Starbucks Tapped Alan Shires to Star in Its Training Program After a UK Coffee Chain Rejected Him for Being 'Too Senior'
Oct. 1 2026, Updated 12:15 p.m. ET
Before he was voicing characters in anime, video games, and network television, Alan Shires was auditing coffee shops. As a senior manager at the UK's answer to Starbucks, he inspected 120 stores every quarter for quality control and, toward the end of his tenure, ran several shops himself. The pay and benefits were good. By his own account, the job was painful.
A Casting Call He Was Never Allowed to Answer
The company regularly posted casting calls for training videos, commercials, and other on-camera work. Shires was already working as a performer and picking up jobs where he could. He started in the industry at age 11, but it took a long time to make a living, and it still didn't pay enough for him to leave his day job and go full-time. He wanted in on the company's casting calls and was never cast. They said he was "too senior," despite starting at the very bottom and working his way up.
The day job did fund the career he actually wanted. It paid for new audio and visual demos, fresh headshots, and a new website.
The Panel that Changed the Plan
The turning point came at a 2016 voiceover panel hosted in London. Shires left with a set of promises: he could be his own boss, work from home, and work with companies around the world from his own studio. He also learned that the skills he had built as an actor carried straight over to voice work, which gave him another tool as a performer and a way to start earning while he kept the day job.
As his income from performing grew, he did the math. It would be tight, but leaving would let the work grow. Staying would cap it. He still celebrates his "quitaversary" every November 19th.
The Starbucks Moment
On his way out the door, Shires made himself a promise. "MAN, I hope I book a job with Starbucks one day," he recalls thinking. A couple of months later, he was the lead in a Starbucks training program. He still has the footage and images.
From UK Commercials to a Georgia Home Base
Back in the UK, Shires worked with the production company Isite, recording commercials every week for brands including Samsung, Bose, Hoover, LG, Nescafé, Shark and Ninja. He also landed a role on the BBC series Bitesize, performing a character in a full motion-capture suit for an education-focused show. He counts it among his favorite jobs.
In 2023, he traveled to the US for a film festival and left with two job offers. He mentioned it to his wife, who asked when they were moving. Her push helped him get the visa applications moving, and the family relocated to Georgia.
Since then, he has worked on the Amazon Prime series Vindication, where he handled behind-the-scenes duties in season three, starred in episode two of season four, and now works as the director's assistant. He began on the show as a production assistant, filled in as Director's Assistant for a day, and was given the job permanently. He hosted the special premiere earlier this year at a theater in Texas.
Paying it Forward
Shires now teaches the path he took. He founded The Voice Actor College, which runs a partnership with Backstage that gives its actors a free one-month program to add voiceover to their skill set. The idea took shape at Sacramento Comic Con, when a fan asked a panel how to become a voice actor, and veteran Chris Sabat pointed at Shires and said, "Ask Alan, he knows a lot."
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
One of his proudest moments came in 2025, when he learned that Gerard Caster, an actor he cast in Moriarty the Patriot, had booked that role as his first job ever. Caster now has roughly 100 credits across anime and video games.
What's Next
Shires describes his schedule as "a different level of busy." He is recording a novel and a video game for clients, has two more Vindication shoots on the calendar, and appears at comic cons and pop culture events every other weekend. He speaks at ICVM in October, works a film intensive with the Kendrick Brothers in November, and is planning an invite-only mixer in Los Angeles later this year.
