Certified KTS accent coach specialising in accent modification and dialect coaching.
Really proud to have coached on this project. A powerful story with an incredible cast — out 23rd February.
11/02/2025
Feeling grateful to have worked on some fantastic projects coming to screens this year!
🎭 Wheel of Time S3 (Amazon) – Spent a couple of months in Prague on this epic fantasy.
🧪 Toxic Town (Netflix) – Part of the dialect prep team creating breakdowns for the cast.
🚀 Eklo-I (Nepalese Film) – Honored to contribute to Nepal’s first sci-fi movie!
🏡 The Hardacres (Channel 5) – A joy coaching Sarah Agha on this period drama.
🌌 Andor S2 (Disney) –Shadowed dialect coach extraordinaire Naomi Todd —safe to say my inner Star Wars nerd had a great time!
Huge thanks to the teams and actors I’ve worked with—can’t wait to see these out in the world!
13/03/2024
Teach Inspire Create Podcast, Series 3 Episode 2 🎙️
"For people that are particularly interested in playing with different accents and character voices, I would say listen. Listen to people, start playing around, be curious about how things differ from you."
We got the chance to speak with accent modification and dialect coach, Christopher Lakewood Accent Modification and Dialect Coaching. Chris works across film, TV, and theatre to coach actors as well as also teaching at major acting schools and being an actor himself.
In this episode, Chris shares more about his own accent and dialect training and how he prepares actors for performance. We'll even hear some of his amazing accents along the way!
Listen to the full episode >>> https://ow.ly/RVg950QRWw6
*Transcripts are available for all of our Podcast episodes, and can be found in the show notes.
29/02/2024
Here's a sneak peak of an interview I did for the Teach Inspire Create podcast at the end of last year. I was very flattered to be asked to take part. They have interviewed some incredibly interesting and inspiring creatives in their previous seasons. You can hear me ramble on about accents, acting, dialect coaching, training actors and public speaking in March.
All speech sounds are just the by product of air passing through our vocal tract (that’s everything from our larynx to our nose) and the specificity of how we are shaping or obstructing that airflow using articulators like our lips and our tongue etc.
Some people are brilliant at instinctually mimicking sounds. For others we can accurately make a sound that is new to us by working out what is the physicality behind that sound. Or we can use a combination of instinctual mimicary and physical awareness.
10/01/2024
KTS Webinar 50: 'Cooperative Conversation in Speechwork' is open for registration!
As accent specialists, we borrow a lot from linguistics—phonetics/phonology, diachronics (language change over time), sociolinguistic analysis, etc. But once we have the accent down (or, if you’re lucky enough to perform in an accent close to home), where else can we turn to in linguistics for the rest of the acting task? Miranda Guettlein shares with you one of her favorite methods for text analysis and deepening character building and hosts a conversation on linguistic ponderings relevant to accentwork.
On Sunday 28th January 11am PST/2pm EST/7pm GMT
Miranda Guettlein (she/her) is a Northern Colorado based dialect coach . She completed her Knight-Thompson Speechwork certification in 2022 and has served as the KTS Webinar series co-curator for 2023. Miranda is a professor of voice, speech, and accents at the University of Northern Colorado and coaches theatrical productions throughout the stat. She has an MA in Linguistics from the University of Colorado and a BA in Linguistics from Regis University. Miranda is a VASTA member and the co-editor of the Voice and Speech Review.
Coaching credits include: Sweat, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Cabaret (OpenStage), Titanic (University of Northern Colorado), Murder on the Orient Express, Brigadoon, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Shrek, Oliver!, The Mousetrap, Church Basement Ladies (Candlelight), Newsies, Memphis, Shout! (Town Hall Arts Center), and Noises Off! (Stagedoor Theatre).
https://ktspeechwork.org/.../kts-webinar-50-cooperative.../
06/12/2023
With my acting cap on here is the official trailer for Masters of the Air. I'm in the last two episodes playing Col Thomas Jeffrey who becomes the commanding officer of the 100th bombardment group (the group the series follows). It was a real honour to play 'Col Jeff' and be involved in such an amazing production. You can read more about him here:
https://www.100thbg.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=384:thomas-s-jeffrey-jr&catid=25&Itemid=581
Masters of the Air — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ From the executive producers of Band of Brothers and The Pacific comes Masters of the Air. The 9-part series event premieres January 26 https://apple.co/_Mas...
28/10/2023
The 49th KTS webinar 'Experiencing Accents Book Launch!' is open for registration? And it's FREE!
Join us for an exciting celebration of the release of the next Knight-Thompson Speechwork text, written by Phil Thompson, Tyler Seiple, and Andrea Caban.
Experiencing Accents: A Knight-Thompson Speechwork® Guide for Acting in Accent presents a comprehensive and systematic approach to accent acquisition for actors. It lays out an accessible and effective set of tools, exercises, and theoretical frameworks grounded in current linguistic science, as well as more than two decades of teaching, actor training, and coaching developed by Knight-Thompson Speechwork®.
This book dismantles the notions that accents exist on a spectrum of good and bad or that “neutral,” “general,” or “standard” can serve as ideals for speech. By de-centering elitist and authoritarian worldviews, it gives actors a path to mobilize their innate language abilities to acquire any accent, relying on descriptive and experiential knowledge. The innovative approach of the Four Ps – People, Prosody, Posture, and Pronunciation – builds cultural competence that honors accents as they exist in the world, increases the physical and perceptive skills of the actor, and provides a rich variety of applications to encourage fluid and embodied accent performance. Each of the Four Ps are investigated and practiced separately and then synthesized in the art of the performer, allowing actors to address the complexity of acting in accent through a deliberate and sequential layering of skills, rendering the final expression of their technique meticulously accurate and deeply authentic.
Organized into fifteen modules to correspond with a typical semester, Experiencing Accents is perfect for Theatre students in voice, speech, and accents courses, along with working actors interested in improving their accent work.
On Sunday 5th November 11am PDT/2pm EDT/7pm GMT
https://ktspeechwork.org/.../kts-webinar-49-experiencing.../
I've been giving my website a bit of an Autumn-Clean 🙂
https://www.lakewoodamdc.co.uk/my-background
11/10/2023
Join us for webinar #48. It's free! And a fun, accessible and practical introduction to accentwork and Knight-Thompson Speechwork
https://ktspeechwork.org/event/kts-webinar-48-an-introduction-to-knight-thompson-speechwork-peeking-behind-the-magic-accent-curtain/
Join Miranda and Chris for a free introduction to Knight-Thompson Speechwork as we all anticipate the launch of the new book, Experiencing Accents. Whether this is your first taste of KTS, you’re looking for a brush-up, or you’re a seasoned vet, this webinar is sure to provide some fun tricks and insight into accent acquisition. We will take a brief tour of the history of KTS, introduce some of the principles of the teaching philosophy, and explore the famous 4 P’s. In order to both celebrate and demystify the “magic” of accent work, we will play specifically with posture and prosody, highlighting that while impressive, accent proficiency is a skill that can be acquired and honed, not just an innate talent or party trick.
Chris (he/him) is a London based accent modification and dialect coach who has a private coaching practice. He is a Knight Thompson Speechwork certified teacher and works at various drama schools including London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Mountview Academy, Rose Bruford, Millenium Performing Arts (MPA) and ALRA (North and South)
TV and Film production coaching includes: Wheel of Time III (AMAZON), Toxic Town (NETFLIX – dialect prep) Untitled Film with Lennie James (dialect prep) Andor II (DISNEY – shadowing dialect coach Naomi Todd)
Theatre and Audio production coaching includes: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Chance Theater, California), Paddington Lo-Commotion (BLENHEIM PALACE), Bad Seed (AUDIBLE), Miss Julie, King Charles III, A Monster Calls, Three Sisters, The Dog in the Manger, The Erpingham Camp, The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs (LAMDA) Everlasting Lily (ASSOCIATED STUDIOS)
In addition to his coaching Chris works as an actor and since training at LAMDA has worked for BBC1, BBC3, Netflix, Apple, Amazon and filmed a recurring role on ‘Masters of the Air’ produced by Spielberg and Tom Hanks coming out Jan 2024.
You can find out more about Chris and his work on his website: https://www.lakewoodamdc.co.uk/
Miranda Guettlein (she/her) is a Fort Collins, Colorado based dialect coach . She completed her Knight-Thompson Speechwork certification in 2022 and has served as the KTS Webinar series co-curator for 2023. Miranda is a professor of voice, speech, and accents at the University of Northern Colorado and coaches theatrical productions throughout the state of Colorado. She has an MA in Linguistics from the University of Colorado and a BA in Linguistics from Regis University. Miranda is a VASTA member and the co-editor of the Voice and Speech Review.
Coaching credits include: Titanic the Musical (University of Northern Colorado), Murder on the Orient Express, Brigadoon, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Shrek, Oliver!, The Mousetrap, Church Basement Ladies (Candlelight) Newsies, Memphis, Shout! (Town Hall Arts Center) Noises Off! (Stagedoor Theatre), and Shakespeare in Love (Vintage Theatre).