Nate Lee

> Dead-on Brando, Wolfman, Leon Redbone, amazingly close but exaggerated Kate Hepburn > Most Looney Tunes characters > Goofy > The Wizard of Oz > Magruff, the crime dog > Mark Twain > All of the Harry Potter characters (not necessarily the same as the film actors, but virtually as wide a range as Jim Dale does in the audio books) > comic European accents (for fun more than accuracy) > British matrons a la Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith > Different types and thicknesses of Southern accents, particularly Texas, Cajun, aristocratic and hillbilly (these quite genuine since I've lived in New Orleans and Texas) > Can mimic/ impersonate a wide range of accents and voices, particularly in the Frank Morgan (Oz) - Hepburn - Brando - Wolfman - Mel Blanc range

As an advertising copywriter, I frequently had to fill in voices that weren't recorded properly (non-union, of course). In doing scratch tracks for animated pieces, the sound engineers would often marvel at how I could imitate the characters' voices. When I wrote a couple of animated films for McDonald's, Larry Storch (you may remember him from F Troop), an accomplished voice actor and the voice of Hamburglar and the Pirate, and King Moody (who played Ronald for years), as well as others, encouraged me to do voice overs. Since then, I have continued to do both straight voice-overs, narrating some videos, and character voices for commercials. I also did some voices for the toys called "Slammers" (the toys themselves). I have also performed, live, all over the country, a twenty-minute monologue from Tom Stoppard's "New Found Land," which involves over twenty distinct American accents. Acting: studied at Second City, Chicago; performed in Second City Children's Theatre. Studied with James O'Reilly, Body Politic Theatre, Chicago. Interned under Gary Sinise (directing), Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago. Voice direction: Have directed hundreds of talent sessions, overseeing production of hundreds of commmercials for radio and tv. Also directed McDonald's characters for animated shorts. Writing: Have written hundreds of radio and tv commercials, plays, published dramatic sketches (Cokesbury/Abingdon), and written and overseen production of animated shorts. Also, have been professional journalist and editor of a weekly newspaper. As a person who has directed many voice-over sessions, I look for two basic things in talent: someone who can bring extra, unexpected nuances or approaches I hadn't considered; and someone who can take direction, letting me leave with exactly what I (or my client) needs. I feel that my acting experience, voice experience, improv abilities, and my vocal range supply the first of those needs, in bringing a lot to the table. Since I've been where the client is -- as a writer, creative director, producer and director of talent -- I take direction well and work hard to make the clients happy.