David Alan Stern, Ph.D.

Author

Acting With An Accent: Dialects and Accents for Actors, Storytellers, etc.

American Accent for Canadian Actors

American Accents for English Actors

The Sound and Style of American English for Speakers of Other First Languages

American Regional Dialect Reduction Speaking Without an Accent

DAVID ALAN STERN, Ph.D. founded DIALECT ACCENT SPECIALISTS, INC. in Hollywood in 1980. He has coached business executives, broadcast media personalities, government officials, actors, and members of the clergy to modify accents and speak more expressively for over thirty years. Among his celebrity trainees have been: Stephen Baldwin, Mike Farrell, Daryl Hannah, Julie Harris, Jack Klugman, Shelly Long, Liam Neeson, Edward James Olmos, Bronson Pinchot, Lynn Redgrave, and Michael York, as well as Oscar winners Geena Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Julia Roberts, and Forest Whitaker.

Dr. Stern developed his "Sound & Style" accent-reduction technique while teaching non-native actors to audition for the roles of American-born characters. Since the publication of Sound & Style's first edition in 1987, he has taught his effective and entertaining methods to thousands of ESL teachers, speech pathologists, and speech/drama coaches at his own weekend workshops, and at national, state, and local conferences of both TESOL and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Corporate accent-reduction and speech clients have included executives from: Bateman-Eichler-Hill-Richards, Beech Aircraft, Mitsubishi Bank, NCR Corp., TRW Corp., Union Carbide, and Wells Fargo Bank.

He has served on the faculties of both Wichita State and Penn State Universities while his directed learning system is used in over one thousand college theatre programs and by professional actors around the world!

Dr. Stern is now Professor of Dramatic Arts at his Alma Mater, the University of Connecticut. He continues to do occasional film and television work in addition to serving as Dialect Coach for the Connecticut Repertory Theatre and the Berkshire Theatre Festival.