Jon Sperry is one of America’s preeminent dialect coaches for theater, film and television. His coaching work includes Acting, Accent Reduction, Dialects, Voice, and Shakespeare. Jon has a special passion for teaching foreign speakers how to learn an American accent. Based in both Italy and Los Angeles, he has been teaching and coaching for over 35 years, in the United States and all over the world. He has over 100 credits coaching feature films, including Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning film Thelma and Louise, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Abel Ferrara's The Bad Lieutenant, and Jane Campion’s Oscar-winning film The Piano, TV and streaming shows, including 1893, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, The Fall of the House of Usher, Resident Evil, The Old Man, Westworld, Wednesday, Wolf Pack, Queen America, Queen of the South, American Crime, The Purge, The Son, True Blood, and the hit Netflix shows, Altered Carbon and Sense8, as well as numerous theatrical productions all over the U.S.
He has a B.A. in Theater from Wesleyan University and is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theater School and the Gately-Poole Studio in Meisner Technique, both in New York.
ACTORS COACHED/TAUGHT (partial list): Anitta, Ana de Armas, Thaila Ayala, Wes Bentley, Julie Benz, Gael Garcia Bernal, Thora Birch, Raoul Bova, Lorraine Bracco, Alice Braga, Maria Elisa Camargo Manolo Cardona, Stephanie Cayo, Omar Chaparro, Geraldine Chaplin, Mario Cimarro, Lily Cole, Emilia Clarke, Charlie Cox, Cliff Curtis, Russell Crowe, Geena Davis, Julie Delpy, Aislinn Derbez, Eugenio Derbez, Matt Dillon, Minnie Driver, Tom Ellis, Golshifteh Farahani, Sabrina Ferilli, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Rebecca Gayheart, Jami Gertz, Giancarlo Giannini, Melanie Griffith, Martha Higareda, Iben Hjejle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Timothy Hutton, Ana Isabelle, Derek Jacobi, Famke Janssen, Erland Josephsen, Harvey Keitel, Elias Koteas, Thomas Kretschmann, Olga Kurylenko, Ricki Lake, Juliette Lewis, Sophia Loren, Gabriel Mann, Debi Mazar, Idina Menzel, Laurie Metcalf, Jordi Mollà, Liam Neeson, Francesca Neri, Don Novello, Paola Nuñez, Nicole Ari Parker, Jeremy Piven, Julieth Restrepo, Natalia Reyes, Debbie Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, Rodrigo Santoro, Susan Sarandon, Riccardo Scamarcio, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dougray Scott, Alia Shawkat, Stephanie Sigman, Brittany Snow, Sharon Stone, Lili Taylor, Ana Torrent, Aida Turturro, John Turturro, Chris Vance, Leonor Varela, Sofia Vergara, Gian Maria Volonté, Katheryn Winnick, Catherine Zeta-Jones
DIRECTORS OF FILMS COACHED (partial list): Theo Angelopoulos, Jane Campion, Francis Ford Coppola, Andrew Davis, Guillermo del Toro, Richard Donner, Blake Edwards, Abel Ferrera, Peter Jackson, Roland Joffé, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, Robert Rodriguez, Alan Rudolph, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino
For Jon's complete film credits check the Internet Movie Database.
In addition to his Acting, Voice, Dialects and Accent Reduction coaching, Jon is an actor (click here). He teaches and coaches all over the world. Jon has lived in Paris, Rome and Buenos Aires and speaks French, Italian and Spanish. He presently lives in Los Angeles.
Jon also produces (click here) with his partner Italian writer-director Ivana Massetti.
EDUCATION
Wesleyan University, B.A. in Theater
American Conservatory Theater summer workshop
HB Studios - 2 years study of Acting, Speech and Dialects
Circle in the Square Theater School 2-year Professional Workshop
2-year Meisner technique program with Kathryn Gately
1-year apprenticeship with Richard Ericson, (Speech & Dialects teacher at Circle in the Square Theater School)
Additional acting training: Penny Allen, Harold Guskin, Wynn Handman, Marcia Haufrecht, Sally Johnson, Larry Moss, Sam Schact, Suzanne Shepherd & Austin Pendleton.
WHERE JON HAS TAUGHT
N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts
S.U.N.Y. Purchase Conservatory of Theater Arts
Circle in the Square Theater School, New York
The Actors Studio, Los Angeles
International Film Actors Training, Los Angeles
Margie Haber Studio, Los Angeles
The New Collective, Los Angeles
Workshops in Acting, Dialects and Accent Reduction all over the world