The skill of skateboarding affected his early life and still does to this day. He’s Dennis Dietrich, the skater dude. He’s also a voiceover artist. And at 39, he’s figured out the complexity of how to create the future you want. “You must chase your dreams because they’re certainly not going to chase you.”
The sport, born in California in the 1970s, has permeated American youth culture. So, from it came the desire to take a risk on a skateboard for a possible reward. The reward? Nailing the trick. Being exceptional at a very difficult sport. And Dennis was “pushed into it by Cousin Chad at 15.” He loved it because “skateboarding is creative,” Dennis tells me.
He was born to teenage parents who were 18 and 16, but the marriage ended in divorce before he was one year old. Initially raised in a rough neighborhood in Lawrence, Massachusetts, “I developed street smarts in that environment,” says Dennis. But he moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, at 13, “and it felt good to safely go outside.” His father and Stepmom Gemma raised Dennis as he saw his paternal Mom on weekends. But his overwhelming influence was his grandfather, Jack. “I wouldn’t be who I am without him,” says Dennis.
But before any of this happened, Dennis discovered television. And he watched a lot of television. “My earliest memories are of TV, and I was so young; I don’t know how old I was, but I was influenced by what I saw and the voices I heard, especially the voices.”
His ADHD provoked an interest in a wide range of subjects, and sports played a part in his development. And so, Dennis was always involved in some sort of “creative or athletic experience.” It could be emulating characters from TV with his voice or playing an organized sport. All of it was preparing him for what was to come.
Noticing his affection for voices, Dennis’ sister suggested he go on TikTok, and that was where his voiceover presence began because “I have a passion for telling stories, “Dennis comments. And that is where he merged his interest in comic books, skating, sports, and storytelling. Combined with his hyper-focused mind, the “ah ha moment” occurred when his voice coach commented, “Why don’t you seriously pursue voice acting since you have such a love for comic books and video games?”
In a split-second moment, Dennis, who’d learned the technical art of skateboarding and his love for entertainment, converged into one creative art form. “I didn’t think I could have a career in VO because I didn’t live in NY or LA,” Dennis confides, “I just really didn’t think it was an attainable goal.” Well, it was.
Entertaining people is a passion of Dennis’ interests which fits perfectly into the wide array of things he loves to do. “It all just sort of came together.”
There are comical aspects to Dennis’ style you can’t help but notice. “I find television to be such an influence,” says Dennis. And so, here’s his comical perspective on the TV game show.
And as all of this was going on, Dennis became the co-founder of Bewildered Business Productions. And here’s an example of the offbeat show.
A devout family man and father of two, Dennis met his wife when he was 11 years old. But years would pass before they’d get together, and as it turned out, his wife Heather understood his affection for the arts and supported it. “And she’s one key person that can take credit for who I became.”
His work ethic is impeccable. “I audition 6 hours every day,” says Dennis. “I take classes extensively because although I approach it from a comical standpoint, this is a very serious business.” www.dennisdietrichva.com “I didn’t expect VO actors would be so helpful because it’s not like that in sports. Everybody is Very helpful to me in the voiceover world.”
This ultimate goal of achievement in voiceover has calmed Dennis’s racing mind. “Amid all of my interests, I always wanted to be an actor and I love making people laugh.” And although his original ambition in attending college was to be a detective, “bad experiences that police must endure was just unsettling.” In other words, there is nothing funny about it.
So now on the edge of 40 years old, Dennis has finally found the one calling that fits perfectly into his mindset. “Skateboarding is one thing that takes so much practice and falling down, and then getting back up…and VO is like that to a large degree.” And that, in essence, describes the journey of searching for years to identify a career that would complement all of his interests. And it all began with his love of television and, of course, the skater dude persona that still resides within him.
