The Dialect Coach

Expert dialect coaching in any dialect and accent reduction for film, TV, commercials and theater

"A great confidence-builder."
-- Jim Broadbent, Oscar-winning Actor

Do your actors need coaching to help them sound authentic and understandable in a regional or foreign accent? I can coach them in any dialect on the globe, as I did for Showtime when I taught Mexican actor Luis Chaves an Afghan Pashtu accent for Sleeper Cell. I recently helped Ryan Phillippe with his Dutch accent in the ADR studio for the upcoming feature Five Fingers, coached African accents on the set of Without a Trace and coached Jennifer Garner in an Atlanta dialect for Alias. Productions I've coached include Syriana, Lost, Bobby, D.O.A., Black.White., Lackawanna Blues, The Shield, CSI: Miami, D.O.A., The Cat in the Hat, War Stories, Little Black Book and many others.

Does your actor have a foreign or regional accent? I can coach them to sound completely American, as I did for Canadian actor Justin Chatwin in War of the Worlds, English actors Samantha Morton in the upcoming Expired, Jim Broadbent, Max Minghella and Sophia Myles in Art School Confidential (a review called their American accents "impeccable"), and Jason Isaacs in Nine Lives (which Roger Ebert called the best screen performance of the year). I also helped Australian actor Simon Baker sound American for Land of the Dead, among many other productions I’ve coached.

As a former actor and director, I offer a patient, nurturing coaching style, adaptable to any actor’s strengths and abilities. I don’t merely teach the necessary sound changes for a given dialect, but also give the actor the tools to explore their character’s accent within the given circumstances, and give them the ability to make the accent stronger or weaker, depending upon the specific demands of the script. My approach works quickly, reducing rehearsal and production time.

Resume: Download Joel's resume here.
IMDB: Visit Joel's listing on IMDB.

Rates

On-set/location rates for film and TV: Rates include my detailed research, sound samples of native speakers on cd, all written material and customized coaching with your talent at your location, where I'll notate their text in the new dialect and leave them wih a cd recording of our work for review. Please contact me for a specific quote for your project.