Cast
M’Shai Dash as Mama Cherrie
M’Shai S. Dash (she/her) is a writer, speaker, and content creator from Washington, D.C. with a passion for activism, art, literature, and cat memes. After appearing in PBS’s Legacy: Black and White in America, she began speaking publicly about social justice issues, the contributions of people of color in speculative fiction, and the power and reach of digital storytelling in a social media-driven world. Dash has spoken at the Apollo Theater, Charles Sumner School, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, BlerDCon, Trinity University College, AFO Theater, MiraCosta College, and MultiverseCon. Her recent releases are Woman In Sujud, and a debut collection of short stories titled Quirky Black Sci-Fi Tales: Volume I.
InstagramKamran Nikhad as Sheriff Robert “Bob” Daugherty
Kamran Nikhad (he/him) is an Iranian American voice over actor based in the Bay Area. Best known for his work in Cookie Run: Kingdom, Tribe Nine, Gleipnir, Prince of Tennis, Paladins, and SMITE, Kamran’s decade-plus spanning career has been entirely as a remote-exclusive talent. When not behind the mic, Kamran writes his own scripts while also ghostwriting for a number of video games. He’s currently producing his first video game, based on a script he wrote in 2009.
Cass Minter as Kelly
Cass Minter (they/them) is a professional voice actor who was bitten by the acting bug at age 10 and never looked back, performing and training continuously from that point on. They’ve voiced a wide variety of things from video games, commercials, and narrations, for clients around the world. But even predating Cass’s love of acting is a love of horror, which started all the way back in preschool watching things like Nightmare on Elm St, and being the go-to kid when their friends wanted a scary story at sleepovers. Not a week goes by without them watching a horror movie, and they even have a series of spooky books published (under a pen name). So getting to work on projects like this which combines their two loves is definitely a joy for them!
Calvin Joyal as Deputy Andre Pierce
Calvin Joyal (he/him) is a trans male, mixed-indigenous (Métis/Cree) voice actor based in Vancouver, Canada. He’s had roles in a variety of projects from anime, to commercials, to video games. He’s best known for his roles as The Emissary in Fallout 76, Squire Rayan in The Elder Scrolls: Online, Yasuhiro in Tribe Nine, and Veso-R in Warframe.
Marion Toro as Gemma Caldwell
Marion Toro (she/they) is a Black/Pan voice talent with a fun and creative voice for video games, animations, and podcasts. Specializing in character voices for Oceanna in the Spinmaster original animation, “Mermaid High,” Ayana the Rhino in “Crayola Scribble Scrubbies,” and various roles in “Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese.” She also provides voices for video games like Megan in the “Mortuary’s Assistant,” Vamp Irella in “Indigo 7 Quest for Love,” Amanty and other roles in “Starflint” by Pantang Studios, visual novel “Emergency Monster Team” by Toro Comics, as the voice of Nadel Pierce and Terra Cotta, and the RPG “Boyfriend Dungeon” by Kitfox Games as Olivia the Barista of Kick’s cafe. She wholeheartedly believes that the inclusion of POC in the world of voiceover is essential. Representation matters, as it’s best to be seen and heard.
Elena Fernández Collins as Dr. Maria Torres
Elena Fernández Collins (any pronouns) is a genderfluid podcast critic, host, voice actor, and forensic sociolinguist from Puerto Rico, now living in Portland, OR. They are currently the Communications & Content Manager for Simplecast, where they run the blog and social media with the goal of uplifting marginalized voices in audio. They are also the current host of Radio Drama Revival, a long-running podcast showcasing diverse audio fiction and interviewing their creators. They voice Soledad Marquez in VALENCE, and have acted in podcasts like Ostium and The Cryptonaturalist.
Matthew Ewald as Don Spaulding
Matthew (he/him) likes to say that within his career he has battled for the fate of worlds, just as he has seen the other side of nightmare. But the less poetic word-play is: acting (outside of his beautiful family) is his oxygen. The very method and craft of performance, his passion and love. Matthew has been beyond fortunate to have earned his living at it for over 22 years, to have been a part of over 100 Film/Television productions, to even have LEGO action figures based on his likeness. He is a published author and has done voice work on scripted Podcast Productions, as well as on multiple video games through PC, Playstation & XBOX consoles. Matthew has never been afraid to chase the stars, but with “AFFLICTED,” he certainly feels like he has reached one of the brightest.
Amanda Hufford as Becky Harrison
Amanda Hufford (they/them) is a lifelong performer from Houston, Texas, working in video games, animation and commercials as a voice actor and vocalist. With a background in stage and musical theatre, they have always enjoyed vocal performance and fell in love with voice acting early on. When not behind the mic, they’re also passionate about direction, having worked with various projects and talent to bring the best performances to life.
Christian Young as August Caldwell
Christian Young (he/him) is an African American and Indigenous voice actor based in Austin, Texas. With experience in animation, web series, podcasts, and corporate narration, he’s always looking for a fun and exciting new project. He also works on the other side of the mic, daylighting as a producer at a digital media company. Outside of work, you can find him geeking out about comic books, video games, and movies.
Kim Gasiciel as Rhonda Caldwell
Kim Gasiciel (any pronouns) is a mixed Latine, queer, asthmatic voice actor, splitting time between LA and Chicago, who is absolutely thrilled to be joining the cast of Afflicted! Kim started acting onstage at a young age, and eventually found the magical world of voiceover during college. Since 2014, Kim has voiced in educational shorts, audio dramas, anime, video games, visual novels, commercials, and more. Beyond acting, Kim has a BS in Psychology with an English minor from UIUC, loves singing, playing softball, learning new instruments, hosting and playing trivia, being a huge nerd, collecting Kirby merch, looking at seals, eating food, and finding new things to love.
Ivy Le as Dana Griggs
Ivy Le (she/they) is a Vietnamese American comedian, actress, and writer based in Austin, Texas. She is creator of the critically-acclaimed Spotify Studios podcast FOGO: Fear of Going Outside, a nature show by the most reluctant host ever. She co-hosts the only queer comedy open mic in Austin and currently seeks representation for a pilot script about a ninja who tries to change her life by going to coding camp. She has two kids, and speaks English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and German.
Rue Dickey as Hank Grimes
Rue (they/he) is a nonbinary, Roma-Indigenous-Welsh, disabled creative based out of Oregon, US. By day, they do marketing and community outreach work, and by all other times of the day, you can find him designing TTRPGs, doing voice work for podcasts & video games, building costumes, and more! You can hear his voice in Under the Electric Stars, The Graveyard Tapes, Monocyte, and many more shows. You can keep up to date with the projects Rue is working on by following them on twitter. For voice over work, or any other freelance opportunities, please contact Rue via his website.
Cherrae Stuart as Karen Spaulding
Cherrae L. Stuart (she/her) is a Writer, Producer, and Narrator of the compelling and unique Podcast experience Good Morning Antioch, a science fiction black comedy and Co-Host of TCAD (Theatrical Conjecture and Dissertation) an “Unfancy” Entertainment News and Movie-Review show. You can also hear her featured on episodes of Nightlight: The Black Horror Podcast, Pseudo-Pod, Cast of Wonders and The Reading.
Raiden T. as Ethan Caldwell
Raiden (he/him) is a professional student, and sometimes pro gamer, who loves any machine that flies. He plans to be a pilot one day, running his own flight tourism business. You can hear Raiden’s other voice acting work over on our sister podcast, NIGHTLIGHT, in each of the Halloween season finales. He also helps his mom, Tonia, with her Twitter stories by taking pictures, eating fake blood, and dreaming up creepy things to scare people with.
Crew
Tonia Ransom
Creator, Writer, Executive Producer, Director
Tonia Ransom (she/her) is the creator and executive producer of NIGHTLIGHT, an award-winning horror podcast featuring creepy tales written by Black writers, and Afflicted, a horror thriller audio drama. Tonia has been scaring people since the second grade, when she wrote her first story based on Michael Myers. She’s an IGNYTE award winner, World Fantasy Award Finalist, and This is Horror Award runner-up. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Jen Zink
Co-Executive Producer, Co-Director, Sound Designer
Jen Zink (she/her) a freelance Podcast Editor, with work at BookRiot, How Do You Know? Backbox Pinball Podcast, and more. Additionally, she is a Sound Designer at Nightlight, an award-winning horror podcast featuring stories by Black writers, and others. She is the former host of The Skiffy and Fanty Show, a SFF podcast, and a four time Hugo Finalist for her work on the show. Jen has been an unconvincing Homemaker for over 20 years, and is passionate about all things speculative fiction. Otherwise, she neglects gardening, offends art, overbrews tea, and attempts sleep, though not necessarily in that order or all at one time. She feels absolutely honored to be working with the cast and crew and her best friend, Tonia Ransom, to direct and executive produce Afflicted.
Website | Twitter | Instagram
Tal Minear
Cover Artist
Tal Minear is a fiction podcast producer, sound designer, and visual artist. They’re the creator of Sidequesting, What Will Be Here?, Re: Dracula, and several other productions that can be found hiding under rugs and around corners. When not telling stories, they can be found making a mess with watercolors, petting cats, or wielding swords. Find more of their work at talminear.com