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Literary Fiction - Does she want me to be her pilot? | 1st person, social satire

Thriller, Dark Comedy - cranky couple bickers over gun and gin | 3rd person, Appalachian dialect, mf dialogue

Non-Fiction, Science-Animals - the top of the tree of life

Sci-Fi - computer scans for murder | 3rd person, MM dialogue

Thriller, LGBTQ - They're sayin' you attacked them first | 3rd person, Southern dialect, German dialect

AUDIOBOOK TITLES

🏳️‍🌈 AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR 🎙️ VOICE ACTOR 🎭 GRAPHIC DESIGNER ✪ AUTHOR ✍️ NON-PROFIT EXEC 📻 PRACTICING HUMAN 💀

MARK JASON ROYSE

is a stage-trained audiobook narrator & voice actor with 30+ years of professional creative experience. An emerging audiobook actor, Mark booked 16 titles within his first 60 days of auditioning–including a Nobel Prize winner.

Born and bred in the Bluegrass, his Kentucky bourbon baritone is warm and clear with a kick. He has a stocked stable of characters & dialects champing at the bit to race.

Affable, approachable, but unafraid to go dark places, Mark delivers nuanced, emotional performances.

Mark is partial to LGBTQ fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, and horror. He is also an excellent choice for medical narration, e-learning, corporate explainers, and other narration that requires a warm, trustworthy, articulate, and educated voice.

He’s an author ally, a production pro, and a devoted story shepherd.

OUTSIDE THE BOOTH

Mark is an award-winning creative director, copywriter, and graphic designer with advertising agency experience. He’s also a seasoned non-profit exec skilled in philanthropy and community engagement. Plus, as a published poet, essayist, and short story author, Mark understands storytelling from the inside out. A longtime meditator, Mark has practiced with celebrity Buddhist teachers and anonymous alcoholics.

Fun career highlights:

Interned at Circle Rep Theater, New York, on a Joyce Carol Oates play, The Truth-Teller.
Collaborated with 20th Century Fox as a buyer for J. Peterman Company, selling Titanic costumes and props, including a red-carpet premiere appearance.
As the University of Kentucky College of Design’s communications director, helped list the Kentucky Bluegrass as a World Monuments Fund endangered landscape.

CREDITS

Theatre, local ad agency, and public broadcast experience:

Audiobook Narration: Glagoslav Publications
Audiobook Narration: Lantern Publishing & Media
Audiobook Narration: Running Wild, LLC
Audiobook Narration: Riptide Publishing
Audiobook Narration: BHC Press
Audiobook Narration: Wordwooze
Commercial VO: Sole Dynamics
Video Game VO: Dislyte, Brewster Intro
Theatre: Circle Rep Theatre, NYC
Theatre: Busch Gardens, The Old Country, VA
Theatre: Lexington Musical Theatre
Theatre: Actor’s Guild of Lexington
Public Speaking & Presentations: The J. Peterman Company
Public Speaking & Presentations: University of Kentucky College of Design
Public Speaking & Presentations: CJ Advertising
Public Speaking & Presentations: AVOLKY (non-profit)
Host/Emcee: Beaux-Arts Ball, Lexington, KY
Podcast Host: Mad Mister Mark’s Podcast of Mystery
Spokesperson: RADIOLEX (public radio)
Public Radio Host: My Morning Mixtape, RADIOLEX
Public Radio Host: Community Voices, RADIOLEX
Voice Talent: radio PSAs, radio spots, online spots RADIOLEX
Spokesperson: AVOLKY (non-profit)
Voice Talent: radio PSAs, TV spots, online spots AVOLKY (non-profit)
Voice Talent: CJ Advertising, various clients, spec spots, etc.

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Lifelong performer and public speaker (from 4-H to high school drama & debate to corporate trainer to non-profit spokesperson)

BA Theatre, University of Kentucky
Audiobook Narration Coaching, Julie Wilson, The Articulate Coach, Ahab Talent
Voice Acting Coaching, Paul Alan Ruben, Tribeca Audio
Voiceover Coaching, J. Michael Collins, JMC Voiceover
Voiceover/Acting Coaching, Lau Laupides, agent, owner Lau Laupides Company
ACX Master Class, David H. Lawrence XVII & Dan O’Day
Voiceover Coaching, Mike Cosh, MCVO
Improv Acting Coaching, Joanne Yarrow, Dir. of Community Engagement & Education, Syracuse Stage in New York; Executive Director of Live Animation Studios; owner, Distinctive Voices LLC
Voice Performance/Vocal Production, Russell Henderson, University of Kentucky
Voice Performance/Vocal Production, Lynn Estes, Belmont University

AFFILATIONS

STUDIO STUFF

Professional home studio featuring Vocal Booth VO1 with additional customized acoustical treatment. AKG Pro Audio C414 XLII (primary), Sennheiser MKH 416 (secondary) with Focusrite Clarett 2Pre. Macbook Pro + Adobe Audition. SourceConnect available.

I also have easy access to a full-service, Audible-certified, commercial recording studio.

LOGO & LORE

My logo is a stylized griffin from the Royse family crest. It’s a reminder that I don’t do anything alone. Generations of men & women, lovers & fighters, saints & sinners, heroes & thieves got me to where I am today. Their lives, lusts, and loves stir my blood, drive my desires, and keep the whole grand show going.