This little whippersnapper never realized he’d someday break new ground in voiceover. In fact, having the life of Clay St. Thomas is so unheard of you’d think this story would be just all made up. But now at 61 years old with less than one full year in FULL TIME voiceover, listen to where Clay’s voice has landed.
He was born in 1962 into a farming family in the very small community of Lancer, Saskatchewan, a province of Canada. One of seven kids, “I was not good at anything young males on a farm were supposed to be good at. Not athletic or mechanically inclined, not good with girls,” and Clay adds “I was academic, socially awkward, and creative. Which in that time and place, meant weird.”
And although I was very young, “I knew that my environment would not help me to be who I really was.”
So, at 17, Clay went to college and made the move to terrestrial radio at 18 on Q Country in Brandon, Manitoba. “Radio made sense to me as an actual job that legitimized me.” But up until this point, Clay had led a life with a low self-image, but now he was “on the radio,” and it made him feel good about himself. He had become somebody.
From this very humble, small-time radio beginning, the stage was set for what became a phenomenon for Clay and the radio business at large. In Vancouver, Clay teamed up with Tamera Stanners, and they worked together on-air for two years. But then Clay teamed up with Karen Daniels to create “Clay and Karen in the morning.” The show would last for 23 years.
This length of time with the same on-air partner is unheard of. Branded as JR COUNTRY, their popularity soured to a number one position with the audience in a market where country music is not king.
Karen (on the left) and Clay (on the right) jamming together.
Throughout the years working as a radio personality, Clay also started in 1995, acted in films. He amassed (70) credits, “but all small parts because I was full-time in radio.” (IMDB-Clay St. Thomas)
Here are some scenes featuring Clay in some of his films.
And, of course, just like musicians want to act and actors want to sing, radio personalities want to be voice actors. Clay was no exception. And so, he did voiceover passively for years. But upon going full time in voiceover, starting in July of 2023. www.saintvoices.com So, here’s another animation credit of Clay’s. This kind of casting achievement takes most people years because animation is so competitive.
“What I wasn’t prepared for upon moving to the home studio world is how much my life was wrapped around the socialization of life inside a station,” Clay tells me. “My life was so intertwined with being around people all day long; being at home and working alone was an aspect of my daily life I just didn’t expect.” Clay is talking about the positive effect he felt each day in station life, and how working in solitude as a voice actor was somewhat foreign to him. “You have to be disciplined, and you have to get used to what it’s like for your professional life, which was now only me.”
Clay St. Thomas
And it’s true, going from corporate broadcasting to a quiet house that you sleep in to also be your place of work “took some getting used to because there is no one to talk to or be around when you’re having an off day,” An “off day” in this sense would simply mean when you're not at your best, and there’s no one to talk to. “Suddenly, you are the master of your own destiny.” But Clay’s doing exceptional, as you’ll hear. www.saintvoices.com
So, Clay St Thomas, former radio star and ongoing actor, is now completely full-time in voiceover. And achieving a successful pivot in his early 60’s to such a high level is extraordinary. But the grown man you see today is light years away from the way he felt growing up in the plains of Canada. However, deep down inside, Clay St Thomas is still just a child at heart, and it still reaps a good harvest.
