the show. A light bulb went off.

“My husband said, ‘The only thing you still talk about with joy from acting is that anime series. Why don’t you just do voiceover work?’” said Kelli.

That advice would change her life, and allow her to do what she always dreamed of, but thought nearly impossible: have a career where she could be creative and work at home to be close to her kids.

The next chapter.

Just to make sure this was the path she wanted to pursue, she took a voiceover improv class. She calls the class the “biggest artistic high she ever felt.” It reminded her of everything missing from her other acting jobs that she hated–being on camera, being on film and how producers were always trying to typecast her as an ingenue.  She says she always felt “like a character actor trapped in an ingenue’s body,” but with voiceover, it doesn’t matter what you look like!

She’s been able to find her niche with audiobooks and commercial work, but enjoys doing animation, video games and promos as well. Her resume now includes narrating more than 130 books from her Westchester studio, adorned with wallpaper depicting beloved novels like “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and “Charlotte’s Web,” as well as awards and notes from authors thanking her for bringing their stories to life.

“The best part is I get to talk to myself in a padded room in various voices,” says Kelli who describes her comedy range as from Aubrey Plaza to Fozzie Bear. “I’ve always been a big reader. Getting to learn new accents for each book makes my heart sing. Using who you are, and your passions is important to making the book really come to life. They want you to be as connected to the story as possible.”

So, what are her favorite books to narrate? She specializes in literary and women’s fiction, thrillers and rom-coms. Kelli especially loves narrating stories about complex female characters.

“From quirky, hot messes in rom-coms to serial killers–I love it all,” she says.

She welcomes the ability to stretch her skills and inhabit characters living in the past and present.

“Right now, in my latest project, I’m doing an audiobook set during World War I, with German, English and French accents,” says Kelli.

She is so prolific that she’s been nominated this year as a finalist for an Audie Award, akin to the “Academy Awards” for audiobooks and spoken word entertainment. The winners will be announced in early March during the award show held in New York and hosted by Emmy-nominated actress, comedian and Audie-nominated author, Amy Sedaris.  

 She’s nominated in the romance category for her work narrating “Love You a Latke” by Amanda Elliot and published by Penguin Random House Audio. To be one of the five nominees, she had to beat out a talented pool of hundreds of other entries.

Kelli recalls feeling so connected to the story in “Love You a Latke” because she could relate to so much in the story: feeling alienated from family and rediscovering one’s Jewish heritage through falling in love with a man who helped her get back in touch with her culture. Kelli says working on the project was like kismet.

“The author is Jewish, the producer is Jewish, the director is Jewish, and I’m Jewish narrating this story. It was so powerful together,” says Kelli.

 The New York Times calls the book, “Nothing short of transcendent.” Much like Kelli herself, the book illustrates finding love while searching for meaning in your life. Kelli has proven that you can find a perfect match for your life and your passion. After all, she’s been able to combine her performing skills and her love of books into her “happily ever after.”

Discover more of Kelli’s audiobooks on kellitager.com/audiobooks.

Story by Shanee Edwards. Photos by Robert Higgins.