As a life-long professional performer, Holly is no stranger to creating characters with integrity and impact, for comedy and drama alike. She seamlessly weaves both narrative and voices to enable characters to connect with each other and to bond with the audience.
Holly’s audiobook and audio drama specialties
Holly’s love of stories springs from her childhood when she was an early reader and enjoyed listening to her mom and grandma reading aloud to her. She particularly seeks out the intensity and plot driving characters of video games, the quirky out-of-the-box and tenderness of animation, and the wide range of fantastical realism in many audiobook genres! As a classically trained actor who continues to perform improv and street theatre, Holly brings her knowledge of the stage to the booth. Her audiobook genre expertise includes kids and YA, fantasy, mystery, and comedy, whether it is RomCom or non-fic about comedy or comedic cozies!
Holly’s approach to narrative voice over
When finding a character’s voice for a new project, Holly asks these questions: “How do they see themselves in relation to the world around them?” and “How are they in their body (gestures, stance, lead, tempo, tension, key body area, etc)?”
“When I play a role on stage, a part of me becomes that person. Otherwise, you’re only ever touching the surface of their experience. As strange as it sounds, this is almost more important in the voice over world. I have to convince my audience that I’m multiple people and sometimes an omniscient narrator. Some of it comes down to feeling each character in each moment. We as the readers and listeners might see the big picture, but every person in the scene has a different authentic reaction. Playing each one with integrity sets the best storytellers apart.”
Using vocal techniques for the complete character
“When I narrate a book, I try to honor the author, characters, and listener, ever mindful of the intimacy of these relationships. When I am voicing a game or animation, it’s still about the story, the characters, and the intense or delicious funny action, right? That’s my job‑be there, tell the truth.”
Holly grew up in a family that moved frequently and spent time in the Northeast, Midwest, and Deep South, which allows her to perfect a natural accent from any major area in the country. In addition, Holly has worked abroad in Italy, Afghanistan, Haiti, Russia, the UK, France, and the Middle East and has familiarity with accents and languages from those parts of the world.
As a trained performer with a singing background, Holly is able to use a wide range of vocal tools. This includes the ability to easily adjust her pitch, speed, resonance, dialect, speech patterns, breath, and mouth shape.
Audiobook Awards
- Audie Awards Finalist 2023, Audiodrama, Clean Sweep
- National Audio Theatre Festival Silver Medal Award 2023, What Remains of Love
- National Audio Theatre Festival Silver Medal Award 2023, The Last Dragon
- Audiofile Magazine’s Ear-phone Award 2022, Best Audiobooks of the Year, Science Fiction, A Court of Mist and Fury
- Independent Audiobook Awards Winner 2020, General Fiction, Gullah’s SecretsIndependent Audiobook Awards Finalist 2020, Young Adult, Lucifer’s Pride
