Joshua Swanson

Joshua Swanson (born March 1, 1978) is an American theater actor, film actor and television actor, voice over talent and a prolific, award-winning narrator of audiobooks with over 50 titles to his name, including This Book Is Not Good for You, all three novels of The Longlight Legacy, Peeps (novel), and Hairstyles of the Damned. He has narrated works for a number of young adult authors including Joe Meno, Pseudonymous Bosch, Suzy Kline, Jon Scieszka, and the yet to be released The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan coming in the fall of 2010.

American Theater
Swanson went to Westmont College for training in the theater arts under John H. Cochran, a former department chair and professor at the Yale School of Drama, and John Blondell, full professor and founder of Lit Moon Theatre Company of Santa Barbara. After four successful and award winning years at Westmont (Swanson was the first Westmont student to win an "Indie" award for best actor from the Santa Barbara Independent), he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his film, television, and voice over career.

In Film and Television
Once in Los Angeles the roles began to come in such television shows as The New Dragnet, City Guys, General Hospital, Strong Medicine, and Providence. His film roles have included ''National Lampoon's Van Wilder and "Baggage".

Two years after moving to Los Angeles Swanson married his college sweetheart Rachael Dayne, and they have been married ever since.

While a resident of his home town of Chicago and traveling back and forth to Los Angeles, Swanson began studying at the acclaimed improvisation theater The Second City and excelling at the art of voice over. Some of the major companies that hired him as a voice actor in Chicago are McDonald's, Hallmark, Midas, Lincoln Mercury, Baskin-Robbins, and Honda.

Audiobooks
Considered a rising star in the audiobook narration world, Swanson is making a name for himself in the young adult genre, winning three AudioFile (magazine) Earphone Awards for Split (novel) by Swati Avashti, This Book Is Not Good for You by Pseudonymous Bosch where it was said "Like an audio ringmaster, Joshua Swanson expertly juggles both parts, introducing other characters, directly asking the listener questions, whispering helpful asides, and encouraging our heroine..." and Testimony (novel) by Anita Shreve where Swanson played several roles. He is quickly becoming sought out by major authors and publishers of children's, teen, and young adult novels, having just completed The Lost Hero for Disney Hyperion and "Draw The Dark" by Ilsa J. Bick, both to be released in the fall of 2010.

Voice Actor
Swanson continues his voice over career and acting career in Los Angeles and has done notable network promotion work for Cartoon Network, WE: Women's Entertainment and Starz!. Recently, he played the Bible character of Titus in The Word of Promise Audio Bible, which starred James Caviezel and Stacy Keach. His voice work includes Stan in the 2007 video game Obscure II, Maurice in Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, and the narrator in the popular Animal Planet television series SuperFetch (TV series).