About Alison & Mick

Mick Lauer is a man who wears many hats: a graphic designer of 10 years, actor, director, producer, and voice over artist. After graduating from NYU's Tisch School he founded The 7th Sign Theatre Company and Orphanage Productions. As an actor, Mick has appeared in numerous independent films, plays, and productions. In early 2009, Mick began training in voice over at Edge Studio's Voice Over Design Group in NYC.

Alison Moehnke holds a BFA in Theatre from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her career has included 5 national tours and 4 international productions and over 40 plays. She can currently be seen this summer touring NYC with The Traveling Lantern Theatre Company.

In 2008, these two actors living & working in NYC embarked on a mission to create the most professional, effective, personalized web & graphic design materials for every artist. After over a year of industry research, feedback, and technical development, ArtistUpgrade continues to help creative professionals get noticed by creating powerful designs. To learn more about these two, visit: www.ArtistUpgrade.com

Bruce Bayley Johnson was a drama major at Middlebury College. He started in the business as a radio copywriter and hands-on radio producer. His radio production awards include a Clio and 14 Clio finalists, a national Addy award, several Hatch awards and many more.

Bruce began full time freelance work doing on-camera work in industrials and training films and then moved into the world of voiceovers in the 1980s. Bruce was the signature voice of Lever 2000 bar soap ("momma parts, poppa parts, and baby parts") one of the most successful new product introductions ever. He has voiced many national and regional TV campaigns for McDonalds, French's, Diet Coke, Tyco Toys, and many more.

In the world of animation, Bruce is the voice of Mayor Jeff on Disney's "P.B. and J. Otter," Mr. Swirly, Cowpoke Pete, Mr. Crushey, the Wacky Weatherman and many others on Disney's "Doug," "Brand Spanking New Doug," and in "Doug's First Movie," Mr. Spudinski, the couch potato on Disney's "Jo Jo's Circus," Pedro the Penquin on Noggin's "Pinky Dinky Doo," and others.

With his quirky, friendly sound, Bruce has narrated dozens of children's videos and CD's for the likes of Random House, Weston Woods, PBS, Scholastic and Jumbo Pictures. In the promo field Bruce's voice has been featured on promos for ESPN basketball, PBS, DMX, as well as several local affiliates.

Like so many voiceover actors these days, much of his work is now done via the internet or ISDN from his state-of-the-art home studio in Guilford, CT.

Carol Monda is a vocal artist, actor, and voice-over instructor at NYU. She has been seen on such stages as Manhattan Theatre Club, Perry Street Theatre, Arena Stage, HB Studio, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Charles Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, and Classic Stage Company, where she voiced the premiere of American Opera Project’s Darkling and toured with the production in Poland and Germany.

Stage roles include the Snow Queen at The Kennedy Center, Celimene in Roundhouse Theatre’s The Misanthrope, Limer in Morticians in Love (Helen Hayes Award Nomination), and Hillary in Albee Damned (Best Actress, SpotlightOn Award). Carol is a company member of Emerging Artists Theatre Company, where she was last seen in Real Danger, by Jeffrey Holloman. She is featured in the films Out of Season and The Gentleman. She was most recently seen as Dori Debray in The Diva Clause at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Carol is a voice-over artist, documentary narrator, and two-time Audie Award-winning audio book narrator. She has recorded over 55 books and has read for Recorded Books, Harper Audio, Books on Tape, and Redwood Audio. She received her training at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Boston University Theatre Institute, and holds a BFA in Acting from The Catholic University.

Chris Young began his music career at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, CA. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Audio Production from Ohio University, Chris continued his education at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, AZ.

From there he immediately began working at Enterprise Studios, cranking out the hits for such artists as Kanye West, DMX, Lil Kim, Toni Braxton, Lionel Ritchie, Ja Rule, Busta Rhymes, Velvet Revolver, and A Perfect Circle. He learned from some of the best engineers in the business, including Dave Pensado, Andy Wallace, Segal, and Manny Marroquin. He has also worked at many Los Angeles studios including Pacifique, Record Plant, Encore, Ameraycan, Mad Dog, and Paramount.

Chris's years in the studio give him a unique perspective that many cannot offer: he understands the voice over business is shifting to home recording and bedroom studios, and can design a recording system for virtually any budget. If you are looking for Grammy-winning sound at any budget level, Chris is the guy to talk to.

“Versatile,” “directable,” and “very professional,” all come to mind when describing voiceover talent Colleen Brown.

Colleen’s versatility keeps her in constant demand for projects ranging from long-form and corporate narrations, to on-line training, messages-on-hold, promos, in-store announcements, documentaries, character work, children’s tutorial programs and, of course, commercials. Medical voiceovers are Colleen’s specialty (her “other life” as a freelance medical editor and writer means that she not only can pronounce those awful words, but actually understands what’s going on!)

Clients include Conair Corporation, IBM, Boehringer-Ingleheim, Bayer, Pharmacia & Upjohn, People Magazine, Pfizer, Tiffany & Co, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Sheraton Hotels, McGraw-Hill, Morningstar Farms, Ragu, Progresso, Drexel Heritage, Kraft Foods, Jet Blue, Hershey’s, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and Revlon.

Colleen is looking forward to giving newcomers a helping hand in the industry.

Colleen Wainwright is a writer-speaker-illuminator who started calling herself “the communicatrix” when she hit three hyphens.

She spent 10 years as an award-winning TV copywriter crafting ads for brands like Wheaties®, Gatorade® and Jell-O®, and another 10 acting in them for cash money. Since deciding she’d blow her brains out if she had to sit through one more meeting about which way the bears danced around the cereal box, Colleen spends her time teaching other creative souls how to talk about what they do in a way that wins them attention, work and satisfaction.

Dave Immer, a pioneer in the use and promotion of ISDN for live production audio applications, was among the first professional audio users in New York City to embrace this emerging technology in the early 1990s. Prior to then, Immer was active as a jingle composer/arranger/singer/engineer working at major NY advertising music production houses Lucas/McFaul, JSM and Sutcliffe Music.

Dave owns and operates DIGIFON, a company that provides Live Audio Networking services, equipment and tech support to ISDN and IP users. A wide range of clients are served, from voiceover artists with home studios to agencies like McCann, DDB and Saatchi to Warner Bros. Burbank and Post Production facilities everywhere.

Dave can be reached at 203-254-0869 and immer@digifon.com

David Ciccarelli, Chief Executive Officer. As the founder of Voices.com, David offers management experience as well as a clear vision the company's future. Currently, David oversees infrastructure maintenance, infrastructure development, and web application development. David was nominated for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Business Development Bank of Canada and has also presented Voices.com as a New Voices winner at DigiFest, an award recognizing Voices.com as an industry leader who provides digital media products and innovations that contribute to Canada's economic and cultural future. In 2000, David graduated from the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology with an Honor's Degree in Audio Technology.

Erik Sheppard - “Today's Voice” has over 12 years of professional experience, voicing thousands of high profile projects across the globe ranging from corporate presentations to national radio and television campaigns. He is consistently the preferred male voice for many of the most widely recognized corporate, commercial and promotional production companies worldwide. Clients include Verizon Wireless, Citibank, HSBC, American Express, Ebay, MTV and TV Land.

When not in the booth, Erik is an industry blogger, host of “The Erik and Ember Show”, and organizer of the Voiceover Mixer series of networking events. He is the owner and head talent agent of Voice Talent Productions, a New York based agency representing an elite roster of voice talent from around the world. His career and related projects have been profiled in such places as Voice-Over Xtra, Voices.com, Voice123.com, The Voice Over Insider and countless other blogs and podcasts. If it is happening in the voice over industry, chances are Erik is involved.

Erik coaches exclusively through the prestigious Edge Studio headquartered in Manhattan, NY.

Hear Erik's commercial demo.  Hear Erik's narration demo.

Grover Gardner is one of America’s most popular and versatile audiobook narrators. He began his career in 1981 when he joined the staff of the “Talking Book” program at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Since then he has recorded (under his own name and as “Alexander Adams” and “Tom Parker”) over 650 commercial audiobook titles for such companies as Books On Tape, Recorded Books, Blackstone Audio, Random House Audio, Time Warner, Harper Audio, Listen & Live, Audio Renaissance, Audio Partners, McGraw-Hill Audio, Hovel Audio, and numerous others. In 1999 AudioFile, America’s leading journal of audiobook news and reviews, named Grover one of the “Best Voices of the Century,” and now includes him in their annual “Golden Voices” roundup of top narration talent. Winner of over twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, he is also the recipient of an Audio Publishers Association Audie Award, as well as a three-time finalist. Publishers Weekly named him "Audiobook Narrator of the Year" for 2005. His notable recordings include John Irving’s The Cider House Rules, Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil War, all eleven volumes of Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization, and Terry Brook’s novelization of George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

In addition to his audiobook work, Grover has at various times been a professional actor, director and teacher. Since 1985 he has been a member of Washington, D.C.’s nationally-renowned Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. He served as Resident Director at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, Md. from 1995 to 2003. He is active in educational theater, directing student productions for local colleges and universities and teaching graduate-level courses in acting and voice-over work. He also conducted professional audiobook narration workshops through Edge Studio in New York City from 2002 to 2006. Currently he is Studio Director for Blackstone Audio in Ashland, Oregon.

Grover grew up in Sewickley, Pa. and attended high school in Brussels, Belgium. He studied Theater and Art History at Rollins College in Florida and received a Master’s degree in Acting from George Washington University. He currently lives in Medford, Oregon with his “significant other,” Tanya Perez, who runs her own audiobook proofing and research service. They have a daughter, Alicia Beth Gardner, born April 15th, 2003 and lovingly referred to as “our little tax deduction.”

Guy Coleman; Marketing Director, VocalBooth.com, Inc.

Guy serves as Director of Sales & Marketing for VocalBooth.com, Inc. where he has senior responsibility for the firm’s brand marketing and sales. He has worked with voice actors, voiceover artists, Grammy-winning record producers and artists as well as, broadcasters in this capacity. He has three decades of marketing, sales, and management experience in consumer products and services.

VocalBooth is active with the VOICE 2008 and VOICE 2010 Conference & Expo and provides a working VocalBooth at the show for attendees to try out and to complete work in while they are attending the show.

Guy and his team provide consultative services for the purpose of determining the best solutions for artists at all levels.

Jay is an actor/director who’s been fortunate enough to appear on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre and TV, but has been making his living doing voiceovers for over ten years. He has voiced for feature films and has been heard on Nickelodeon, WB, Cartoon Network, Fox TV, the SciFi Channel, EWam, and the new CW4Kids. Best known for his work on Saturday morning cartoons like “Yu-Gi-Oh!” (lead), “Viva Pinata” (lead), “Sonic X”, and “Pokemon”, he has also worked on many other animations and can currently be heard in “Gogoriki”, “Pat and Stan”, and “Chaotic”.

His other VO work includes the narration of many audiobooks, documentaries, promos, and commercials - and he continues to be grateful to not have a “real job”. He has several years experience directing and writing for various animations and has a true love for teaching.

Jim Cissell got his start in radio broadcasting in the US Air Force in 1967. Since then he has voiced, written, and produced over 10,000 commercials, TV shows, films, and videos.

His work has won every major award – CLIO’s, Addys, Tellys, EFFY’s, Golden CINE, Peabody’s, Hugo’s, Mercury’s, Aurora’s, POLLY’s, Ampey’s, Dove’s, TVB’s, and all major Film Festivals—including New York, Chicago, Houston, and the Cannes Film Festival.

Cannes Film Festival. It’s been featured on national TV shows like Oprah and The World’s Funniest, Now A Word from Our Sponsor, and in the White House.

Jim has narrated over a hundred national TV shows and documentaries seen on Discovery, PBS, and National Geographic – including the prime time series Critical Rescues, Interpol Investigates, Brainchild, and Jack Hanna’s Top Ten Animal Adventures. He has voiced over a hundred national commercials for the likes of Dairy Queen, The Johnny Carson Collection, Scotts Lawn, The Club, NetFlix, Sir Speedy, Time-Life, PETsMART, DirecTV, and Time Warner—as well as thousands of local and regional commercials. He’s been national on-camera spokesperson for National Money Service and Clorox’s “most successful new product intro ever.” And his voice can be heard in Permanent Exhibits at dozens of US Parks, the top of Sears Tower, and the Doppler Museum in Austria.

His client list reads like a Who’s Who of the Fortune 500 -- Disney, ABC, CBS, Fox, Turner Broadcasting, Tribune, Encore/STARZ, the Learning Channel, Animal Planet, Home Shopping Network, Buena Vista Television, the WWF, GE, IBM, Toyota, Microsoft, Pfizer, Merrill Lynch, Intel, FedEx, Sony, Dolby, Coors, Starbucks, USX, Arco, Hanes, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Mercedes, Holland America, Bank of America, Bissell, Planet Hollywood, REI, Thermos, the US Park Services, Select Comfort, Rand McNally, Corbis, United Way, Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the American Lung Association, Nintendo, and E-A. And he has written and produced thousands of radio and TV commercials—including several national award-winners.

Over 90% of Jim’s work is recorded at his own studio, complete with ISDN lines, Pro Tools, and FTP site. He is available 24/7 and can deliver any format, anytime, anywhere. And Jim works hand-in-hand with other industry veterans, including Grammy-Award-winning music composers, nationally-accredited editors, and other nationally-recognized voice talent.

"Mr. Franzino, Joanie talks too much in class."...a common phrase said by school teachers. And now...aren't we glad?

Joan Franzino started her career in acting and comedy improv in 1994 at a tiny radio station in Westport, Connecticut. Her first real voice-over was a national TV spot for Consumer Reports Magazine in 1995. Her credits now include Sharp, Finesse Shampoo, Dove Soap, Diet Pepsi, N'Sync / Nabisco, Nyquil, 10-10-566, Progresso, Motorola, Cohen's Fashion Optical, Enterprise Rent-a-car, Pediacare, Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa / Disney…and others. Though her smooth, clear, upbeat sound is what clients like most of all, they also become addicted to her characters! She’s been "Cosmo the Dog" for Imaginarium Toy Stores, "Mother Goose" for Hasbro’s Mother Goose Sings Nursery Rhyme Songs Game (2003), and "Wanda" for the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority. Check out more of her voices on JoanFranzino.com.

Joan is a master of the at-home studio, as she’s done 60% of her voice work from it since 1997.

Joan is also the Morning Show News Anchor and Sidekick at Westchester, New York’s number one station, WFAS-FM (103.9 & 106.3). She’s also the Midday DJ at WFAS-AM (1230) but uses the name Gina Lewis.

And lastly, she’s performed loads of comedy improv in New York City, does on-camera news and commercial work, practices Tai Chi, is big on family, and has a fat cat named Spanky who she loves to death.

Marty Moran began his professional broadcasting career in 1984 working as a DJ and Production Director at WKPE-FM on Cape Cod. In 1986, he joined the production department at WXKS-FM in Boston, MA as a writer, producer and announcer. In 1987 he relocated to Hartford, CT to become the Production Director at WKSS-FM, working to create award-winning radio commercials (displayed at the Francis W. Hatch awards in Boston), promos, hilarious parody songs and morning show bits. Marty eventually became the Creative Services Director at WHCN-FM. While there, he also hosted “The Comedy Zone” and won the Hartford Radio Broadcasters Association’s “Why Radio?” production competition.

In 1999, he left the radio industry to work as a full-time voice over artist and commercial actor.

His voice has been featured on hundreds of projects, including McDonald’s McGriddles, Compaq, Mobil 1 Oil, 1-800-Flowers, TGI Fridays and Microsoft. Some of his character voices can be heard on toys like Yahtzee Turbo, TV Whack-A-Mole and Tickle Toes. Currently, Marty appears in TV commercials for Papa John’s Pizza, Carmax and The New Jersey Clean Energy Program. Marty’s professional goals include landing a voiceover gig on “The Simpsons” and performing on-stage with The Beach Boys.

Marty enjoys sailing and performing as a singer & bass guitarist in The Nifty Fifties Band. He lives in Connecticut with his wife Susan and their cats Henry and June.

Nadette Staša is a freelance casting director who works with New York's top commercial casting offices including Strickman-Ripps Casting, Martine Casting, Toni Roberts Casting, Donald Case Casting, Foreground, Inc. and more. She has also run New York voice casting sessions for Maura Tighe Casting. Nadette was the casting director and voice director for Cartoon Network’s animated pilot, “Welcome to Eltingville.”

She has more than 15 years of experience as a casting director, and 12 years of experience coaching and teaching on-camera and voice-over commercial acting, as well as improv.

In addition to her casting work, Nadette is an experienced on-camera commercial and voice-over actor. She has been seen and heard in network spots for Unisom, Gas-X, Kleenex and Jenny Craig. Nadette has voiced several animation projects, including “Science Court” and pilots for Noggin and SFS Productions and currently can be heard as the voice of “Jammie” on HBO’s Family Jam.

One incident in particular convinced Pamela that her voice was memorable: when she called friends she hadn't spoken with in five years, her friend Randy knew her immediately. And all she had said was "Hello, Randy?" When asked how he knew who it was he replied "Oh, I would know that voice anywhere!". In 1995 a $25 "Make Money with Your Voice" course from the adult continuing education department at the local high school was the beginning. Luckily that led Pamela straight to David Goldberg and Edge Studio, of NYC, and she's been training with Edge Studio ever since! Her first voiceover job was for The Discovery Channel, providing Russian accented English for three different aged female characters ranging from teenaged to elderly.

Pamela's clients and jobs have been amazingly varied: more Russian accented voices for The Learning Channel, narration of a fundraising video for the Humane Society of Greater Washington DC, portraying the very calm and professional Dr. Jane Coleman in the face of crazed patients for the American Psychological Association, the voice of eTrainer for Factiva.com, the entire elearning training site for professionals working with the developmentally disabled for the State of Colorado, PSAs in Spanish for the US Department of Migrant Worker Safety, narration for military base commanders for the US Fish & Wildlife Department, podcasts for Ralph Lauren, Discover and Time Magazines, and BabyTalk Network, sales training materials for Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Spanish narration of printing press training material for XEROX, English and Spanish PSAs for AmeriCorps after Hurrican Katrina, French and Chinese accented English for promotional materials for Mercer Healthcare Consulting, German narration of a swimming pool cleaning device MaxiPool, the inflight video narration for international immigration procedures for Delta Airlines, THE VOICE in English and Spanish for three wireless companies, and countless IVR prompts in English, Spanish, German, and French for US and European companies.

Pamela has no fear of difficult subjects: having been an IT professional for 25+ years gives great confidence when narrating technical material. Medical/anatomical material is a particularly favorite subject. Having taught and trained both adults and teens lends credibility to her elearning and training projects. A native Southerner (sounding like one when it is required!), to whom Southern Hospitality is a way of life rather than a stereotype, Pamela brings genuine warmth and emotion to her projects that touches the listener. What more can you ask your words to do than touch the listener? Next goal: audiobooks!

When he was fresh out of college, Randy aspired to be a personality DJ ... just as that radio genre was going out of style. So he became a radio copywriter, acting in many of the spots he wrote and produced. (He learned a lot about voice acting from his co-worker Bob Dorian, a trained actor who himself went on to a noteworthy career as host of American Movie Classics and then a variety of acting engagements.)

Since his radio days, Randy has worked on the staffs of several large and small New York ad agencies including Marsteller and McCaffrey & McCall Direct, and has long been established as a freelance copywriter in all marketing communications media. He combines imagination, analysis and a results-oriented viewpoint, and his work has won an Effie. Enjoying the variety and synergy that freelancing offers, Randy has served marketers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to home-based businesses. All in all, he's written for IBM, Sony, Raymond James, SiteSell, Inc., United Technologies, Coca-Cola, Anso nylon, IHOP, and hundreds of other marketers.

Freelancing also gives Randy time to return to his roots. He has been updating and expanding his performance abilities at Edge Studio.

Randy's advice on copywriting has been quoted online and in several books. Find samples and insights into the nature of advertising by clicking here.

Regina Iulo is a financial leader who can boost your bottom line. She is Founder and President of Financial Comfort® Inc. Her clients look to her to pull their financial affairs together into a comprehensive and meaningful whole. They want to simplify their lives and free up their time and energy.

Regina is a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, small business guru and creator of Six Steps to Financial Comfort. She earned her M.B.A. in finance from Fordham University and her B.B.A. in accounting from Pace University. She has been active as a member of the Financial Women’s Association (FWA) of New York. Ms. Iulo is a faculty member with Baruch College (CUNY), and has also taught at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY).

Ms. Iulo brings the keys of money management and financial success to businesses and individuals. She offers over thirty years of expertise gained with corporate giants including Fox Video, Starbucks Coffee and Avon Products. She has consulted for CNN News and New Line Cinema.

Her current clients include global mid-market and small businesses as well as internationally renowned artists, authors and celebrities. Regina has been interviewed on radio and the web and quoted in Inc. Magazine and American Express OPEN Network online. Thought-provoking and direct, Ms. Iulo has been a featured speaker and panelist for corporate, industry and university events.

World-traveled and decisive, adept at assessing and interpreting data and trends, Ms. Iulo works with you to target your objectives and implement innovative systems and controls to position you and/or your business for long-term financial success.

Robert J. Sciglimpaglia, Jr. is a practicing attorney, as well as voice-over artist and on-camera actor in the New York City area. He is also the owner of All in One Voice, LLC, (www.allinonevoice.com) a company that helps beginning and advanced voice-over artists and actors with business and legal issues. His course “You're on the Air: How to Really Make it in Voice-overs” is taught throughout the NYC tri state area. He is accredited by SAVOA.

Robert has been involved in numerous national voice-over projects, including commercials, promos and narrations, plus on-camera appearances in programs airing on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and feature films “Enchanted” and “Music and Lyrics”. For a full list of credits, see Robert’s website at www.robertpaglia.com and his Internet Movie Database listing at www.imdb.com.

With more than 200 audiobook titles and counting, Robin Miles seems to have been made for the Audiobook world and brings tremendous talent and experience to both sides of the glass. Her directing awards include an Audie, 2 Ben Franklins, several Audiofile Earphones, and many more award nominations. Her voice artistry has been chosen for Audiofile Magazine’s Best Voices of 2008 (fiction & non-fiction), Publishers Weekly Best Audio, several Earphones Awards, Best of the Best Kids Audio, and several Ala Notable Books. She has worked for BBC Audiobooks America, Hachette, Harper Audio, McMillan Audio, Penguin, Live Oak Media, Benchmark, and several educational producers.

In addition to her audiobook awards, her acting credits range from Broadway and regional theater to feature and documentary film to Primetime TV and soaps; even the coveted Collected Shorts of Symphony Space and NPR Radio. Listen closely, and you'll hear her voice in the American Museum of Natural History, conducting internet-based sexual harassment training, imparting New York's legal codes for visually impaired lawyers and in dozens of feature films, TV shows and radio spots.

Producers often seek her out for her impressive ability to handle accents and multiple characters. Whether lightly nuanced or with definite presence, her characters’ speech reflects age, social and educational background, rooting them naturally into the textual landscape. Robin attributes her affinity for language, firstly, to her grandfather, a highly regarded English teacher and scholar, and secondly, to the New Jersey hometown that exposed her to an array of different cultures and accents. "I grew up around a lot of 1st generation immigrants; Jewish, Irish, Cuban, Egyptian, Italian, German, Chinese and Vietnamese families all lived on my block," she recalls. "I sat in their kitchens, listening to their stories and accents, enjoying their cooking and soaking up their different cultures.”

An accent specialist with a love of language and literature, she coaches and directs in a way both actors and laypersons immediately understand. Before beginning her own teaching studio, Voxpertise™, she was Assistant Professor of speech for SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theater, taught acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, ESL at Kaplan's NY International Center, and coached upper level managers for Merrill Lynch. She holds a BA in Theater Studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama and a certificate from the British American Drama Academie Summer Program at Oxford.

Sam Chwat, known as The Speech Therapist to the Stars, has for thirty years directed New York Speech Improvement Services, the nation's largest company of licensed speech therapists specializing in Accent Elimination, Standard American (nonregional) Speech, and Professional Speech and Voice Improvement.

His clients have included Oscar-winning and -nominated stars such as Robert DeNiro, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Hudson, Ryan Gosling, Kerry Washington, Olympia Dukakis, Willem Dafoe, Richard Gere, Abigail Breslin and Marcia Gay Harden, as well as Jude Law, Kathleen Turner, Tony Danza, Vincent Donofrio, Taye Diggs, Jessica Alba, Kim Cattrall, Vanessa Hudgens, Isabella Rossellini and many others. He has worked all over the world, on wellknown movies and scores of TV commericals. His full set of credentials, including accent coaching for many wellknown movies, can be seen on his impressive website: www.nyspeech.com.

Mr Chwat is wellknown for his simple and effective, short term approaches to speech improvement. His work has been career changing for actors who have wanted to escape the stigma and stereotype of accents, as well as for actors seeking to perfect their roles with the nuances of their character's precise accent.

He has authored the 4-CD and 272-page book, The Speakup! Program in Accent Elimination, which has sold 25,000 copies in 20 years.

Tonight he will answer your questions about acquiring or eliminating your accent in order to make you more attractive on the job market and to help you showcase your talents without the encumbrance of an accent or vocal flaw.

Dr. Scott Kessler is an Otolaryngologist in private solo practice on the Upper West Side of Manhattan specializing in the care of the Professional Voice, as well as general Ear, Nose and throat conditions. His patients include a wide variety of performing artists ranging from students to celebrity recording artists, singers from Broadway, opera, cabaret, radio and television personalities, clergy, and others who rely upon their voices professionally.

Dr. Kessler received his M.D. at Mt. Sinai Medical School, and following an internship at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri completed his Otolaryngology residence at Mt. Sinai Hospital Center in New York. He has remained on the attending staff at Mr. Sinai for the past 30 years. He is recognized as a prominent expert in the field of Performing Arts Medicine and Professional Voice Care. He has lectured internationally and locally at various voice conferences and at performing arts schools.

Dr. Kessler is also highly regarded for his work as a medical illustrator, having had his drawings published in hundreds of journal articles and several textbooks and atlases. He also paints large abstract work in acrylics.

Formerly:

• Executive Director – Sotheby’s Institute of Art
• Director – San Diego Museum of Art
• Director – Pageant of the Masters – Laguna Beach, Ca.
• Director of Media – United Exhibits Group, Denmark
• Consultant – Jim Henson Company
• Consultant – National Center for Children and Creativity, Washington, DC
• Director of Education – Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
• National Education Committee – American Association of Museums
• President – California Association of Museums
• Audio Tour Narration, Script Production and selected Orientation Video Production:
• Star Wars: The Magic of Myth
• The Art of the Muppets
• Dr. Seuss from Then to Now
• The Gold of Peru
• Between Continents, Between Seas: Pre-Columbian Art of Costa Rica
• The Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from the Czechoslovak State Collections
• Siqueiros
• Dutch and Flemish Masters: Paintings from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts
• American Masters: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
• Ansel Adams: Classic Images
• Chinese Export Silver: A Legacy of Luxury
• Photographers of the Weimar Republic
• Songs of My People: African American Photographers
• Oskar Schlemmer
• Perspectives: Angles on African Art
• Black Sun: The Eyes of Four - Contemporary Japanese Photography
• American Women Artists: 1830-1930
• Toulouse-Lautrec: The Baldwin M. Baldwin Collection
• The Painter Joaquin Sorolla
• California Sculpture
• Cecil Beaton: A Retrospective
• Frank Lloyd Wright: In the Realm of Ideas
• Faberge Imperial Eggs: From the Forbes Collection and the Kremlin Museums
• Gold of Greece: Jewelry and Ornaments from the Benaki Museum
• Latin American Drawings Today
• California Cityscapes
• Pacific Parallels: Artists and the Landscape in New Zealand, 1840-1990
• The Great Age of Sail: Treasures of the National Maritime Museum, London
• The William S. Paley Collection
• Helen Frankenthaler
• Gold and Grandeur: The Age of the Baroque in Portugal
• Egon Schiele
• Gauguin and the School of Pont Aven
• Discovering Ellis Ruley
• Andrew Wyeth - The Helga Paintings
• Monet from the Collection of the Marmottan Museum
• Achilles Rizzoli: Heavenly Hallucinations
• Lost Treasures of the Romanovs from the Kremlin Museums
• George Bellows
• Ringing Thunder: Tomb Treasures of Ancient China
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People

Three time Emmy Nominee, One-time Emmy Award Winner, Animation Voice Director (Madeline, 02), Stevie Vallance, stresses the importance of character development above all. "An animation voice actor must be multi-voiced with a repertoire of original, juicy, vibrant 3-Dimensional characters that lift the picture off the page."

With the trend in visual / audio production moving rapidly towards ANIMATION and commercial voice over (multimedia games, web sites, digital broadcasting), Stevie's 'fall-on-your-butt' techniques prove that making brilliant creative choices comes from 'heart and soul' and that the 'mistakes' are what give birth to the brilliance that will land YOU the part. Her FUN, fast-paced style makes Stevie one of Canada's most sought-after teachers.

Stevie earned the moniker 'Cartoon Queen' for her prolific work infusing life and personality into characters on thousands of animated productions including 'Mouse' on Reboot, 'Spydra' on Inspector Gadget, 'Share Bear' on the Carebear movies, 'Dixie' on Donkey Kong Country, 'Natsuko Fuji' on Inuyasha, 'Gnat' on Creepie and 'Tigrerra' on Bakugan. In 2002, she received an EMMY Award for directing the dialogue and music for the beloved Disney classic, MADELINE, for which she also portrayed the voices of 'Miss Clavel' and 'Genevive'. Stevie served as Voice Director on Teletoon's hit show Best Ed, while voice producing 2007 Emmy Nominee Growing Up Creepie. Having just returned from Los Angeles where she cast and directed Young Dr. Dolittle, an animated feature staring Tom Kenney (Sponge Bob).

Sylvia Roldán Dohi started performing as a child in Hollywood, and has gone on to work in Europe, Asia and throughout the United States.

Her abilities are rare in the voice over world - she narrates commercials and narrations in neutral Spanish AND in neutral English. This makes her the ideal candidate to record, "For English press 1, para Español oprima numero dos" and television commercials which are broadcast in both languages. Her voice over credits encompass cartoons (Captain Kangaroo), ad campaigns (Siempre Mujer magazine), training films (Medcom's Pediatric Nursing Series, Columbia University's Anti-HIV Program), Bilingual TV Credits (PBS' Cyberchase) and as a voice and on-camera spokesperson (United Way, Bowstopper musical training device).

After being featured in musicals such as Cats, West Side Story, Can Can and the Spanish Company of A Chorus Line, she appeared on Broadway for the entire ten-year run of Miss Saigon. She has performed in New York productions ranging from Shakespeare to Shepard to the Off-Broadway show Roller Derby-The Musical, where she played the Roller Derby Queen. Her TV & film credits include Law & Order:SVU, Third Watch, Ryan Caufield, the MTV Halloween Midnight Special, the HBO spoof Hardcore TV and the cult film Reform School Girls. Sylvia is thrilled to have been onstage or on set with Alice Cooper, Clarence Clemons, Dom DeLuise and Charo.

Sylvia currently serves as an assistant to the Teleprompter instructor Dar Benjar at the SAG Conservatory, and has advised students on demos. She was honored by the New York Newspaper El Diario/La Prensa as an Outstanding Woman of Hispanic Heritage, and has a BA in Theater from SUNY Empire State.

You can listen to Sylvia's demo here.