Andrea's Story

Hi, thanks for visiting. I’m a coach for film and theatre productions, an educator, and an artist/researcher. I’m interested in helping actors and other professionals gain more vocal freedom, accent choices and public speaking skills. I’m interested in helping people with ALS prolong the ability to speak without the use of assistive technology for as long as possible. I’m interested in making art in collaboration with other risk-takers. And I’m interested in cultivating a sense of ease, joy and play in all those things. That’s how we learn best.

The coolest thing that’s happened to me recently was when Francis Ford Coppola cold called me to work with him on his film. I loved collaborating with him. and the incredibly accomplished actors he hired to work with him on his film.

I’ve won some awards, I’ve traveled around the world coaching, teaching and performing, I run a speechwork organization (Knight-Thompson Speechwork) that values all humans over standardized accent models, and I’m head of Voice and Speech at CSU Long Beach. Through all that, my real skill is in listening and speaking to the person or persons in front of me and figuring out how I might be of service. 

If that’s one person, lovely, let’s figure out together what’s right for you. If that’s a theatre audience on the dark side of the room who has come to see me perform one of my solo plays or see the actors I’ve supported in their character creation, I’m honored to share these stories with you. And if that’s a conference room full of executives interested in a new way of communicating, I’m thrilled to impart the skills of clear, conscious and present public speaking technique.

I live in Southern California and South Florida, and spend a lot of time in London. On days I’m not working, I’m hiking with my husband or eating food he made me (yum).