She’s the voice in your ear and the voice in your car. She’s the voice of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova, Anne of Green Gables and Alice in Wonderland, and who Danielle Steel, the 4th bestselling author of all time (800 million copies sold) handpicked for her latest book release. Meet Renée Raudman, the most famous voice you’ve heard, but never heard of.
Renée Raudman is an award-winning audio book narrator who has performed in film and television radio and on stage. During the past seven years, she has used her signature dulcet tones and versatile acting technique to build a large and loyal audience for the nearly 300 books that she has narrated – many of them bestsellers.
Publishers and authors of modern fiction, non-fiction, and YA (young adult) trust in Renée’s honed skills for conveying their story to avid listeners. She has recorded for some of the best known authors in the world, including Catherine Coulter and Suzanne Brockmann. Among her latest work is Danielle Steel’s latest novel, “Pure Joy,” released October 2013. And, her work recently was listed several times (in several different categories) in one of the romance bibles of the audiobook industry, “The Audiogals Guide to Romance – The Classics.”
Renée is lauded by critics for her commitment to story, her differentiation of characters, and her ability to convey emotion and the writer’s intent on every page – whether it be fiction, non-fiction, memoir or young adult. She is known for her strong voicing of both her female and male characters. But she is particularly hailed for her love scenes! Indeed, recently some of her fan base had an uprising when an author team, whom she had narrated many books in their series, changed audio publishers. Their scores of comments, posted in social media, convinced the new audio publisher to hire only Renée to continue the series.
Prior to her career in book narration, she was a successful television actress with credits that included the recurring role of Jordon, on ABC’s “One Life To Live,” Phyllis on NBC’s “Passions,” in addition to guest-starring in roles on “3rd Rock from the Sun,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journey” and more. She voiced characters on Fox’s “The Simpsons,” can be heard on Cartoon Network as Miss Butterbean on “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” and is the voice of the narrator on the E! Entertainment’s series “Starmaps.”
For the past seven years, however, she has been laser focused on audiobooks, with her own career expanding exponentially as audiobooks became a $1.2 billion-a-year industry. In fact, her narrative audio style helped influenced and established the trend widely used now, creating a more fully theatrical and character rich audio experience.
“When audiobooks were first being produced for a more mass market, the trend was toward a ‘single-voiced’ read with, at most, subtle changes for each different character. However, I didn’t know that when I narrated my first audiobook. I just assumed the approach I took – voicing a distinctive personality for each major character – would be best suited for this medium as well,” she says.
When it came to fiction, she says that she used her acting background to fully commit to every scene and the specifics for each character, whether male or female, human or monster. This included action sequences as well as love scenes.
“My goal was to make a movie for the mind,” she explained
Her media partners are the top English-language audiobook publishers in the world, including Audible.com, Blackstone Audio, Brilliance Audio, Books On Tape, Echristian.com, Harper Audio (Harper Collins), Listening Library, Oasis Audio, Penguin Group Audio, Random House Audio, Tantor Media and Zondervan.
She has earned several Earphone Awards from Audiofile magazine from a variety of genres. She was awarded Publisher’s Weekly “Listen UP” award, as well as many “Starred Reviews” by Publishers’ Weekly for her works. In recent years, she has been selected by The Library Journal and the ALA (American Library Association) as having narrated one of their top audiobooks for the year. Nominated for several Audie Awards (the audiobook’s version of the Academy Award), she was nominated in the same category with Oscar-winning actor Johnny Depp. She has taught both acting and audiobook narration and directed celebrity clients in audiobooks, including Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Sorbo.
In addition to audiobooks, her voice appears on several video games including the bestselling titles “Metal Gear Solid,” “Everquest II,” “So Com II,” “Buraiden,” “Gungrave OD,” and “Pursuit Force.” And if that isn’t enough, Renée has recorded hundreds of voice-overs for TV and radio commercials, including a two-year run as the voice of the Target retail stores, and voicing major political campaigns.
Recently, she embarked upon a new role as an entrepreneur and producer. Her own production company hires other narrators to voice technically rich audio text-books for colleges and universities – a niche that is expected to explode in the coming years with the popularization of online colleges and universities. These higher-education audio textbooks allow all students (including those with vision or reading disabilities) to study and review from their iPods, cell phones or laptops and tablets.
Renée lives in the Westlake Village community of Los Angeles and recently became engaged. In her spare time, she does not pick up a book.
Bio provided to AudioGals by Arlene Howard Public Relations.
Renee’s Facebook – Like Renee’s Facebook Fan page to keep updated on her future works and latest projects.
Renee’s Interview with AudioGals Part 1
Renee’s Interview with AudioGals Part 2
Renee’s Romance Titles
Marina Adair
St. Helena Vineyard series
Steve Almond, Julianna Baggott
Which Brings Me to You
Ilona Andrews
The Edge series
Kate Daniels series
Terri Blackstock
Cape Refuge Series
Marie Bostwick
A Thread of Truth
Suzanne Brockmann
Troubleshooter series:
Into the Fire, Book 13
Dark of Night, Book 14
Hot Pursuit, Book 15
Breaking the Rules, Book 16
Josie Brown
Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives
Sandra Brown
The Devil’s Own
French Silk
Honor Bound
Love Beyond Reason
Tempest in Eden
Temptation’s Kiss
Tomorrow’s Promise
Ally Carter
Gallagher Girls series
Elizabeth Chandler
Kissed by an Angel series
Anita Clenney
The Relic Seekers series
Deborah Coonts
Lucky O’Toole Series
Catherine Coulter
Aftershocks
Beyond Eden
False Pretenses
The Final Cut
Impulse
FBI Thriller series:
Hemlock Bay – Book 6
Knock Out – Book 13
Whiplash – Book 14
Split Second – Book 15
Bombshell – Book 17
Cheryl Crane
Nikki Harper series
Jennifer Crusie
Don’t Look Down
Manhunting
Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, & Lani Diane Rich
Dogs and Goddesses
Janet Dailey
Something More
Laura Dave
London Is the Best City in America
MaryJanice Davidson
Me, Myself, and Why
Mary E. DeMuth
The Muir House
Defiance Texas trilogy
Christine Feehan
Wild Rain
Donna Fleisher
Homeland Heroes series
Dorothy Garlock
A Week from Sunday
Molly Gloss
The Hearts of Horses
Larissa Ione
Passion Unleashed
Lisa Jackson
He’s Just a Cowboy
Iris Johansen
Blue Velvet
Lisa Kleypas
Blue-Eyed Devil
Jayne Ann Krentz
Wizard
Jill Marie Landis
Irish Angel series
Rachel Lee
Just a Cowboy
Julia London
Over the Edge series
Elisa Lorello
Adulation
Debbie Macomber
Christmas Letters
The Sooner, The Better
Trading Christmas
Susan Mallery
The Best of Friends
Sunset Bay
Fern Michaels
Wish List
DiAnn Mills
Breach of Trust
Jane Peart
Brides of Montclair series
Tracie Peterson
Land of the Lone Star series
Carly Phillips
Lucky series
Lionel Shriver
Double Fault
Jessa Slade
Marked Souls series
Danielle Steel
Betrayal
Nancy Thayer
Moonshell Beach
Kate White
The Bailey Weggins series
Tina Whittle
Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series