Actor Corey Johnson: The Voice Behind Hundreds of Documentaries

How does a theater kid from New Orleans become the voice behind hundreds of documentaries?

Corey Johnson decided to become an actor at 16, the spring he broke his knee playing football and watched the school musical from the band. He went from Catholic University's drama department to London, and from London to Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy, Hellboy, Band of Brothers and September 5. Along the way he narrated hundreds of documentaries for television, so many that he once listened to one in a hotel room for 10 minutes before he realized the voice was his own.

In Episode 251, the first of two parts, Christian Taylor sits down with her friend of 40 years. They met in 1985, when Corey was a senior in Catholic University's drama department, dancing reluctantly in the spring musical, and Christian was a freshman working on it as a stagehand. Years later she found him again by chance, watching Band of Brothers on a trip to Las Vegas, and when she started The Girl Who Wore Freedom, he was the first person she called. His is the voice on the film's first trailer.

Corey talks about the documentary narration that is the meat of his career, the three-hour Hurricane Sandy special, World War II From Space, and a film for the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square whose producers couldn't find footage of the square from before the 1980s. Corey's father had shot a documentary there in 1972, but with weeks to go before release, it was too late to use it. He talks about his father, who delivered a daily editorial on New Orleans television for almost 40 years, and about the year in London when stage work paid him about $15,000 and a voiceover agent changed everything: one soda commercial, recorded in Paris in the middle of tech rehearsals, later brought a check for more than 4,600 pounds, at a time when he was choosing between groceries and computer software.

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In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Corey Johnson and Christian Taylor met at Catholic University in 1985
• How Christian found Corey again through Band of Brothers
• What it's like to narrate hundreds of documentaries, and why Corey doesn't watch them
• How Corey's father's 1972 footage of China surprised a Tiananmen Square documentary team
• Why Corey decided to become an actor at 16
• How voiceover work kept an American actor working in London
• What a high school director taught Christian about trusting the director

CHAPTERS

0:00 A Friend Since 1985

2:44 The Movie Rob Minute and Saving Private Ryan

5:33 The Voice He Didn't Recognize

8:05 Catholic University Theater in the 1980s

15:33 From New Orleans to London, and Band of Brothers

17:46 Narrating Hundreds of Documentaries

21:27 His Father's Editorials on New Orleans TV

24:33 Why He Became an Actor at 16

31:58 Christian's Start: West Side Story and a Floppy Hat

35:40 What a Character Uncovers in You

37:43 How Voiceover Kept Him in London

43:03 DocuView Déjà Vu and a Golf Podcast

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who is Corey Johnson?

Corey Johnson is an American actor from New Orleans who has worked in London for most of his career. He trained at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and in London, and has appeared in Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy, Hellboy, Band of Brothers and September 5. He has also narrated hundreds of documentaries for television.

How did Corey Johnson get into documentary narration?

Corey Johnson says that a few years into his London career, a year of stage work paid him about $15,000. He sent a tape to a voiceover agent, who signed him because the agency had just lost its American voice. His first year of voiceovers paid more than twice what he had earned the year before, and narration became the core of his career.

How do Corey Johnson and Christian Taylor know each other?

They met in 1985 at Catholic University, where Corey was a senior in the drama department and Christian a freshman working as a stagehand on the spring musical he was in. They lost touch until Christian recognized his voice in Band of Brothers. Corey narrated the first trailer for her documentary, The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

DOCUVIEW DÉJÀ VU PICKS

• Christian's pick: September 5 (2024), the drama about the 1972 Munich Olympics broadcast, in which Corey appears
• Corey's picks: Strangest Things, a documentary series he narrated, and his series on Jesus and the Bible

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Corey Johnson

Actor and Documentary Narrator

Corey Johnson grew up in New Orleans, studied drama at Catholic University and has built his career in London on stage, on screen and in voiceover. His film and television work includes Saving Private Ryan, The Mummy, Hellboy, Band of Brothers and September 5, and he has narrated hundreds of documentaries.

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

THE COREY JOHNSON EPISODES

• Part 2 of this conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoc5mvMwlUw
• Saving Private Ryan with Corey on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDoJx1DmVw
• Saving Private Ryan with Corey on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnFnXJ5Ny0g

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Corey Johnson on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424819/
• September 5 (2024) on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28082769/
• The Girl Who Wore Freedom, with the trailer Corey narrated: https://thegirlwhoworefreedom.com