Voice actor refuses to be silenced by health issues

A voice actor, who has been in the industry for four decades, spent years hiding an autoimmune condition because she feared it would harm her career.

Tanya Rich, from Bath, Somerset, has worked with radio stations and many international companies such as Amazon, Coca Cola and Disney, providing voiceovers for advertisements.

Since she was a teenager, she has suffered with psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, swelling and stiffness. Sometimes she has to walk with sticks and wear splints to aid her mobility and reduce pain.

Ms Rich says "you always have to be fine" and tries to disguise any pain when she is working.

Ms Rich grew up in a house full of singing, with parents who worked as actors and musicians.

As an only child, she was often left to her own devices and would use her imagination and make up voices to entertain herself.

Her mother advised her to embark on a career as a voice actor as she was confident, but did not want to perform on stage.

First she worked in the music industry managing a punk band, but later, Ms Rich followed her mother's advice and became a voice actor.

She began working in radio and later became one of only four artists travelling the country doing regular jobs, leading a "very exciting life".

"You never knew what you were doing," Ms Rich said.

"You'd walk in and get 10 or 100 scripts and you had to be everything - the mother, the baby, the granny… your sight reading had to be really good."

Amid her success, Ms Rich has been juggling health issues since she was 14.

She has undergone two major operations and is now on two types of medication to help her pain.

However, the drugs can cause bad side effects.

"You never know how it's going to affect you... some days I feel so ill.

"They call it 24-hour flu - it's not flu, it's just horrible symptoms," Ms Rich said.

She said she sometimes suffers with "really bad" nausea which can affect her while working.

When she feels unwell, she will often leave the room for a short time before coming back and "pretend nothing's happened".

Despite her struggles, Ms Rich does not let her condition define her and she aims to talk about it in a bid to help others going through the same thing.

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