Check Out Helen Kennedy Turner’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Helen Kennedy Turner.

Hi Helen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My pleasure and thank you very much for having me!

So I’m an Actor-VO Artist-Accent Coach-Filmmaker who’s been in the industry for 15+ years working in international film, TV, live sketch comedy, improv, commercials, theatre and VO. In addition, I’ve also taught Screen Acting + Writing to kids and teenagers both in the UK (The Pauline Quirke Academy) and LA (Sony Pictures’ ‘Young Storytellers’). 

Born in a sleepy and rural part of the UK (Tolpuddle in Dorset), I moved to London (via Drama School in Yorkshire) in 2008 where, a few years later, I met my lovely husband Kai who had relocated with work to the UK from The Bronx, NYC (via University in Palo Alto). We moved in together not long after that and lived quite happily in a leafy part of North London for several years. At that time, I was working long days as a jobbing actor/writer/receptionist/chef’s assistant/pot-scrubber and Kai worked freelance as a UX and Digital Experience Designer for companies such as MOO, Timeout Magazine and the BBC. 

A few years later, we had returned (on separate business trips) from California and both noticed how happy, inspired and energized we felt after visiting and I realized there and then that I had fallen head-over-heels in love with Cali and Kai back in love with it! After that, what began as an occasional half-jokey “Ooh, imagine if we had the balls to move to LA?” flight-of-fancy started to become a more serious conversation over time until we eventually took the wild leap into the unknown back in April 2017. Since relocating, we have not regretted a single thing and nothing but good things and good people (along with some of the most amazing opportunities) have come from it. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ooh, definitely not…initially anyway. We spent the best part of the first year sleeping on a blow-up mattress and only just managed to pay the bills and put food on the table. Also, my Social Security card didn’t arrive (I just “fell off the system” according to the nice-but-nonchalant Clerk at the SSN Office) which meant not being able to work for 6 months and subsequently led to much anxious thumb-twiddling, soul-searching and bad paintings of various family member’s dogs. The first year felt anything but “smooth” to be honest and was full of uncertainty and worry….had we taken too much of a risk and would it ever come together? What if we hated the city and didn’t fit in? Were we totally off our heads and should just cut our losses now, fly back to the UK, live in a beach hut and have another go at “growing up”? Also, apart from two of our dearest friends (who kindly put us up and lent us their car for a while so we could find our feet), we didn’t know a single soul here. I remember one particular morning when a friend-of-a-family-member had agreed to meet me for coffee only to cancel last minute (again) resulting in me spending the morning blubbing like a baby and feeling all sorry for myself. Looking back, I guess I was just so keen to get out of the apartment and enjoy some human connection in this overwhelmingly vast city! It can all be very isolating at first whether you are in a relationship or not so you are not alone if you feel that way to start with. 

We have since made some wonderful new friends out here of course that will last a lifetime. Plus, the quality time we have with our nearest and dearest when we visit England is beautiful (and technology helps with maintaining that sense of closeness in the meantime). Having chatted to other friends who have relocated to LA and other countries, you realize it’s better to be a happy and fulfilled relative that lives far away rather than an unhappy and frustrated one living right around the corner (!) We were also very lucky that our families were 100% supportive of our move but moving away from family and friends was undeniably tough. 

It’s funny because there’s a misconception that LA is full of vacuous or flighty “Hollywood types” but I’ve been lucky enough to connect with some of the most beautiful and generous souls here who inspire us constantly, push us to new heights personally and professionally and we’re really blessed to be able to call them my friends, clients and collaborators (or a good mix of all 3!). 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?With all my many years of experience not just working in the entertainment industry but also working in so many random (“real”) jobs, I like to think that I am pretty grounded and down to earth and, as a result, better able to relate to and connect with people from all walks of life which only helps you to collaborate more effectively I feel. When coaching my VO clients for example, it is clearly about really knowing your stuff but more importantly I think it’s about making the client feel at ease and incredibly comfortable with you. Just having a chat and a good belly-laugh together too. Having a decent degree of emotional intelligence and sensitivity (especially in a pandemic) is also key to getting the best from clients because learning and doing strange new stuff with your voice is an undeniably vulnerable place to be in! My other unique skill in terms of VO is that I can do many British regional accents so am often hired by video game clients to voice several characters in the same session. 

In terms of my work as a performer, I’d say what sets me apart is that I’m incredibly versatile and can readily switch from the comic to the serious and back again. I think to really understand and deliver comedy, you have to be a strong dramatic actor too and vice versa. The two sort of go hand in hand really as in life. Of course, at the heart of good VO acting is also just really strong and grounded acting. 

As a storyteller, I love writing about uncomfortable subjects and using comedy to explore the not-often-talked-about or taboo issues. It is good to give an audience permission to laugh while, at the same time, invite them to re-consider how they view a certain subject, perhaps learn something new and even see an issue in an all-new light that may allow for a deeper understanding (even encouraging positive change) – I don’t want it to ever be gratuitous, of course, but rather to humanize the situation. Having cut my teeth writing darkly satirical comedy sketches in the London sketch comedy scene, I can’t help but be drawn to the darker, raw and more biting material and I feel that that’s what (hopefully) makes my writing and storytelling distinctive, entertaining and memorable. 

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My lovely Dad who substituted a Regional Accent Lesson for A Bedtime Story which had me hooked on voices and accents from an early age and my lovely Mum for traipsing around England to all the drama school auditions with me and staying cheerful throughout even when it poured down and we got lost in a field right after I’d just been rejected at the first hurdle! My amazingly supportive husband Kai for always encouraging me to be my authentic and goofy self, to be bold and to just go for it and my closest family and friends stateside and in the UK who have always encouraged me personally and creatively. Having trained in Yorkshire at Bretton Hall Drama School, I also want to mention my wonderful professor Mike Casey who first alerted me to the fact that I had a “flair” for comedy and that I should perhaps “use it” going forward and Mike still encourages me to this day. Julian Fellowes who also kindly said the same about my comedic sensibilities when I was fresh out of drama school and who went on to cast me in two of his projects. My formidable voice agents Dean Panaro, Kristin Cercado, Ben Martin and Matt Weiss who took a chance on me back in 2018 and who have consistently pushed me forward since then. Cristy Coors-Beasley of S + C Management who managed and guided me when I first came to LA and set up my interview with Dean Panaro Talent. Rob Watzke of Turbine Arts Collective who provided some of the best improv classes when I first moved to LA that really allowed me to be freer, less self-conscious and more instinctive when working creatively. My dear pal (director/writer/producer) Nino Mancuso for bothering to take the time to read my script when I first arrived here and going on to collaborate with me on two projects: ‘Whore: Table #6’ which satirized the imbalance of female nudity and gratuitous violence towards women in mainstream TV and our latest collaboration ‘Wasted Seed’ which explores the humor, trauma and absurdity of infertility – currently on its 2021 festival run! My lovely pals Lucy Cudden (actor/VO/producer) who produced ‘Wasted Seed’ with me and who helps me be braver as a storyteller and DeNah Angel (actor/writer/producer) who co-wrote the latest project and inspired me to write my own film content.

Pricing:

• $50 an hour for 1-2-1 accent/VO coaching

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: helenkennedy.tv
• Instagram: @helenkennedyturner1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.kennedy.3386
• Twitter: @helenkennedy1
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/97Ii_fIenJM
• Other: https://vimeo.com/308022212

Image Credits:
Pardo Photography and Joanna DeGeneres