Marie Anello
Actor
The Secret of St Kilda (2021-)
Role
“Esther.”
Bio
“Marie Anello is a classically trained mezzo-soprano and actress with experience in opera, musical theater, cabaret, jazz, voice acting, and drama.
In addition to her voice acting work on podcasts like The Secret of St. Kilda and Meet Cute, Marie has had the pleasure of performing with companies like Killer Queen Opera, The Penobscot Theatre Company, Soho Playhouse, Write Act Repertory, New York City Opera, and Encompass New Opera Theatre.
Marie also works as a writer and editor, specializing in book reviews, publishing industry journalism, and graphic novels..”
“…be in the moment and committed to the stakes.”
How did you become aware of the show?
“For St. Kilda: I saw an open call on Twitter for actor submissions and sent in self-tape auditions for several characters - including Esther…”
What was your aim in getting involved?
“I’ve been acting and performing for years, and have always been interested in voice acting. I’m a big fan of animation, audio dramas, and actual play - had taken some workshops on commercial voiceover and a little voice acting work, here and there.
During lockdown, I decided to be more proactive, and I saw submitting to St. Kilda as an opportunity to get more experience and work with an established, professional group of people whose work I admired (I loved The Magnus Archives and The Silt Verses).”
What was the biggest challenge?
“The St. Kilda team really made everything run so smooth, even though we were all recording remotely in different time zones, and I was literally in a coat closet at the time.
The biggest challenge was truthfully trying to do justice to Esther’s accent - I can do a generic Southern accent, but bayou and New Orleans accents have such a specific sound, I didn’t want anyone listening to be offended!”
What would be your dream project?
“Honestly, working with anyone from the St. Kilda team again would be an absolute dream - they were wonderful to work with. Other than that, I’d love to do more audio dramas in general and play a major character in one. I’d also love to do any kind of animation voiceover.”
How did you land the role? Any tips for a strong audio reel (or virtual audition)?
“I felt so fortunate that Naomi, Michael, and Paddy liked my audition and wanted to cast me as Esther. That was cast off a self-tape, and my advice for that - or any virtual audition - is to focus on being present in the moment while delivering the text.
Spend a little time beforehand with the script to gain familiarity, and then be in the moment and committed to the stakes. Don’t stress over whether its the perfect take or not, because you’ll spend hours fine-tuning and editing when in reality the casting team just want to hear you and what you bring to the character.
For reels, my advice is, show range if you can and don’t make them too long (I personally have a 2-minute, 90-second, and 60-second edit of my v/o reel).
If you don’t have a lot of experience, or can’t find a gig, make your own demos with your own scripts. Write up a fake commercial, make your own mini audio script, or use a monologue you love!”
How does acting for audio compare to other media, for you? Any skills or techniques you’d recommend learning for it?
“Coming from a theater background, I can say acting for audio is much more contained, and you learn to really listen for subtlety in your delivery since you’re using such delicate mics at a close distance.
My advice for skills or techniques is really to just practice on your own and attune yourself to your body and setup. Get used to understanding your mic’s levels, learn how far or close you need to be, know how loud you can get without distortion, and - once you’re comfortable - just play with listening to the different feelings you can create just with your voice.
Practice delivering text different ways and getting comfortable making character choices in the booth.”
If your character was an occasional part, how did you characterise them quickly and memorably?
“Esther’s characterisation truly came from the text I was given.
Even though she only appears in two episodes, she’s given a full arc and a life, tragic though it is. Everything was there on the page - her humor, her exhaustion, her desire to go out on her own terms.
By the time we recorded, just speaking that text in the accent, and playing off Alan and Axandre’s wonderful performances allowed me to feel fully invested into her character.”