We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kirsten Salpini. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kirsten below.

Hi Kirsten, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned as an actor (and creative overall) is that artists are truth-tellers, but we are also translators.

And to my surprise, I didn’t learn it in an acting class.

Although my primary art form and my living is as a performer, I also paint and draw for fun. For a long time, I was focused on depicting what was actually in front of me. Focused on the truth, the realism, the accuracy… But in painting classes, my teachers would eventually show me that sometimes you change the colors to give the 2-d painting more depth. Just because the flowers aren’t <i>actually</i> that bright, doesn’t mean they don’t <i>need</i> to be that bright to tell the story of the image, for that scene to make the most sense to the viewer’s eye.

Having one hand in truth has always come naturally to me. But having one hand in translation, recognizing that I am the step between the reality I’m sharing and the audience who’s receiving it…that was tricky.

Learning that has meant that I could make artistic choices: I wasn’t bound so tightly to the truth, to reality, As the artist, as the actor, I am the guide for the audience. And not only am I allowed to make changes that break with reality, but it’s really my job to do so, if they help the audience see and experience the truth and the story more effectively.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an actor and musician, currently working primarily in theatre and voiceover. As as voiceover artist, I work with all kinds of clients, but it always comes back to telling their story. Whether it’s a product or service in their commercial, an important message in their internal corporate video, or a plot-driven story with characters (like audio dramas, video games, or museum exhibits), it’s all about connecting to the heart of the story. My brand is Real Smart Voiceover, because I believe that by analyzing my client’s scripts and collaborating with them, I can deliver their message in a way that’s relatable and digestable. Intelligence doesn’t have to create distance: when it’s combined with authenticity, it can create connection. As human beings, we all desperately want to be heard. At its best, great voiceover allows you to speak to your audience and really be heard.

On stage, I act in plays and musicals, frequently incorporating my professional piano skills. Being a musician and multi-faceted actor really gives me a unique perspective, and I’ve developed a broad idea of what storytelling can look like. I have so many tools and approaches, and I deeply value collaboration, so I come to a process with a sense of play and exploration.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I really wish I had known about organizations that provide artist grants, and other artist resources like: info on healthcare, classes on finances and marketing, and assistance with artist housing. The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly the Actors Fund) has so many free resources like that to make long-term life as an artist feel so much more sustainable. I wish I’d known about organizations like that when I was younger: housing, healthcare, and lots of things felt confusing and out of reach.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When my husband and I moved to North Carolina, I knew I was moving to a smaller theatre market. But between the time that we made an offer on our house and my first six months living in it, three professional theatres in the region closed down for good. In addition to working in theatre, I had been planning to explore doing some voiceover work, but suddenly it became one of my only acting options given the hit this theatre scene had taken. There was a learning curve for sure, but building a new leg of my career at 31, with all of my previous experience, was ultimately exciting and satisfying! I’m still doing theatre, but I have to travel for it, and now voiceover is my full-time acting job.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kirstensalpini.com
• Instagram: @kirstensalpinicreative
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kirstensalpini
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsten-salpini/

Image Credits
Nile Scott Shots (all photos)