We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dennis Kleinman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dennis below.
Dennis, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I was very blessed to have grown up in an artistic home surrounded by many creatives. I grew up in Cape Town South Africa during the apartheid era. Both of my parents were liberal and progressive and hated the ideology of apartheid, and worked against it politically, as did I. My mother was an abstract artist and ‘arty’ and thus I was surrounded from a very early age by people from the art world, music, and theatre. My father was a non-practicing civil engineer who had a company that licensed products from Europe and the US in South Africa. He was a tremendous support for my mother and provided a platform for her to grow and thrive. I also had an extremely close relationship with my aunt (married to my father’s brother) who lived in London. She was a stage, screen, and radio actress, and worked both in the mainstream and fringe theatres and was a great influence in my life.
One of the significant aspects, from an artistic standpoint growing up in South Africa, was that there was no television service in the country, and as a youth, we got all of our entertainment from the radio and the movies. Listening to radio theatre was imaginative and exciting, and ignited the flame of my creativity and love of the spoken word leading to my interest in voiceover.
In South Africa at that time, military service was compulsory – either after high school, or university, whereafter, you would report for a minimum of one year of service. Since I was staunchly against the South African regime, reporting for military service for me was not an option. I completed high school and attended the University of Cape Town, knowing that after I obtained my degree, I would leave the country, which I did, and emigrate to the US.
I explored acting upon arriving in Los Angeles and felt at the time, (the early 80s), that there was not a lot of opportunity for a non-American accent in voiceover, thus began working in various industries, which ultimately developed into a lucrative business opportunity.
The years went by, I got married and had two children, and life took on its own direction, however, the acting bug was percolating all this time until in the late 90s, I took a voiceover class and was smitten. Over the next few years, I enrolled in acting classes and began honing my craft, but voiceover always had a special place for me. I started booking small jobs here and there, and my accent, which has a global quality to it, which I branded, “A World Voice”, began to be sought after and I started working part-time as a voice actor. Around 2013 I began narrating audiobooks and would send recordings of books I had worked on to my aunt in London who was, unfortunately, reaching the end of her life, but I received wonderful encouragement and highly positive responses from her, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment that I was now able to provide her with some entertainment and distraction from her reality.
So today, I am an award-winning voice actor working full-time and am eternally grateful for the foundation that was formed in those early years. We all strive to live and work within the realm of our passion, and everything has a season and the right time for its existence. Mine is now, and I am loving and appreciating each moment, moment by moment – each narration, whether audiobook or documentary, commercial, video game, or dubbing a movie. I work in many accents and character voices, and each genre holds a very special place for me as they require different approaches and nuances, allowing all the various splinters of my life experience to go to work to produce the finished product. And therefore, my message to anyone reading this is to never give up on your dreams – they are the fuel for life, and if you persevere long enough, life begins to align and those dreams ultimately become your reality.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My life has always been filled with a passionate response to all that I do. I am a creative person and have delved into many artistic areas of life in addition to acting which includes music – I play the guitar and sing, and I love the art of photography and the expression that it gives me.
As I began formulating my place in the world of voice acting, I was very aware of how important it is to develop and live by your “brand”. In this saturated world, I believe it is foundationally important to know who you are; where your strengths and weaknesses are. so that you can expand and grow. Many people think at first glance that I am British and the reason is that my South African accent was never overly ‘strong’ and coupled with spending a lot of time in London during my youth, I lean more towards a non-regional British tone. With a slight influence from my South African roots, I fall into the category of “I wonder where he is from?” With that in mind, I established my brand – A World Voice!
I have a deep love of the spoken word, the musicality, and the poetry that it invokes, and for me, there is a fine line between listening to a wonderful piece of music and to the art of the orator. Voice-over is a multifaceted industry that covers a wide swath of our lives. It is highly specific and is influenced by the tiniest of nuances. Unlike on-camera acting, I believe voice acting is more difficult in many aspects as it is broken down by tone, emotional expression, pauses, and breath – missing the largest expressive component or tool to work with – the body.
My strengths as a voice actor lie in my versatility in both my delivery and the character that I am playing. Every voice project requires a character – whether narrating an eLearning segment, commercial, audiobook, or any of the genres within which we work. I am a storyteller. I invoke imagery into words and knit them together to present a finished piece. My voice is rich and textured, inviting and comforting to listen to. I am very directable and responsive and am also fun to work with and easygoing when I’m in the studio or recording remotely from my studio. I am highly dedicated to my work and to my clients, and always strive to get the work done as quickly as my schedule allows, so that my clients don’t have to wait for me. I see myself as their partner, and I will always take that extra step to ensure that the work is the best it can be. I never take my work or my relationships for granted – and am very clear about the privilege I feel when having the opportunity of sharing my talent with all with whom I work.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I have always believed that if your passion can become your work, then you never feel as if you are working. Having transitioned from a long-term career in an industry that served me well financially, but not spiritually, the reward that I have gained from working as a voice actor is that I am immersed in work and opportunities that fulfill me, I am where I belong, and where I thrive and grow.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I believe that the core difference between the two is that creativity is all about trying new things and taking risks, while a non-creative life may be more focused on stability and routine. Creative individuals tend to approach problems in a unique and non-linear manner, sometimes looking for unconventional solutions, while non-creative people may be more likely to follow established procedures. Creative individuals tend to have active imaginations and use them to come up with new ideas and are often comfortable with change and tend to embrace it. Leading a creative life often involves a willingness to think outside the box, and embrace new experiences and perspectives. The metaphor for my life is that it’s like walking down a street and reaching a corner; once you turn that corner, you never know what you might encounter – it might be good or bad, but the excitement is found in the possibilities that exist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AWorldVoice.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aworldvoice
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dennis.i.kleinman
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aworldvoice
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/denniskleinman
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aworldvoice/videos
Image Credits
Victor Arriola