is a stage-trained audiobook narrator & voice actor with 30+ years of professional creative experience. An emerging audiobook actor, Mark booked 16 titles within his first 60 days of auditioning–including a Nobel Prize winner.
Born and bred in the Bluegrass, Mark’s Kentucky bourbon baritone is warm and clear with a kick. He can deliveer an authentic Southern/Appalachian accent plus a stocked stable of characters & dialects champing at the bit to race.
Affable, approachable, but unafraid to go dark places, Mark delivers nuanced, emotional, engaging performances.
Mark is partial to LGBTQ fiction, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. He is also an excellent choice for medical narration, e-learning, corporate explainers, and other narration that requires a warm, trustworthy, articulate, and educated voice.
He’s an author ally, a production pro, and a devoted story shepherd.
Mark is an award-winning creative director, copywriter, and graphic designer with advertising agency experience. He’s also a seasoned non-profit exec skilled in philanthropy and community engagement. Plus, as a published poet, essayist, and short story author, Mark understands storytelling from the inside out. A longtime meditator, Mark has practiced with celebrity Buddhist teachers and anonymous alcoholics.
Fun career highlights:
Theatre, local ad agency, and public broadcast experience:
Lifelong performer and public speaker (4-H, high school drama & debate, corporate trainer, non-profit spokesperson)
Professional home studio featuring Vocal Booth VO1 with additional customized acoustical treatment. AKG Pro Audio C414 XLII (primary), Sennheiser MKH 416 (secondary) with Focusrite Clarett 2Pre. Macbook Pro + Adobe Audition. SourceConnect available.
I also have easy access to a full-service, Audible-certified, commercial recording studio.
My logo is a stylized griffin from the Royse family crest. It’s a reminder that I don’t do anything alone. Generations of men & women, lovers & fighters, saints & sinners, heroes & thieves got me to where I am today. Their lives, lusts, and loves stir my blood, drive my desires, and keep the whole grand show going.