Our VO Coaches

David Goldberg

Lead Voice Director, Audition Expert, & CEO

A leading authority on voice-over and Chief Edge Officer of Edge Studio, David Goldberg has cast and directed thousands of voice-over productions. He has also coached innumerable voice actors, from beginners to top working pros and celebrities.

David says, “Although I don’t have a golden voice, I guess my ears work pretty well.”

Indeed. David’s ears are considered the best in the industry.

He’s known for an uncanny ability to provide super-quick yet precise direction. Because he sees things from all industry perspectives, many veteran voice actors rely on him as their mentor. David is also one of the most active directors and speakers, frequently illustrating his practical answers with fun anecdotes from his many years of experience.

Soon after founding Edge Studio as a music-recording facility in 1988, David added spoken voice recording to its repertoire. In response to many clients asking him for voice over guidance, David wrote the first edition of the ‘Voice Over Performance Guidebook’ in 1992.

Since 2000, Edge Studio has focused exclusively on spoken voice, and is now one of the world’s premiere voice over facilities.

Clients and agents rely on David Goldberg’s ability to pinpoint the right voice actor for their production. Voice actors rely on his ability to help them find their full potential, benefiting from his perception, straight-forwardness, production savvy, and those acute ears.

People and companies that David Goldberg has worked with at Edge Studio include: Nickelodeon, Disney, Pixar, Chrysler, The US Postal Service, Scholastic, IBM, The United Nations, countless radio stations, National Public Radio, ESPN, Discovery, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Eartha Kitt, Tom Brokaw, John Ratzenberger, Denise Austin, Mark Linn-Baker, and scores of leading Broadway and TV performers.

Edge Studio remains one of the country’s most acclaimed voice over facilities, known around the world as being the best in the industry for voice over production, casting, and education.

Art Bruder

Private Coach, Class Instructor, Home Studio Coach

Art Bruder has had an impressive career in voice-over and the media industry. He has voiced countless commercials, promos and tags for major brands, as well as narrating corporate videos. He produces radio station imaging and is the voice for iRock Radio and other Internet radio stations and podcasts. Art has also worked extensively as an audio engineer and audio producer recording voice actors and musicians as well as writing copy. Art lives in Central Connecticut, and we’re proud to note that he got his start in voice over right here at Edge Studio!

Formerly, Art was the regional director at Connecticut School of Broadcasting (CSB), where he inspired and instructed many new students in audio production and voice acting. While instructing at CSB, Art produced a television show and a radio show with his students, utilizing industry standard equipment, software and hardware and techniques. He would take his students on video shoots for musician performances to give them a feel for the real world of broadcasting, and even organized trips for his students to attend the History Makers Awards shows.

Now, as a coach and instructor with Edge Studio, Art is always striving to give students a top-notch education. Teaching and coaching voice actors in both performance technique, as well as the technical aspects of voice over, is his passion.

Besides offering private coaching for students at Edge, Art also teaches various classes and webinars rooted in the production side of voice over, such as DAW for Beginners (focusing on the audio recording software basics of Audacity, ProTools, Adobe Audition, and Twisted Wave), Mics & Interfaces, Studio Acoustics, and also offers private DAW Consultations.

If you’d like to hear Art Bruder speak more about his coaching practices and background as a performer, click here to watch Edge Studio’s Ask Me Anything session on our Youtube Channel.

Art says it’s the best feeling in the world to get an email from a student who is excited to share their first gig and maintains that there’s nothing else like it.

Bill Lord

Private Coach

Bill Lord is a recipient of an audiobook Earphones Award, which are given by AudioFile Magazine to truly exceptional titles that excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text. He earned this award for his performance in the ensemble cast of Jimmy Dean’s Last Dance by A.K. Alliss. Bill reads for major and indie publishers and enjoys narrating both fiction and non-fiction, his favorite genres being Mysteries, Thrillers, Memoirs, Science Fiction, and Children’s stories. 

Some of Bill’s audiobook narration credits include Extra V****n Olive Oil: The Truth in Your Kitchen by David M. Neuman, In a Green Dress Surrounded by Exploding Clowns and Other Stories by Robert Jeschonek, Start the Game Galactogon by Vasily Mahanenko, Student Voice: The Instrument of Change by Russell J. Quaglia and Michael Corso. A list of Bill’s other narrated titles can be found on his Audible page.

Bill has also led sessions on vocal booth design and website design for the highly respected Audiobook Biz Workshop Series presented each year by notable narrators Johnny Heller (Edge Studio instructor, as well) and Scott Brick. 

Bill Lord is a former student of Edge Studio’s training program who went on to perform as a live-announce talent for major conferences and has given a voice to audiobooks, e-Learning modules, corporate explainer videos, and whiteboard videos. After finding success in the voice over industry, Bill led Edge Studio’s Investigate Voice Over classes in Washington, DC for several years. Prior to studying with Edge, he wrote, produced, and voiced thousands of commercials across all product categories in his 17-year career as a radio presenter and production manager.

Bill’s first love is audiobooks, and he has dedicated himself to advancing the craft and understanding the business of audiobooks. His relaxed style of teaching makes it easy to learn while also having fun.

Brian Wiggins

Class Instructor, Private Coach

Brian Wiggins is a Voice Arts® and One Voice Award-nominated voice actor, and has lent his talents to clients such as Southern Comfort, Netflix, Champion, Tyson Foods, and Santa Helena Winery, as well as nearly 100 audiobook and narration projects, including the award-winning Frith Chronicles series. In 2022 he published his first book, The Narrator’s Guide to the Universe of Audiobooks. He has also waded into the world of audio production, acting as producer on full-cast audiobook and audio drama projects.

While born in the sleepy South Jersey town of Medford (where fun goes to die), he’s been living in Philadelphia for the last 20 years and proudly calls it home with his wife, and their two rescue dogs Dakota and Hurley. He cut his teeth in the media world interning for Radio Hall of Fame inductee Preston Elliot at a local modern rock radio station, and later as a video editor and producer for a news broadcast, writing scripts for voice over veteran Mark Peebles.

When not fighting evil, ne’er-do-wells, and dastards via narrating a great audiobook, he can be found putting his character voice skills to the test while running Dungeons & Dragons games for his friends, or teaching Brazilian jiu jitsu (aka involuntary yoga, or Folding People’s Clothes While They’re Still Wearing Them).

Brian Wiggins received his B.A. in Communication from the acclaimed La Salle University School of Communication (as well as a Bachelor’s in English), and his M.B.A. from Strayer University. After fumbling around in the dark for several months at the beginning of his voice over career, he finally wised up and received training from coaches such as James Andrews, Jennifer Sims, and Jay Snyder at Edge Studio in New York City.

Read Brian’s latest articles on the Edge Studio blog, where he discusses the importance of being kind to people in the industry and how his training in jiu jitsu has prepared him to be a working VO actor. Watch Brian show off his home studio on the Edge Studio Youtube channel in the premiere episode of Home Studio Show & Tell.

Erica Brookhyser

Private Coach

Erica Brookhyser is an accomplished voice actor with over 15 years of performing experience. Her work spans several genres, including medical narration, eLearning, commercials, museum tours, audiobooks, explainer videos, and documentaries. Among her clients are Apple, United Nations, Astra-Zeneca, Novartis, Bausch+Lomb, The Washington Post, Nokia, and Microsoft.

Erica uses her voice to empower others as a volunteer with Women in Film and Video New England, hosting their monthly Networking Wednesdays events, and as the host of The Warm Up, a bi-weekly voiceover forum. Erica lives in Boston, MA with her amazing wife, two rambunctious kitties, and some not-quite-dead-yet plants.

Ernesto De Villa Bejjani

Private Coach: Spanish Language

A Mexican–Lebanese actor, Ernesto De Villa Bejjani began his career in 1984, completed his professional studies at the National School of Dramatic Arts at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City, and since has worked as an actor, director, producer, acting coach and voice over coach.

Living in New York City since 2003, Ernesto has been directing at his theatrical company, 88 Performing Arts, produced several theatrical shows, like his play “Sofia’s Desire” and has conducted many acting and voice over workshops. During the last thirty years Ernesto has worked without stopping teaching acting and voice over classes. As a bilingual talent and coach, diction and accent reduction are one of his major assets. Besides coaching and acting, Ernesto casts and directs TV and radio commercials in Spanish for the United States market.

Some of Ernesto’s awards include Male Revelation Actor (2004) of the Year and Best Director (2013) from the Association of Latin Entertainment Critics. Also, he won the awards of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor (2008) and Outstanding Achievement in Direction (2013) from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.

In his own words, “The act of forming voice over actors and professionals is my passion”.

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Un actor mexico-libanés, Ernesto De Villa Bejjani inició su carrera en 1984, completó sus estudios profesionales en la Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes de la Ciudad de México, desde entonces se ha desempeñado como actor, director, productor, coach de actuación y locución.

Vive en la ciudad de Nueva York desde 2003, dirigiendo su propia compañía teatral, 88 Performing Arts, ha producido varios espectáculos teatrales, como su obra “El deseo de Sofía”. Durante los últimos treinta años Ernesto ha trabajado impartiendo clases de actuación y locución. Como coach de voice over bilingüe, la dicción y la reducción del acento son uno de sus principales puntos a desarrollar. Además, Ernesto es director de casting para comerciales de radio y televisión en español para el mercado de los Estados Unidos.

Algunos de los premios de Ernesto incluyen Actor Revelación Masculino del Año (2004) y Mejor director por su trabajo de “El deseo de Sofía” (2013) de la Asociación de Críticos de Entretenimiento de Nueva York. También, ganó los premios de Mejor Actor Masculino (2008) y Mejor Dirección (2013) de Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.

En sus propias palabras, “La tarea de formar actores y locutores profesionales es mi pasión”.

Jake Bazel

Private Coach

Animation, Cartoon, Characters, Talking Toys, Video Games, Kids’ Apps, Commercials – when you hear personality-driven voice actors, you’re in Jake Bazel’s world!

Jake is a voice actor, writer, puppeteer, voiceover director and coach with over a decade of
experience working in children’s media. No matter his role on a project, he always
approaches his work with a sense of curiosity and play in an effort to build character-driven
stories that resonate with multigenerational audiences.

Jake was most recently seen and heard off-Broadway, playing Winnie the Pooh in Disney’s
Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation. Originally brought on as a writing
consultant in the early developmental stage, he was honored to then bring the Bear of Very
Little Brain to life in the show’s world premiere run. He subsequently reprised the role at
Chicago’s Mercury Theatre, and is attached to open the show in London’s West End in Spring
2023.

As a puppeteer at Sesame Workshop, Jake has worked on the flagship series Sesame Street
(HBO/PBS), as well as several outreach initiatives, digital releases, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He was thrilled to return to the parade in 2016, opening the event with The Muppets (Disney).

Jake served as an ensemble puppeteer for Seasons 2 and 3 of Sesame Workshop’s Helpsters
(Apple TV+), and can be heard taking on a number of characters throughout the series. In
2020, he created the original preschool series Duncan the Skunk and the Big Costume Trunk!
for the Kidscreen Award-winning interactive platform Hellosaurus.

Other favorite credits include Emily Arrow’s Story Bike (Audible Original), Spongebob’s
Pineapple Playhouse (Nickelodeon), zivaKIDS, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, Paddington
Gets in a Jam, Paddington Saves Christmas, Sandra Boynton’s Frog Trouble, Tim Kubart’s
Songs for Chickens, Jim Henson’s Dinosaur Train Live!, an array of animals for Dodo Kids, and
various ad campaign collaborations with The Mill. Jake has directed two national tours of The
Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, as well as an international tour and two regional coproductions.

Jake has been working as an Animation Voice Acting coach since 2018, and it’s truly one of
his favorite hats to wear. It’s an honor helping beginners and pros alike connect with their
confidence, their voice and their inner cartoon character in a new way. He’s a firm believer
that animation should be wildly fun and joyfully messy work!

James Andrews, M.Sc.

Private Coach, Class Instructor

James Andrews is a veteran commercial voice actor whose talents are always in demand. James has voiced hundreds of television commercials for clients such as Lincoln, Toyota, BMW, Chevrolet, Wrigley’s, General Mills, McDonald’s, Samsung, TD Bank, Bosch, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and many more. He has also voiced dozens of corporate narration projects and e-learning modules and has done promo work for such prestigious brands as Smithsonian and Sundance Channels. He is also well known for his character and animation work, as well as a wide variety of dialects.

Such diversity is based on a background equally varied. James holds degrees in English literature and education, and has a master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Prior to becoming a voice actor, James worked as a speech-language pathologist for several years. James is a proud member of ACTRA.

James has also taught English literature and ESL at Columbia University and The School of Visual Arts in New York City, and at the University of Toronto.

Although his voice-acting career keeps him very busy, James found he missed teaching, and so he was thrilled when the opportunity arose to join the Edge Studio faculty and work with students again. His background in speech-language pathology completes the unique skill set that he brings to voice-over education. At Edge Studio, James coaches students in commercial and narration, as well as teaches the popular webinar, the Science of Speaking Like a Pro. In this class, James breaks down and demonstrates the importance of phonetics and the component sounds of the English language to help you speak like a professional voice actor.

James lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

If you’d like to hear James Andrews speak more about his coaching practices and background as a performer, click here to watch Edge Studio’s Ask Me Anything.

Jennifer Sims

Private Coach, Class Instructor

With experience as both an ad agency producer and voice actor, Jennifer Sims brings a unique perspective to voice acting from both sides of the glass. Jennifer has produced/voiced hundreds of spots for clients such as Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, Vons, Cigna Healthcare, CVS, ABC Family and the OWN Network.

After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, Jennifer segued into a career in advertising, climbing the ranks of one of the top agencies in Los Angeles to become a commercial and radio producer. As a producer, Jennifer had the pleasure of working with top voice over talent including the legendary Don LaFontaine.

Jennifer now combines her love for both advertising and acting. As a coach with Edge Studio, she is passionate about helping fellow creatives find their own unique essence, coaching students with wit and warmth. At Edge, Jennifer  coaches commercial and narration and teaches the Investigate Voice Over (IVO) webinar. Jenn also instructs the performance-based Auditions 101 class, which is designed to help provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge to ace their voice over auditions, stand out from the crowd, and land acting jobs. As a coach and instructor, Jennifer specializes in helping students deliver friendly and conversational reads.

In addition to a successful career as a producer/voice over artist, Jennifer is now an on-camera commercial actor, having starred in commercials for Uber, Snapchat and WebMD. She is also an accomplished improv actor at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.

Jennifer lives in Los Angeles with her husband and Dexter, the most handsome dog in the world (well, according to Jennifer).

If you’d like to hear Jennifer Sims speak more about her coaching practices and background as a performer, click here to watch Edge Studio’s Ask Me Anything, and then subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up to date.

Joshua Wise

Private Coach

With more than 20 years experience in the performing arts and a lifetime’s worth of experience in music, Joshua takes a unique and instinctual approach to the world of voiceover. Trained in choral and ensemble singing, he has developed the self-awareness necessary to adapt the minutest of details in his vocal performance to the needs of the moment. With a BFA in Acting from Pace University in New York City, Joshua has performed in numerous theatrical works, from two-man one-acts to fully-produced three-hour-long musicals.

Since graduating, he has worked his way through increasingly-demanding positions on a great deal of projects, from performing artist to music director to director, and also led an improvisational comedy troupe in Brooklyn for three years. On the purely vocal side, Joshua has also provided his voice for both live and recorded narration for a number of presentation events, hosted several orientations, English dubbing for foreign language film, and promotional material for coffee houses, music stores, and more.

As a seasoned and professional musician and composer, Joshua has studied keyboards and singing in multiple genres, and plays regularly with wedding and event bands all over the northeastern United States. He has produced and arranged folk, theatrical, jazz, rock, and neoclassical music, which has garnered him a skillful ear for detail and engineering knowledge.

All of this education, training, and experience pair well with Joshua’s goofy and enthusiastic nature, which translate into a continued love of cartoons, Dungeons & Dragons, and a good pun. To work with Joshua is to apply a performer’s perspective to the craft of voiceover, and to view every read – from a simple telephony job to a multi-character animation – as a chance to dig deep and learn something new about yourself.

Marc Thompson

Private Coach

Marc Thompson is super well known in the voiceover world. He has worked in voice over for over 20 years. His voice is used in countless animation, audiobooks, commercials, video games, films, television and more.

He graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in acting.

Since then he has found much success.  He’s a feature voice on cartoons such as MTV’s “DARIA”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “GI Joe Sigma Six”, “Yu-gui-oh”, “Poke’mon”, “P.king Duckling”, “Transformers Cyberverse”, and “Karma’s world”. He’s narrated over 70 Star Wars audiobooks, and has won an Earphones award, an Audie award and a SOVAS award for some of those titles.  In addition, he’s acted in plays off-Broadway, starred in the film “Bringing up Bobby”, and made his Broadway debut in the Tony nominated revival of “Talk Radio.”

Marc looks forward to passing on what he has learned, and sharing his experience with you. An amazing opportunity!

Simone Kliass

Private Coach: Portuguese Language

Holding a Drama degree from the Célia Helena Center for Arts and Education and a Business degree from the higher education institution and think tank Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Simone Kliass has embraced an entrepreneurial mindset to build a career as a leader in the Brazilian voiceover industry. She currently records for Globo TV, Sky Pay TV, LATAM Airlines, and the São Paulo International Airport, among numerous other enterprises.

As lead ambassador for Women in Voice, Simone leverages her industry know-how to advocate gender and racial equality. She’s a judge for the Sovas Voice Arts Awards, held annually in New York City, and vice-president of the Brazilian Extended Reality Association (XRBR), where she researches voice applications in virtual reality, augmented reality, and the Metaverse. In 2020 she narrated the Brazilian VR experience “The Line,” which won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media.

Prior to the pandemic, Simone traveled extensively to address audiences on topics ranging from voice branding to voice tech to voice for immersive content. She gave talks at SXSW and VO Atlanta in the United States, offered workshops at the VoiceOver Network in Europe, and took part in debates at the Rio2C, Path, HackTown, and Pixel Show festivals in Brazil. In 2022 she was invited to return to SXSW as a voice mentor.

Simone’s recording studio has been featured in the premier audio-tech magazine Sound on Sound. With a professionally engineered room-in-a-room isolation booth equipped with a 300-Mbps fiber-optic network, studio lighting, 4K cameras, a collection of industry-leading gear, and a full library of UAD plug-ins, this space delivers pristine 48kHz, 24-bit recordings to clients around the globe. Sessions are conducted via Source-Connect, Source Elements, and other software, while a customizable recording chain ensures professional results for every project she records.

Simone Kliass now coaches exclusively with Edge Studio, offering online sessions in Portuguese and English from São Paulo, Brazil. She tailors her one-on-one sessions to address the specific needs of each student – striving to give practical advice focused on identifying strengths and booking work in today’s competitive market.