Mark Blankenship

Accents/Dialects -- High-class Southern, trashy Southern, redneck, white trash, African-American, sassy, urban, valley girl, valley guy, valley dude, skater dude, stoner, frat dude, cockney, cockney British, classy British, sophisticated British, dork, nerd, dweeb, geek, robot, excitable dog, Butch German Lady, Effete German Man Impersonations -- Tim Gunn, MovieFone Guy

My professional voice career started by accident: In 2002, I happened to be sitting next to a fax machine at the theater where I worked when a fax came in that the Turner South Network was having an open call for the voice of Dooley, the Southern Movie Hound. Dooley was a loyal (if dimwitted) dog who loved watching movies and talking about them. Convinced my own experience around dumb-but-lovable Southern mutts gave me the skills I needed, I went in for the job... and booked it. I was the title character of "The Southern Movie Hound" for all 23 episodes. My character, Dooley, was featured in interstitials for classic 80s films. The series aired on Turner South from 2002-2003. Since then, I have done online narration for The New York Times and performed original rap songs for The Critical Condition, a pop culture criticism website that I founded. I have taken several voiceover classes and workshops with Peter Rofe. I have a B.A. in theater studies from Emory University and an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from Yale School of Drama. Plus, I've got five years' experience as an arts critic and journalist for papers like The New York Times and Variety, which means I've interviewed hundreds of people. I've also spoken on many panels about theater journalism.