Meet The Voice Of The “Law & Order” Franchise…Steve Zirnkilton
Meet The Voice Of The “Law & Order” Franchise…Steve Zirnkilton
How many times have you heard “In the criminal justice system”, and wondered just who that great voice belongs to? Well the answer is Steve Zirnkilton.
There are a lot of stories about how he happened to get the job, but here is his version, as told to Backstage Magazine in 2014.
“As it happened, Dick Wolf was buying a house up here in Maine, and at that time, I had my real estate brokers license and my insurance license. I approached him and asked if I could act as his buyer’s representative to make sure that everything would go smoothly.
When the transaction was complete he said, “What do I owe you?” I immediately passed him a cassette tape which was my VO demo. I handed it to him and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I didn’t hear anything and then some months later, his secretary called saying that he wanted me to do the bumpers for a show called “Nasty Boys,” a spring launch for NBC.
That lasted about six episodes. I figured I’d had my shot. Then I got a call from Mr. Wolf’s secretary saying that Mr. Wolf has a show called “Law & Order,” and he’d like you to play a detective in the show. I played a detective in the pilot and shared a trailer with William H. Macy.
Nobody wanted the show. CBS and Fox both passed. Nearly a year went by and then Brandon Tartikoff at NBC decided to give it a try. Mr. Wolf’s secretary called me again and said, “Please meet Mr. Wolf at the recording studio. He has something he’d like you to read.” And that was the opening. I had no idea if the show would have any legs, but happily it hung around for a while.”
For uniformity’s sake, Dick Wolf has used his voice on all of the other Law & Order shows and Zirnkilton is the only person, other than Wolf, to appear in the credits for every episode of every show. Although the pilot episode of “Law & Order” did not have the voice over opening, he got screen credit for his role as an on camera detective. Since then, he has been listed as the narrator.
If his residuals are anything like what Paul Anka and Johnny Carson split for their authorship of Johnny’s “Tonight Show” theme, this is one very fat cat! Well done Steve! -Bobby Ellerbee
He also recorded the greeting message when you called the production office…..which was amusing
Great story – also, check out the demos on his site. We’ve all heard his voice far more often than we may have thought http://zirnkilton.com/
Now, THAT’s a fascinating story! I never knew . . . Thanks, Bobby!
In the past, Steve Zirnkilton was a news reporter for WLBZ, the NBC affiliate in Bangor, ME, and later served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives.