A voiceover artist who has featured in hundreds of TV and radio ads says she leads a double life - as the "most iconic voice" but least recognisable face in the UK.

Emily Cass, 25, has recorded hundreds of adverts, radio inserts and TV shows and been the voice of brands including Lidl, Co-op and Samsung.

She is also a continuity announcer for Nick Jr and Channel 5’s Milkshake - saying things like "coming up next, Peppa Pig" and "time for Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom" in between programmes.

She rarely tells people what she does for a living - as she often receives requests to "give us a voice" and hears others say they could "easily do that".

But Emily says feeling like she's living a double life can be fun - and she wants to work as a voiceover artist for the rest of her life.

She says her rates vary - but she follows a standard rate card for voice actors - which includes £250 for a standard TV gig involving adverts or continuity.

Emily, from Lambeth, said: “Someone once asked me how it feels to have the most iconic voice in the UK - I think that’s nice, but hate when people bring it up.

“It’s kind of funny, I could be shopping or driving and I’ll hear my own voice on the radio, thinking ‘that’s me!’

“It’s such a different kind of job - my voice really is everywhere."

Despite never formally training as a voice actor, Emily realised it was what she wanted to do after meeting a voice extra from the animation Flushed Away while at a drama summer camp, in July 2012.

She said: “I’ve always been a chatterbox, I grew up doing theatre and arts, and I went to a drama summer camp in July 2012, when I was 14.

“One of the teachers had been a voice artist for Flushed Away - I thought that was so cool, it became a defining moment of my career.

“I became really enthusiastic about the idea of becoming a voice artist, and from a young age I knew it was what I wanted to do.

"I remember my science teacher telling me I’d fail my GCSE, and I was like 'OK, I don’t want to do this anyway.'”

At the age of 20, Emily spent £1,000 on recording equipment - including a top-quality microphone, headphones and recording interface.

She hired a one-time producer for £250, and they helped her put together a voice reel to send to employers.

Having just begun her career, Emily didn’t have anything to include in the reel - but she decided to read out scripts aimed at “kids and teens” - as she thought her voice sounded immature.

The reel included inserts for CBeebies, kids' toys and student open days - as well as an NHS awareness-raising campaign for chlamydia.

She said: “I came in at 20, and I sounded very young - you’ve got lots of voiceover artists aimed at kids, but hardly any for teens or graduates.

“I found myself targeting the teens - I branded myself as someone young and bubbly, with a sweet voice.

“I read a lot of adverts out on my reel, some for CBeebies, some for kids’ toys - even one for chlamydia.”

In November 2018, at the age of 20, Emily got her first role - voicing inserts for Nick. Jr.

Since then she’s been the voice of Samsung, Spotify and Mercedes - as well as hundreds of other brands and campaigns.

But, despite her passion for voice acting, she won’t talk about it in public - after one too many people asked her to “do a voice”.

She says it’s like living a double life - and she’s happy to have “the most iconic voice in the UK” - without being recognised on the street.

“Whenever people would tell me I had a nice voice, I used to be like - oh, this is what I do for a job,” she said.

“Then they’d ask me to ‘give them a voice’, or tell me they reckon they could be a voice artist themselves.

“I think it’s one of those careers that actually - I don’t think just anyone can do it.

"You can’t just speak into the microphone and get paid, you need an understanding of how things are supposed to sound, and you need to be hyper-aware of how you sound.

“It’s also quite lonely work - you’re mostly just sat in a recording booth by yourself. There’s not much of a social element to it.”

Despite this, Emily is keen to work in voice acting for the rest of her life - switching up her niches as she gets older.

She said: “I’m quite versatile, I think.

"As you get older, things will change and your casting will change - I’ll probably end up doing M&S adverts rather than Superdrug or Nickelodeon, but I fully intend to keep doing this for the rest of my life.”