Area singer's son making name in television ads

Matthew Piazzi is a fixture of daytime television. And nighttime television. In fact, Piazzi is a fixture on pretty much all kinds of television -- the 29-year-old can be found on TV around the clock and on almost every station.

But people aren't likely to recognize his face -- not yet, anyway. But the aspiring actor -- and son of Cape Girardeau native and Southeast Missouri State University teacher Judith Farris -- is on TV all the time.

Or at least his voice does.

Piazzi, who is a lifelong New York City resident, has made something of a name for himself doing commercial voice-over work, providing the voice for big-name companies like Jaguar, Mazda, NyQuil and Domino's Pizza. Piazzi is in Cape Girardeau over the Thanksgiving holiday until Monday visiting his mother, who is a former opera singer and Broadway vocal coach who now is a music and theater instructor at the university.

"My main goal is TV and film," Piazzi said from his mother's home on Friday. "But this is terrific for now. With my work, I can record for two hours and not work for eight months and live on residuals."

Piazzi's deep voice seems nondescript at first listen, but then he starts to repeat some of the well-known commercial work he's done and his voice changes -- becomes deeper, more pronounced -- and it becomes instantly recognizable.

For example, he says this: "NyQuil, the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold medicine."

And this: "Get the door, it's Domino's."

Piazzi is the voice of Mazda, with commercials best known for the phrase "zoom."

He's even done an English accent for Jaguar commercials, pronouncing it "Jag-U-R," though he didn't come up with the pronunciation.

"I almost felt bad about that," he said. "Some British guy coming over here wanting voice-over work, and they give it to me. Well, I felt bad until the checks started coming in."

The money is pretty good. Some voice-over actors can make $1 million a year, he said.

Piazzi also does celebrity impersonations, which has landed him a gig on the E! Channel in January. Piazzi does several celebrity impressions, 16 to 17 by his count, on a show called "Starveillance," which parodies celebrity events through claymation re-enactments in the new half-hour series from the creator of MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch." He does, overall, 45 impersonations and accents.

His impressions include Jack Nicholson and George Clooney.

Farris said she recognized her son's talent early on, though she's well aware some may see hers as a mother's bias.

Commenting on any success her son has had: "Well, I'm relieved," Farris said, laughing. "I've known all along how extremely talented he is. He's like a Rich Little. I know his goal is to be an actor, and I know he will be on screen. He'll be there."

Not that it hasn't been a bit nerve-wracking, watching his career.

"Sure, I'd rather say, 'My son the doctor,' or 'My son, the truck driver,' with the steady income," Farris said. "But I'm a good judge of talent, and he's phenomenal to me."

Piazzi attended several boarding schools growing up while his mother tended to her career, he said. He "found acting" at 14. He was in an eighth-grade play. But he's always been a performer. He sang at his mother's parties, and she encouraged him to take piano lessons.

"She's always been behind me on my talent," he said. "She'd have me singing Broadway stuff when I was 7."

In military school, he discovered he could do impersonations of the faculty members, something that made him friends with other students. But he said he never really figured out how he could do it.

"I just knew before I opened my mouth that I could do it," he said, drawing on a cigarette.

After college, he auditioned and got some parts in a few independent films that "didn't really do anything," Piazzi said.

Six years ago, he signed with talent agency Don Buchwald and Associates Inc., which has helped land him the voice-over work. It's work that he finds gratifying -- for now.

But he longs for that big break into television and film. He sees himself as a prime-time drama actor, an actor in an action movie, or even a role in a light comedy.

"On camera," he said. "That's the next step for me."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137