How do I communicate emotion to a voice actor?

https://youtube.com/shorts/HADWh0ohAgc?feature=share

What does it mean to be happy?

If I ask that question to 10 different people, I will get 10 different nuanced answers.

So when I'm told that I need to smile and be happy in my performance, there's a good chance my interpretation and your vision aren't going to be completely aligned.

First of all, happiness is a very superficial way of describing a state of being.

You may be happy for different reasons:

1. You just got unemployed, decided "fuck it", bought a scratch card and won the lottery.

2. You found out you just barely passed a test when you were convinced you were going fail.

3. You just watched your youngest daughter get married

Now do you think the happiness you might feel in these moments is going to be the same?

So when you tell me "be happy", "smile", what do you really mean?

For voice overs: https://www.markmullens.com