Talent

Paul Dunckel
Union: AFTRA | Height: 6'1" | Hair: Salt and Pepper | Eyes: Hazel
Download: Resume | Headshot

Paul Dunckel grew up in the Detroit area and worked as a
shipping services broker, a snow plow operator, and a
bartender in a seedy dive until he scraped enough money, and
courage, together to leave town and study performance.  Paul
received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa
where he studied both classic and contemporary American
theatre.  He worked in collaboration with some of the finest
young playwrights in the highly respected Iowa Writer’s
Workshop and performed in over a dozen productions in his
three years at Iowa. 

Paul relocated to Chicago where he began cutting his teeth in the local storefront theatre scene until he crossed paths
with Byrne Piven.  The late Mr. Piven, legendary co-founder
of the Piven Theatre Workshop and father of Emmy winner
Jeremy Piven, mentored Paul’s early stage career and made
him an original member of the Piven Theatre’s ensemble
where he has appeared in several productions including KING
LEAR, (starring Mr. Piven as Lear,) BOOK OF DAYS, MAD
FOREST, OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD, and SOMEONE WHO’LL WATCH
OVER ME, (currently in production through December 7th,)
among others.  Paul has also worked with many other Chicago
theatres including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Stage Left,
and Raven Theatre where he recently played the epic roll of
the Reverend Shannon in Tennessee Williams’ THE NIGHT OF
THE IGUANA.  He has developed a strong reputation for his
work on the stage, playing villains and flawed heroes, with energy, complexity and depth.  

Paul is also an on-camera and voice-over talent and has
appeared in or voiced several commercials, training videos
and small films.  He has also hosted live commercial trade
shows in Chicago, Detroit and Las Vegas.  He is skilled as
an announcer and in a wide variety of character voices and
is trained in both ear and tele-prompter.  He specializes in
dialect and accent work, and coaches other local talent in
over a dozen different varieties including regional British,
regional American, Irish, Scottish, Spanish, and Russian. 

In his spare time, Paul enjoys a wide variety of sports,
writing plays (poorly), playing the guitar (getting better
every day), experimental cooking (with limited success), and
spending quality time with his wife, Leila, a nurse in the
neurology department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in
downtown Chicago.