
Barbara Rosenblat (born 17 July 1950) is a British actress. She is best known as a prolific
narrator
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
of
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
s, for which
''AudioFile'' named her a Golden Voice.
She has also appeared on screen such as in the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
original series ''
Orange Is the New Black
''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Pr ...
'' as the character
Miss Rosa.
Early life
Rosenblat was born in
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and was raised in New York City in a Jewish family.
She attended a
Hebrew school
Hebrew school is Jewish education focusing on topics of Jewish history, learning the Hebrew language, and finally learning one's Torah Portion, in preparation for the ceremony in Judaism of entering adulthood, known as a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Heb ...
as a child.
Career
After returning to London for a family wedding, Rosenblat decided to stay in England.
Soon afterwards, she landed a part in a production of ''
Godspell
''Godspell'' is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set t ...
''.
She continued to work in
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
, as well as various fields of entertainment in the UK such as
radio, film and television.
She later returned to the US, and worked at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
narrating
books for the blind
The Books for the Blind Program is an initiative of the United States National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) which provides audio recordings of books free of charge to people who are blind or visually impaired. Th ...
for four years.
On
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
, she appeared in the musical
''The Secret Garden'' and the play
''Talk Radio''.
Awards and honors
''AudioFile'' has named Rosenblat a Golden Voice narrator.
Awards
"Best of" lists
Audiography
Rosenblat has narrated more than 400
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
s and has been praised for her range of performance in both
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
and
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
accents. She has also narrated a vast range of books across various
genres
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other form ...
, from
classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
such as
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...
’s
Alice in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
to the
literary fiction
Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...
of
T. C. Boyle or short stories of
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...
to
paranormal romance
Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, from the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, scien ...
novels by Katie McAllister.
Rosenblat is known for her narrations of well-loved mystery series such as
Dorothy Gilman
Dorothy Edith Gilman (June 25, 1923 – February 2, 2012) was an American writer. She is best known for the Mrs. Pollifax series. Begun in a time when women in mystery meant Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and international espionage meant young ...
’s
''Mrs. Pollifax'' series,
Elizabeth Peters
Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the Universi ...
‘s
''Amelia Peabody'' series, and continues to carry many long-running contemporary
crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
series including:
*
Kathy Reich’s
Temperance Brennen series
*
Nevada Barr
Nevada Barr (born March 1, 1952) is an American author of mystery fiction. She is known for her Anna Pigeon series, which is primarily set in a series of national parks and other protected areas of the United States.
Early life
Although Barr was ...
’s
Anna Pigeon series
*
Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldy Schultz series
*
Linda Fairstein
Linda Fairstein (born May 5, 1947) is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's offic ...
’s Alexandra Cooper series
*
Lisa Scottoline
Lisa Scottoline (; born July 1, 1955) is an American author of legal thrillers.
Life
Born in the Lower Moyamensing neighborhood of Philadelphia, Scottoline attended Lower Merion High School and then went on to earn a B.A. in English magna cum ...
’s
Rosato & Associates series
*
Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery and crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a J.D. degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He lat ...
’s Lincoln Rhyme series
*
Laura Lippman
Laura Lippman (born January 31, 1959) is an American journalist and author of over 20 detective fiction novels. Her novels have won multiple awards, including an Agatha Award, seven Anthony Awards, two Barry Awards, an Edgar Award, a Gumshoe Aw ...
’s Tess Monaghan series
*
Carol O’Connell’s
Kathleen Mallory series
*Jessica Ellicott’s Beryl and Edwina Mystery series
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
Barbara's Recent News - Audiofilemagazine.com*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenblat, Barbara
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Living people
American television actresses
British television actresses
Actresses from London
British emigrants to the United States
British Jews
American Jews
Actresses from New York City
British stage actresses
American stage actresses
British film actresses
American film actresses
British voice actresses
American voice actresses
Audiobook narrators
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses
1950 births