Dion Graham is an American actor and narrator. As an actor, he has worked both on and off-Broadway, as well as in TV series and film. As of April 2024, he has narrated at least 280 audiobooks. He has earned a place on AudioFile magazine's list of Golden Voice Narrators, as well as Audible's Narrator Hall of Fame. Further, he has won 11 Audie Awards, 71 Earphone Awards, 3 Listen-Up Awards, and 1 Odyssey Award.
Book Riot called Graham "the best of the best" in audiobook narration, saying, "His voice is rich and emotive, making even the driest bits of a long biography or history come alive. His ability to inhabit characters seems limitless; his myriad character accents are always flawless."
Biography Graham grew up in Cincinnati and lives in New York City.
His on-screen acting career began in 1992 when he played a role in Malcolm X. Throughout the 1990s, he appeared in other shows, such as Law & Order, and performed on- and off-Broadway.
Graham highlights two key moments in his life as being influential to his career as an audiobook narrator. First, a roommate of his requested that he record James Joyce’s story "The Dead" for a long road trip. Months later, Graham listened to the recording and found it "compelling"; he also remembered enjoying the process of recording the story. A few years later, Graham was performing a Tennessee Williams play at the Royal National Theatre when an acquaintance encouraged him to consider audiobooks. His first audiobook narration was published in 2000.
Since 2000, Graham has given voice to many Black characters and narrated classic works by African American authors, including Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, James Baldwin's Going to Meet the Man, and Chester Himes's The Big Gold Dream. He has also narrated more recent novels, such as What Strange Paradise by the Egyptian-Canadian writer Omar El Akkad, a book about a young Syrian refugee.
Throughout his career as an audiobook narrator, Graham has continued to act both on- and off-screen, including television shows such as The Wire, The Good Wife, and Madam Secretary.
Awards and honors Graham has been listed on AudioFile magazine's list of Golden Voice Narrators, as well as Audible's Narrator Hall of Fame. In 2012, Booklist honored him with a Voice of Choice award. He has been named Publishers Weekly's Narrator of the Year, and his narrations have landed on many "best of" lists.
Further, he has won 11 Audie Awards, 71 Earphone Awards, 3 Listen-Up Awards, and 1 Odyssey Award.
2000s
Awards Year Title Author(s) Other narrator(s) Award Result Ref.2002Bombingham (2001)Earphones AwardWest of Rehoboth (2001)Earphones Award2005I Got Somebody in Staunton (2005) , Lizan Mitchell, and Ezra KnightEarphones Award2006Dancing in the Dark (2005)Earphones AwardRiver Rising (2005)Earphones Award2007Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007)Earphones Award2008Cadillac Orpheus Listen-Up Award for FictionChasing the Devil's Tail: A Mystery of Storyville, New OrleansEarphones AwardPepperfish Keys (2007)Earphones AwardRiver RisingAudie Award for Faith-Based Fiction and Nonfiction2009Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality (2007) and Bruce Henderson Earphones Award (2009)Earphones Award
Best of the Year Lists
Year Title Author(s) List Ref.2007What is the What (2006)AudioFile Best Fiction 2008Chasing the Devil’s Tail AudioFile Best Mystery & Suspense2009 (2009)AudioFile Best Mystery and Suspense
2010s
Awards Year Title Author(s) Other narrator(s) Award Result Ref.2010 (2000)Earphones AwardPeace, LocomotionAudie Award for Young Adult TitleOdyssey Award (2010)Earphones AwardWe Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League BaseballOdyssey AwardYou Shall Know Our Velocity! (2003) Earphones Award2011The Big Gold Dream (1960)Earphones AwardBlack Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson (2010)Earphones AwardAudie Award for Faith-Based Fiction and NonfictionGoing to Meet the Man (1957)Earphones AwardHere in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices (2010)Muhammad Cunningham, Michael Early, Patricia R. Floyd, Kevin R. Free, Arthur French, Nathan Hinton, Ezra Knight, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Gail Nelson, Monica Patton, and Charles TurnerEarphones Award: Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West (2006)Earphones AwardLooking Like MeEarphones Award (2010)Amazing Audiobooks for Young AdultsAudie Award for Young Adult TitleWilliam's Leap For Freedom (adaptation) with assistance by Sue Zizza and a full castAudie Award for Original WorkPick-Up: A Full Day of Full Court (2011) , Charles R. Smith Jr., Walter Dean Myers, Bruce Brooks, Willie Perdomo, Robert Burleigh, Rita Williams-Garcia, Joseph Bruchac, and Adam RappEarphones AwardSwordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners , Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones, Sam Guncler, and Anne BobbyEarphones Award2012AstrayKhristine Hvam, James Langton, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne TorenEarphones AwardBlack Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson (2010)Audie Award for Young Listeners' TitleGoing to Meet the Man (1957)Audie Award for Solo Narration – MaleHologram for the KingListen-Up Award for FictionLocomotionEarphones AwardLooking Like MeAudie Award for Young Listeners' TitleMiles: The Autobiography (1989) and Quincy TroupeEarphones AwardListen-Up Award for Audiobook of the YearListen-Up Award for Audiobook Reader of the YearListen-Up Award for NonfictionPick-Up Game and Charles R. Smith Jr., et al.Quincy TylerAudie Award for Young Adult Title2013AstrayKhristine Hvam, James Langton, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne TorenAudie Award for Short Stories or CollectionsLetter from a Birmingham JailListen-Up Award for Audiobook of the YearListen-Up Award for NonfictionMiles: The Autobiography (1989) and Quincy TroupeAmerican Library Association Listen ListSwordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners , Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones, Sam Guncler, and Anne BobbyAudie Award for Audio DramaWe Are America, Olivia DuFord, Lizan Mitchell, Christopher Myers, Walter Dean Myers, Johanna Parker, Adriana Sananes, and Kaipo SchwabAudie Award for Distinguished Achievement in ProductionAudie Award for Young Listeners' Title2014H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination (2012)Earphones AwardLetter from a Birmingham JailAudie Award for Original WorkMETAtropolis: Green Space, et al.Robin Miles, Mark Boyett, Scott Brick, Allyson Johnson, Sanjiv Jhaveri, Jennifer Van Dyck, and Jonathan DavisAudie Award for Original Work201528 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World (2015)William Jackson Harper, Zainab Jah, January LaVoy, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Jonathan Earl Peck, and Carter Woodson RedwoodEarphones AwardBook: My Autobiography (2014)Earphones AwardFive Pieces of Jade (1972)Earphones AwardH.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination (2012)Odyssey AwardMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994)Dylan Baker, Laverne Cox, Barbara Rosenblat, and a full castEarphones Award and Delia Sherman , Barbara Rosenblat, Katherine Kellgren, Simon JonesAudie Award for Audio DramaX: A Novel and Kekla MagoonEarphones Award2016Grimms Fairy Tales (1812)Brothers GrimmJim Dale, Janis Ian, Alfred Molina, Katherine Kellgren, and a full castEarphones AwardJump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence DunbarBahni TurpinAudie Award for Middle Grade TitleMy Name is Not Friday (2016)Earphones AwardSong MachineAudie Award for NonfictionX: A Novel and Kekla MagoonAudie Award for Young Adult Title201728 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World (2015)William Jackson Harper, Zainab Jah, January LaVoy, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Jonathan Earl Peck, and Carter Woodson RedwoodAudie Award for Young Listeners' TitleBroca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1974)Earphones AwardDear Martin (2017)Earphones AwardEvicted: Poverty and Profit in the American CityAudie Award for NonfictionMy Greatest: My Own Story with Richard DurhamAudie Award for Autobiography or MemoirTrombone Shorty (2015)Earphones Award2018American Histories: Stories (2018)Earphones AwardDown the River Unto the Sea (2018)Earphones AwardFinding Langston (2018)Earphones AwardFresh Ink: An Anthology (2018) (editor), Kim Mai Guest, Bahni Turpin, Ron Butler, et al.Earphones Award (2018)Earphones AwardTrombone Shorty (2015)Audie Award for Young Listeners' TitleOdyssey AwardWashington Black (2018)Earphones Award2019Birthday Suit (2019), Sebastian York, January LaVoy, Julia Whelan, R.C. Bray, Shane East, Joe Arden, Erin Mallon, Savannah Peachwood, Jason Clarke, and Robin MilesEarphones AwardBlack Leopard, Red Wolf (2019)Earphones AwardBut Beautiful: A Book About Jazz (1996)Earphones AwardComing Through Slaughter (1976)Earphones AwardFinding Langston (2018)Audie Award for Middle Grade TitleHer Right FootDave EggarsAudie Award for Young Listeners' TitleJump Back, Paul (2015)Audie Award for Middle Grade TitleThe Starless Sea (2019), Bahni Turpin, Fiona Hardingham, Allan Corduner, and Jorjeana MarieEarphones Award
Best of the Year lists Year Title Author(s) Other narrator(s) List Ref.2010 (2000)AudioFile Best Biography & Memoir Peace, LocomotionNotable Children's RecordingsThey Called Themselves the K.K.K. AudioFile Best Young Adult 2011Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson (2010)AudioFile Best Children & Family ListeningLooking Like MeAudioFile Best Children & Family Listening (2010)AudioFile Best Young Adult2012Miles: The Autobiography (1989) and Quincy TroupeAudioFile Best Biography & MemoirLocomotionAudioFile Best ChildrenLooking Like MeNotable Children's Recordings2013AudioFile Best FictionGoodnight, Goodnight, Construction SiteNotable Children's Recordings2014Behind Enemy Lines AudioFile Best ChildrenH.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination (2012)AudioFile Best Children2015In the Heat of the Night AudioFile Best Mystery & Suspense AudioFile Best Mystery & Suspense X: A Novel and Kekla MagoonAudioFile Best Young Adult 2016My Name is Not Friday (2016)AudioFile Best Young Adult My Greatest: My Own StoryMuhammad Ali with Richard DurhamAudioFile Best Memoir2017Trombone Shorty (2015)AudioFile Best Children & Family ListeningFlying Lessons and Other StoriesAudioFile Best Children & Family Listening28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World (2015)William Jackson Harper, Zainab Jah, January LaVoy, Robin Miles, Lizan Mitchell, Jonathan Earl Peck, and Carter Woodson RedwoodAudioFile Best Children & Family Listening2018Finding Langston (2018)AudioFile Best Children & Family ListeningWashington BlackAudioFile Best Fiction2019Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019)AudioFile Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror
2020s
Awards