Darrell Salk
Actor and Voiceover Artist
A Voice of Wisdom, Unapologetic Humor, Maturity and Silly Things
Jack of Many Trades – Master of Me
When I turned sixty, I finally decided what I wanted to be when I grew up. I stopped being a pediatrician / geneticist / academic biomedical researcher / biotech executive / independent consultant and returned to my first love, acting.
So now what?
Darrell's Voice
Ranging from middle-age male to senior citizen with a detour through animated characters, Darrell’s voice is one of wisdom and unapologetic humor—in other words, maturity and silly things—enriched by a more than 30 year career as a pediatrician, medical geneticist, university professor, biotech executive and father of two highly creative (read “challenging”) children.
He learned wisdom by listening to children and silly things by watching adults.
Bio
Darrell is a stage, film and voice actor based in Middlebury, VT. He has been involved in theatre since childhood. As a senior in high school, he was offered the American Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London but with mixed feelings he elected to pursue his interest in science and medicine. At Stanford University he took theatre courses and acted in Drama Department productions until late night rehearsals and early morning science classes became problematic. He received his M.D. at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and then did post-graduate training at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle where he earned three Board Certifications (Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Clinical Cytogenetics) and joined the faculty. As his 60th birthday approached, after more than 30 years as an academic medical researcher, an executive in the biotechnology industry and a trustee and executive in non-profit organizations, Darrell finally decided what he wanted to be when he grew up.
In Portland, Oregon, he trained in the Studio Program at the Portland Actors Conservatory and attended workshop courses with nationally known, Portland-based professionals. Before moving to the Northwest for his Pediatric Residency, Darrell had acted in roles including Caliban (The Tempest), Alfred P. Doolittle (My Fair Lady), Harold Hill (The Music Man), Francis Archer (The Beaux Strategem), Lucky (Waiting for Godot) and Peter the Hermit (Seven Keys to Baldpate). In Portland, he has appeared onstage in roles ranging from Baptiste (A Flea in Her Ear) to Herr Dr. Knarre (Charlotte Salomon: Life or Theatre?) and Eitan (The Law of Return). In the Oregon Children’s Theatre production of Ramona Quimby, he played five different characters and was not recognized by a neice who attended a daytime performance for Seattle schools. As a founding member of The Page2Stage Express he took fully-staged, two-person / multiple-character plays to schools, libraries and community centers in western Oregon (The Power of Light and Naftali: Story Voyager). He took the lead developing the first Page2Stage Express Summer Library Tour, which was made available through grants at no cost to every public library within Clackamas County, Oregon.
On screen, Darrell has played leading roles in independent short films, including Edwin and Maudey, Leadfoot, Another Man and the award-winning Murray (Best Short Film in the NW, Columbia Gorge International Film Festival and the Festival Director’s Heart Award, Film Festival of Colorado). He appears in supporting roles in nationally distributed feature films, including The Dark Place, 10 Days in a Madhouse and The Falls: Covenant of Grace and in the Internet TV series Dick Strange: American Made.
Darrell has two sons. One is an M.D./Ph.D biomedical researcher and biotech executive in Seattle, Washington. The other lives in Los Angeles and is a stage, film and voice actor and a producer of audio dramas. Go figure.
Recording Technology
Digital recording and editing is done with Audacity on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) with a Blue Yeti USB microphone, pop filter and a Tascam TH-03 headset. The recording booth is a padded and carpeted interior closet with typical room tone of -60 to -54 dB. SourceConnect and ipDTL capable.
Finished product is routinely provided as monaural mp3 audio files encoded at 170-210 kpbs or, optionally, as uncompressed files (AIFF, WAV) encoded at bit-depths of 16-bit or 32-bit. A variety of other compressed file types can be prepared (WMA, FLAC, etc.).
