Dan Willmott

March 27, 2019March 6, 2015 by Rosey Tyler

Strong, solid, comforting

An international award winning actor, voice talent, and coach, Dan Willmott is the founder, inspiration and designer of the classes for VoiceSpot, and Willmott Communication Services. For more than 30 years Dan has been coaching and teaching Broadcasters, Actors, Voice Artists and Corporate Leaders across Canada and the US to “Be Yourself, Be Real, Be Extraordinary”.

Dan recently voiced commercials for The Real Canadian Superstore and Dairy Farmers of Canada. Other credits include Smuckers, Enercare, Subaru, Volkswagen, Fox, Cedar Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles, Smarter than a 5^th Grader, CMT, MTV, CTV, CBC… and many others.

Dan has been very active the past couple of years in Film and Television: in 2017, with the recurring role of Buck Olander in FARGO Season 3, and in 2018, Jerry in Private Eyes and Candace Cameron’s Dad ‘Gary’ in A Shoe Addicts Christmas. Other TV/Film credits include the new DC Comics film Shazam, Netflix series Umbrella Academy, Impulse, Supernatural, Smallville, Murdoch Mysteries, General Hospital, Let It Snow; and, yes, he is Mr. George in Mean Girls!!

Dan returned to theatre in March 2017 in the positively reviewed role of Robert in “Proof” (Theatre UnBlocked) – “Heartbreaking, a truly masterful and nuanced performance.”

Dan was nominated for a DORA Award “Best Ensemble Cast” playing Bob Delacourt In the highly entertaining “Hogtown” in the summer of 2017.

Coming up in Spring 2019, Dan will take on the role of ‘Ned’ in George F. Walkers’ acclaimed “And So It Goes” to be directed by George F. Walker.

He is a participating member of TAP (The Actors Place), TAPFest Film Festival, and VAP (Voice Actors Place).

Winner of the Toronto Monologue Slam July 2016.

Dan’s voice demos can all be found on his website.

Although the class was conducted in a professional environment, the atmosphere was friendly, casual and encouraged a sense of fun and adventure. I had the opportunity to leave my introverted self behind, stand up in front of a group of people, and not worry about making a fool of myself.

Dawn H has a knack for quickly identifying what you need to improve and keeps pushing you to be better. She won’t let you give anything short of your best, or anything short of what the text demands.

Dawn H is obviously an intelligent woman who loves the art of audio book narration and this information-rich workshop I felt gave me all the tools necessary to get involved in the industry myself. The class was entertaining, engaging and she made it fun!

Paul is a wealth of information and is someone that really walks the walk. The fact that Paul is willing to share this information in order to cultivate a stronger voice over community in Alberta is such a valuable thing for the aspiring artist.

Scott was a great teacher and very encouraging to all the class. The facility is top shelf and the experience was very pleasant and rewarding.
I hope to continue my education!

I think it is a great course for anyone who verbally communicates with people either professionally or personally on a regular basis. I think this course is important to express your feelings properly.

It helps guide you in the proper way to establish a home studio if you are confused on where to start and what equipment to purchase.

Doug’s a healthy mix of encouraging and realistic, and brought insightful and meaningful commentary.

This was an excellent introduction/review for being behind the mic. I look forward to more opportunities to enhance my skill. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and was impressed with the individual attention we each received.

Dana was fantastic. Any questions I had, he gave the most thoughtful and honest answers he could. He is a very kind and supportive teacher.

Graeme was very well prepared with handout sheets that gave us a cost breakdown on building a home studio so I now have a better idea of where to go with a home studio of my own.

I thought Scott did a fantastic job – he is an excellent teacher – and he shared so much of his experience from his years in the business – never a boring moment and Scott is very humorous. He really was able to help each one of us with detailed advice.

Dawn H is a wealth of knowledge! She really knows this industry inside and out.

This workshop is a very good introduction to VO and I would recommend this workshop to anyone who needs feedback from a professional and who might need a confidence boost!

Graeme was an excellent instructor and facilitator. He was well paced and thorough as well as being approachable. It was a real privilege to have someone of Graeme’s caliber and experience instructing us.

Scott was an excellent facilitator. He was full of energy and information and had a great sense of humor. He made it really fun and not scary.

Scott was kind, intelligent, honest, helpful, and patient. I hope to take a course from him again in the future.

Dana was clear and precise with the information he imparted on us before practice sessions and our recording time. After performances by the students Dana gave excellent feedback on areas where they could improve with their own performance as well as in getting a better understanding of the copies in front of us and ourselves.

Graeme was an excellent educator for setting up a home studio. He was very humble, generous and very pleasant to be with.

The skills and lessons taught so far in the first 3 levels are the building blocks of a successful VO career and have helped me in my journey. Being taught by active VO artists is also a huge benefit as you get real world experience and knowledge.

The class being presented as “play, be authentic, safe and don’t worry, be a 5 year old, don’t censor” built confidence easier over the number of exercises. I learnt so much even just listening to the suggestions for others.

Dawn H’s experience and her sharing of it was the most valuable. The way she showed us how she researches the books was phenomenal in the sheer detail. I felt I came out of the class 100 times more prepared to approach audiobooks as a voice over avenue.

Dan’s guidance was what I found most valuable. Having an instructor with that much experience who’s willing to share their knowledge and to be so accessible is invaluable. Dan used techniques that brought my understanding of visualization techniques to a higher level.

Of all of the workshops I’ve taken so far, this felt the most like an acting workshop. Dawn H’s feedback was so astute, and though I sometimes found it hard to achieve, I felt like it gave me a clear direction of what I need to work on to become a better voice actor.

I really appreciated Doug’s incredible enthusiasm and openness – it was very inspiring.

Dana’s approach to the material made it easy to take risks in a safe environment, and his wealth of knowledge regarding the local market was invaluable.

Paul was incredibly forthright with his information and everything was presented in an order that made sense. His information was current, and he had great insight into the business and working from home and what it takes to set yourself up successfully.

Paul is a wonderful,positive and funny teacher. I enjoyed learning new techniques and much more challenging scripts. Paul’s ability to zero-in on any problems we were having and guide us so easily into a better read and more confidence was magic.

I enjoyed the chance to be able to “play” with my voice, and bring it into all sorts of interesting directions that I would probably not do on my own.

Scott drew out the authentic sound of the voice well by teaching you how to create the environment, your character, and who you are talking to. Then he made suggestions on how to do even better.

Working with Dan was great! He really puts so much effort into relating to the students, making them feel comfortable and guiding them out of their comfort zone.

I recommend any and all VoiceSpot workshops to anyone who is interested in this field. They are comprehensive and informative.

I appreciated being given personal advice from the facilitator on the next steps in my own career and being able to share and hear the experiences and journeys of other participants. Paul gave a succinct but comprehensive overview of entrepreneurship.

I enjoyed the hands-on aspect where I was actually able to record my own session. I appreciated that Graeme was very frank about costs and how we don’t need to spend big bucks to have a quality studio at home.

The class is a great way to ‘find your voice’ and become more confident and efficient in front of a mic.

Paul Boucher is a fantastic facilitator. He kept the material interesting, and seemed to really want to share with us. I appreciated receiving pragmatic advice about what steps to take next from someone who is so successful in the field.

The business talk was excellent. Dana gave us his honest insights as to the Edmonton market, how to build your career, the audition process, etc, which I definitely found useful.

Scott’s feedback was excellent. His “tweaking” encouraged me to fine tune things to hit both the sells and the tone of the script.

It builds a sense of confidence and teaches you how to express yourself, whether you’re a voice actor or speaking during a business meeting.

Doug was patient with everyone, and really worked to make people comfortable. I saw great improvement in myself, but even more neat, I had front row seats to watch my classmates grow as well.

The whole thing feels extremely welcoming, and they give you lots of advice and pointers in the right direction if you’re truly considering getting into the business. That being said, it’s still perfect for someone less serious. For example, it’s great for someone who, say, just wished to get more comfortable behind a mic in general and stumbled upon it ten days beforehand!

Doug is an extremely good communicator, not only with his teaching, but also with relevant stories from his many years of experience. He really encouraged us to put what we learned in to practice and to pursue the next steps. Really impressed with not only the content, experiences gained, but also with Doug.