Mirren Lee

I’ve entered a new phase of my freelance life, having decided that it’s time to put all my knowledge for actors about working in the Industry into a book, and my Voice/Dialect/Accent knowledge into another book. Since creativity is often stimulated by a change of scenery, I moved back to Melbourne after 10 years in Sydney. However, I continue to coach by splitting my time between Sydney and Melbourne, going back and forth every 8 weeks or so, as well as increasing my contact with clients via Skype, a convenient way now to be able to coach around the world.

An overview of my background starts with being born in Los Angeles to an Australian mother and an American father – the typical war bride situation – migrating to Sydney in 1969 when my mother decided to take her 7 children back home. I trained as an actress my whole life, taking my first Method classes when I was nine years old! By the time I arrived in Australia, I was ready to look for professional work, ending up on the ground breaking (if slightly melodramatic!) TV series “No. 96″, playing the ongoing role of Sharon, a biker’s girlfriend constantly up to no good.  After a few more TV roles, I felt I needed further on screen training, which was not available in Australia, and returned to L.A. (with my young son) in the mid 70s. I trained and worked there for awhile, moving onto England to take classes at The Actor’s Centre.  I started doing voice-overs in London, which started my passion for this area of work.

Back in Australia, I began teaching acting classes in both Sydney and Melbourne, running a theater company, and continuing my own acting career. Living in Adelaide in the mid 80s, I developed an intense interest in voice work and studied privately for 3 years, while running classes, including at the University of Adelaide.  I brought Theater Games to Australia and taught in secondary schools to the many teachers who had the Theatre Games File by Viola Spolin on their shelves, but didn’t know what to do with it.  I then branched out into voice coaching, with accent/dialect work added to the mix. I returned to Melbourne in 1989 and started The Playhouse Group, a multi strand company that included classes, a Theatre-in-Education group, in-school workshops, the theatre-in-residence at The Polly Woodside sailing ship/museum, and ongoing theatrical productions for both children and adults, as well as an actor’s agency that ran for 5 years.  To this day, I have been the mentor of 5 new actor’s agencies, in both Sydney and Melbourne, helping them get started with my knowledge and help.  I have also done extensive freelance casting.

As an actress, it was the opening of my own agency, and the freelance casting I did as well, that opened my eyes to all the knowledge that actors don’t get taught, and SHOULD, if they are to run their careers successfully. I also believe I might be the only person in Australia with my unique background and skill set of actor’s agent, casting director, actress, writer, director, producer and coach.  It has given me knowledge across the board for helping others in the Entertainment Industry.

In the late 90s, after also teaching at various TAFEs in Melbourne, I was experiencing creative burnout, and so after a role on “Neighbours” as Pat Horrocks, I decided to move to Sydney in 2000 in order to tap into the greater variety of work available with the American productions, both as an actress and a coach.  I expanded my teaching into the WEA, Sydney Community College, Manly Warringah College, and City Ed at St. Andrews, plus several international colleges (this involved corporate work in business subjects), and as guest lecturer for a Work for the Dole program teaching participants how to research and film a documentary.

Eventually, I opened my own studio in Sydney and focused on teaching there while also coaching privately.  I added production coaching to my slate of projects as well, and found that my favorite area to coach in is TVCs (television commercials) because they suit my hyperactive personality by working to a faster schedule than TV shows or movies.  I like to teach actors short cuts and tips that will get instant results. I have worked for top directors in many American and Australian jobs, and particularly enjoy working in New Zealand on projects (see Dialect Coaching page for more details).

Please check out my section on “Coaching Methods” for an insight into how I coach.  My “Career Coaching” and “More Coaching” sections will detail all the areas I cover, and may help you to decide how I can help you.

See below for how to contact me to make a private booking or to talk about your coaching needs:

MIRREN LEE

MOBILE: 0468 927 776

EMAIL: mirren@mirrenlee.com

SKYPE: Mirren Lee

This Website

Maintained by David McVay of Geek, Actually

Problems with the site? Contact David at info@mirrenlee.com