Cliff Roles' Page

About Me:

- Actor at, among others, S.W. Florida's Players of Sarasota, Venice Theatre, Manatee Players, Golden Apple Dinner Theatre and the Backlot.

- Award-winning radio talk-show host. I broadcast my radio show, Talk of the Sun Coast, via www.cliffroles.com and have a live radio show every Sunday on 1280 AM WTMY, "Cliff On Sundays" from 12 to 2 pm. All my radio interviews are also featured on www.RadioSRQ.com / iTunes and on my Facebook page, and you can find selected works of mine on Creative Loafing's "Blog 941".

- Professional photographer: I know what it means to want to look good in a photo, so when I’m not commissioned by SCENE Magazine to take event photographs, I’m free to make you and yours look even more beautiful!
Professional and lifestyle portfolios, events, head-shots, family portraits, weddings, house pets etc.
So contact me for a session at (941) 685-9017 or mail me at cliff@cliffroles.com!

- Monthly feature for S.W. Florida's Scene Magazine, am a professional German-English translator, a narrator, an Audiobook reader, and I also enjoy voicing and performing in TV commercials and infomercials.

- Regular contributor to www.AnythingArts.com e-newsletter.

- Sophisticated, non-regional English accent, and am able to do voice work in regional British accents (London (e.g. cockney), Yorkshire, Irish, Welsh, for example), as well as French, German, Russian, Australian and South African accents. I speak fluent English (native), French and German.

- Master of Ceremonies/Auctioneer at community and corporate events and fundraisers. And I was the Ringmaster of Circus Sarasota in 2006 and 2007.

- Recipient of the Sarasota County Arts Council 2007 Arts Leadership Award for Media.

- I publish a weekly newsletter informing readers of my radio show guest list, my events and future happenings in our community.
If you'd like to subscribe to it, just go to www.cliffroles.com and enter your email address in the Constant Contact box on my homepage!

- I won "Best Suncoast Enthusiast" and "Best Local Actor" in Creative Loafing's Readers' Choice "Best of 2007" and "Best of 2008", and I was voted one of the top three in the category "Best Local Actor 2008" and "Best Local Actor 2009" by the readers of Sarasota Magazine, as well as the Readers' Choice winner in the Sarasota Herald Tribune's Curtain Call 2008 of "Best Supporting Actor, Play" for my performance as Val in last season's Golden Apple Dinner Theatre production of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor. In March 2009, the Readers of SRQ: Sarasota's Premier Magazine voted me a finalist in the category Best Charismatic Actor in its Best of SRQ Local.I am also very proud to have been voted Best Emcee/Auctioneer 2009 by Scene Magazine!









For further info, please go to http://cliffroles.com.

Years in Sarasota

Seven

In Sarasota:

Moved here, Full-time

Best thing about living in Sarasota

Why I Love Sarasota

By Cliff Roles (as published in SCENE Magazine, June 2008)

About eight years ago I was going through one of those "male-menopause-midlife-crisis" phases, where nothing and no-one seemed to be right for me. My marriage had gone pear-shaped, I was burnt out from 16 years in the rock 'n roll business, and my people skills desperately needed honing.
I decided to change pace, job, surroundings and attitude. I became a translator and started traveling the world. Greece, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland ... I eventually landed on Florida's East Coast and, in keeping with my mood, bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle (I mean, who wouldn't?). And on February 17 2001, my birthday, I rode into Sarasota and parked my bike outside the Columbia Restaurant on St. Armand's. I bought myself an ice-cream at Scoop Daddy's, walked slowly around the Circle, and knew instantly that I was home. I met my wife Maria that evening, and within 18 months I had moved out of my flat in Hamburg, Germany and had become a resident of Sarasota.
I have fallen in love with Sarasota, and Sarasota has warmly opened to my embrace. Of course I now regularly sing songs of praise about its beaches, climate, restaurants, arts and culture possibilities and entrepreneurial skills, but it's Sarasota's underlying feeling of pride and passion that gets me. Visit our Farmer's Market on a Saturday morning, walk Main Street to Five Points during Sarasota's Reading Festival or Arts Day, stroll Siesta Key on an Arts and Crafts weekend, and you'll realize why we are the envy of everyone that doesn't live here year round. Those wonderful retirees who have moved here from "up North" are Sarasota's most valuable asset; they help our community to flourish, they tend to our parks and gardens, they finance our arts organizations and they keep our restaurants in business. A smile and a thank-you on their lips, they are always ready to tell you their story: how long they've been here, how they discovered our paradise, where they are from and what they love about living here. Their story, yes. That's what we are - a plethora, a multitude, myriads of fabulous, fantastic stories - a collection of big hearts worn on big sleeves.
Why I love Sarasota? Because of its people, that's why - I needed to come here to regain my faith in human nature.
Thank you, People of Sarasota - I think I'll stick around.

Worst things about living in Sarasota

Property Taxes

Interests & Hobbies

Radio Talk-Show Host, Actor, Photo-Journalist, Features Writer, MC/Auctioneer, Narrator, Audiobook-Reader ....
Theatre, opera, ballet, symphony
... and my dog Sam.

Favorite Sarasota Restaurant

Sam Snead's Tavern, Word Of Mouth (Osprey Ave), Shakespeare's Pub, Derek's

Favorite place to shop in Sarasota

Southgate Mall

Occupation

Self-employed: German-English Translator, Radio Show Host, Actor, Photo-Journalist, Features Writer, MC/Auctioneer, Narrator, Audiobook reader

Personal or business website

http://www.cliffroles.com

High School

John Ruskin Grammar School, Croydon UK, 1966 - 71

College

City Of Birmingham Polytechnic, Birmingham UK, 1971-75

Favorite Movie

All Harry Potter, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ratatouille, Sweeny Todd, Forrest Gump, Little Shop of Horrors, Mr. Holland's Opus, Blades Of Glory, A Mighty Wind, Wedding Crashers, 40 Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman Ron Burgundy, Old School, Waiting for Guffman, This is Spinal Tap, all Marx Brothers, Lord of the Rings, West Side Story, Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Oliver, Music Man, Lion King, Finding Nemo, The Color Purple, Carousel, all Austin Powers, Mickey Blue Eyes, Love actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shrek I & II, all Monty Python

Favorite Book

All Harry Potter

Favorite Food

Pizza, Ribs, Steak

Facebook URL

http://www.facebook.com/home.php

LinkedIn URL

http://www.linkedin.com/home

Myspace URL

http://www.myspace.com/english456

Skype UserName

cliff.roles