More Than One Voice

By Joseph Palmisano

“It’s finger lickin’ good!,” we’ve all heard that famous line and no one does it better than our friend Jim Meskimen. Jim’s been the voice of KFC’s Colonel Sanders for over 7 years and loves every minute of it. He sat with us to talk all things Jim Meskimen and what it’s like being the son of Marion Ross, aka Mrs. C-Mrs. Cunningham from the TV show Happy Days.

I had the honor of speaking with your mom, how’s she doing? “Mom is doing well and is relaxing, taking in all that life has to offer.” “She’s as sharp as a tack and enjoys speaking and meeting up with the remaining cast members of Happy Days.”

Jim has been acting for over 35 years and his mom played a huge role in him wanting to become an actor. She encouraged and guided him as he tried to find his niche. He wanted to be a political cartoonist but realized he had no interest in politics. He literally drew upon his drawing skills, to become a cartoonist, and went on to draw some of TV’s more memorable characters such as the Thundercats.

Jim has done V/O work (voice over) on commercials, movies, and TV along with starring in numerous movies and TV shows such as The Grinch, Apollo 13, Gaslit, The Big Door Prize, and Chicago Fire.

Jim has worked with Ron Howard, aka Richie Cunningham from Happy Days, numerous times and has learned quite a bit from him with regards to directing, which Jim wants to pursue. Jim has directed numerous large scale audio productions but feels he would benefit from some more experience on the directorial side of visual productions.

He stays busy with his impressions, so much so that he’s currently touring doing his Jimpression show live on stage. Between shows he works at honing his craft at his wife’s (Tamra) studio, The Acting Center in LA. www.Theactingcenterla.com with their daughter Taylor who is also an actress and V/O artist. Also, he just recently went LIVE with his online course on becoming a working actor. Check out his course at www.jimworkingactor.com

IG: Jimpressions www.jimmeskimen.com

Now, having acted for over 20 years, Vince has admired some of TV and cinemas most notable thespians such as longtime friend Chad Coleman, but he’d love to work with his childhood friend and multi-Emmy award winner, Keith David. A while back he was cast in a supporting role in the CBS hit series Kevin Can Wait, starring Kevin James and our friend, comic Chris Roach. Vince describes the experience as ‘wonderful!’ ‘I learned all that there is that goes on behind the scenes to produce a weekly tv series.’

Recently he worked with Justin Theroux in spoofing The Hollywood Reporter’s Roundtable segment (THR). How did this come to be? Well Joe, ‘The comedy team of Rajat Suresh and Jeremy Levick, who worked on Stephen Colbert’s Turning Out The News, reached out to me and Justinindividually. I jumped onboard, and so did Justin and everyone else. ‘I’m glad I got to do this because opportunities to collaborate with such creative people help to fuel the fire in me.

You took time off from acting, why?

‘The opportunities back then were not as numerous as they are now, so I ventured off to work where the money is-Wall Street. It was a great ride.’ ‘I met a lot of great people (Joe) as well as I learned more about finance than any college could have taught me.’

Currently, Vince has a supporting role in the movie “A Paracosm,” opposite Will Hochman from Blue Bloods.

Go to YouTube under REC The Hollywood Recorder. Yes, Recorder, to see his spoof.

Repped by: Maultsby Talent and Entertainment Lab

IG: @Vinceedgehill Web: vinceedgehill.com

FB and IMDB: Vince Edgehill