Yabo Obien
Warm, wise, and seasoned narrator; character and dialect specialist, hint of the past vo masters yet standing alone enough to call it unique; trailer and preview attitudes always complement the story---the attitude is primary to the tonality. Narrator sound is warm, personal, seasoned, authoritative. Influences include Peter Coyote, Will Lyman, Peter Thomas, Morgan Freeman, Live Schreiber, Richard Basehart. Dialect and Character voice influences: Paul Frees, Mel Blanc.
"Creative is what I am. Voice acting is what I love. A man of integrity is what I strive to be. Everything else is what I do." Yabo Obien
There are two things that I have always excelled at since I came into this world. Music and Speech. They go together. The rhythm, tonality, and immediacy of both are inseparable. The heart, soul, and ears it takes to create music are the same characteristics it takes to create a voiceover performance that moves peoples emotions. The task involved in the many genres that makeup the field of voiceovers is painting for the listener from a pallet of words on a page. The tools are my voice and my imagination; alone or in collaboration with others. I love it. I was born for this and here you will find a sample of my passion for the art. I look forward to meeting you and being a part of your next project and endeavor. Thanks for listening.
Ausbildung
Speech Communications/Performance major at Cal State University, Northridge
Child working actor and voiceover talent for The Charles Stern Agency.
Toured and performed as a studio keyboardist for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, America, The Limelighters. and various CCM artists on EMI/Sparrow records.
Featured television roles:The Kraft Music Hour (backup singer), Standup and Cheer (singer), The Young Doctors CBS (actor), NBC's The Man From Atlantis (actor)
On-Camera commercials for Apple computer campaign "Whats On Your Powerbook" (actor)
Voiceover campaigns for Bank of America Traveler's Checks (VO artist)
Voiceovers for audiobook "The Bible Experience II" (VO artist)
Erfahrung
Credits:
HULU
PIXAR
TOYOTA
LIFELOCK INTL
GLOCK FIREARMS
DUPONT WORLDWIDE
HLN/CNN/Time-Warner
BBC Discovery Channel
WALT DISNEY IMAGINEERING
Beijing Dept of Education
Steers Insurance Canada
Johns Hopkins University
US National Park Service
University of British Columbia
Zondervan Publishing
San Francisco Department of Tourism
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
My core money voices are as a seasoned 1) narrator/interp artist and 2) dialect/accent specialist. My 15 years at Walt Disney Imagineering as an Imagineer computing guru supporting the creative groups: music, voiceovers, production, special effects and my concurrent career as an actor, musician, and in-demand I.T. analyst have all come together in this arena of voiceovers where vocal talent meets technology. The traditional is mixed with the cutting edge where vocal skill and acting prowess still remains the major talent, yet production and technical expertise is mandatory to deliver the product on time, every time. I have been trained by the best in the field of music, voiceovers, and future technologies and computing in the creative arts. I have learned under the likes of the voices that surround visitors at the worlds largest entertainment company, Walt Disney Co. As a trained singer and professional touring and studio musician, I come to the industry with the vocal, interpretive, acting, and writing experience that covers a wide range of character and dialects as well as narrative forms with great facility, flexibility, and meaning.
Besonderheiten
Dialect Specialst in English:
1) Street Spanish
2) Upper-class America/English
3) Heavy British upper class
4) Cockney
5) Filipino native
6) Punjabi India
7) Little Child
8) Black street singer
9) Norwegian
10) French lover
11) Southern hick
12) Yiddish / New York Jewish
13) South sea/Hawaiian native
14) Possessive Filipino mother
15) Italian joie de vivre
16) Asian - Chinese
17) Asian - Japanese