Voice and Dialect Coach

Leith McPherson (1992), was halfway through her theatre degree at the Queensland University of Technology when she realised she was happier off stage than on. 

‘You don’t know the spectrum of opportunities available in any field until you start to explore the field,’ Leith said. ‘I loved theatre from a young age, intellectually and imaginatively it was really engaging for me, but it wasn’t what made me happiest. I was actually much happier supporting people who were performing and enabling them to perform to the best of their ability.’ 

Leith studied Music and Drama throughout her education at Girls Grammar and explained finding her career path to Speech and Dialect was like ‘opening a map to find the commonality’ between both areas of performing. 

‘The intersection of my two passions—being theatre and music—was voice, and it led me to what I truly, truly love, which is voice and dialect work.’ 

This realisation prompted Leith to move to London, where she studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Among her many career highlights, she worked in Aotearoa, New Zealand, for four years as a Dialect Coach on The Hobbit trilogy, directed by Sir Peter Jackson. 

One of her favourite anecdotes is when she had to step in to be the voice of the Dragon as actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, was unavailable due to Star Trek filming. The scene was to film Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo Baggins, and needed someone to run through the script in Cumberbatch’s absence. 

‘I was so nervous, but it was an absolute high point,’ she said. ‘Once I realised I was helping Martin and that Peter (Jackson) was happy, and I wasn’t doing a bad job, it was very fun.’ 

Reflecting on her time at BGGS, Leith is grateful to have spent her school years in a supportive setting. 'To spend formative years in an environment that was empowering, encouraging and enlightening is something for which I will always be grateful.'

Leith is back working in the world of Middle Earth as the Supervising Dialect Coach on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series in New Zealand and more recently in the UK.