Woah! Uncle Phil is The Shredder
A Look at the Talent Behind One of the Best Cartoons of the Early 90s
By Matthew McLuhan
As a kid, I grew up absolutely adoring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I arrived on the scene a little too late for Transformers, and I wasn't allowed to watch Ghostbusters, so Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was my life as a youngster.
Recently, I had the privilege to go back to my youth, so to speak, as a friend of mine got a hold of some old VCR recordings of the original 1987 series, and, being an adult now, and an inquisitive one at that, I decided to do some digging - primarily into the voice actors behind my beloved characters.
It started when a name flashed in front of my eyes during one of the credits that caught my eye. James Avery played Shredder. Hrmm.. I know that name - who is that? A trip to Wikipedia and the iMDB reveals the truth - Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What a bizarre incident. So I did a bit more digging, and discovered that almost all the major Voice Actors involved in the show had extensive resumes, occurring both before and after the show.
I'm aware these actors have many fans, and that these revelations are not new to everyone, but as I was researching, they were new to me, and I have never really put any real thought into Voice Actors before, and I think there were many kids like me.
So here we go. An exploration of the main characters from the show, and the voice actors' other credits. This article will hopefully cause at least a few "Oh Wow" moments for fans of the show, and people of my age, as many of these credits are relevant to the age group. If I repeat things in this article, it is merely to draw extra connections between the actors, as the actors behind the show did have many connections.
We'll start off with a big one. Cam Clarke. The man is prolific, a Virtuoso of Voice Acting. He gave voice to both Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 Turtles series. He went on to voice many Anime dubbings, such as Akira and Bleach, both very popular in America. He played Liquid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series (except, to much of the Fans Chagrin, in MGS4 on the PS3). He also played many iterations of Adult Simba (a la The Lion King) that wasn't credited to Matthew Broderick, including television Cartoon Shows, such as Timon and Pumba, and Simba's singing voice in The Lion King 2. I could honestly go on forever spouting off Cam Clarke's accolades, but he is not the main focus of this article, but only a prime example of a busy man behind the voice of one of my favorite characters of all time. Oh yeah, because it may be relevant later - he voiced Die Fledermaus in The Tick.
Barry Gordon gave voice to both Donatello and Bebop. His first credit is actually singing the iconic Christmas song "I'm Gettin Nuttin For Christmas" in the 50s. He was the voice of the Nesquik/Quik Bunny of the Nesquik/Quik commercial line. He also had parts in many other cartoons of the Time, although, unlike each of the other turtles, he did not feature in The Tick. The most interesting thing in Barry Gordon's Resume however, is that he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1988 to 1995, basically the full run of TMNT. So while he was giving Voice to Donatello in a kid show, he was organizing and leading the leading guild of the film industry. Radical. I'm just going to mention one other thing here, as it's connected to Donatello, but Corey Feldman, one of the most famous teen idol stars of the 80s voiced Donnie in the first and third TMNT movies. Back to the Cartoon though.
Rob Paulsen - another HUGE name in cartoon Voice Acting, voiced Raphael. I'm not going to list them all (he has websites for that), but in my mind, his major credits are; Raphael (TMNT), Yakko Warner (Animaniacs), Arthur (The Tick) and Pinky (Pinky and the Brain), although he has hundreds of credits. Now on to some interesting stuff; He started his career working on the Smurfs and GI Joe, as well as The Snorks (another common thread of the Turtles, although I won't get into it in detail). He played Prince Erik in the second Little Mermaid movie, he played several characters in Final Fantasy X-2 (Tobli, Notably), Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. He played PJ in Goof Troop, and a Myriad of Characters in the New Woody Woodpecker Show. All that being said, the biggest Wow moment, for me at least, requires only two words to describe: Got Milk?
Oh, Michelangelo, the party dude. Townsend Coleman gave him voice. Although not nearly as Prolific (at least according to Wikipedia or the iMDB) as Rob Paulsen or Cam Clarke, Townsend Coleman has a decent resume with only a few choice characters - Michelangelo, everyone's favorite turtle, and The Tick, everyone's favorite ?invincimbicile? Superhero. Also, in the TMNT cartoon, Coleman voiced the Rat King, and took up the mask of The Shredder for 7 episodes in 1993. He played Sentinel Prime in the most current Transformers iteration, and Waldo in the short-lived Where's Waldo cartoon. He also worked in many commercials. But truly, Michelangelo and The Tick. I really need not say more.
Oh, the genesis of this article. Uncle Phil. The Angry Driving Instructor in Learn to Drive (also starring Core Haim, childhood buddy of Corey Feldman, who voiced Donatello in the 1st and 3rd turtles movies), and of course, The Shredder. At first, I was shocked by this revelation, but then, after listening a little harder to the voice, I shouldn't have been so surprised. I know James Avery, and we all know his most Famous role, as the patriarch of the Banks family on the TV show Fresh Prince of Bel-air, which skyrocketed Will Smith's career, but for completion sake, let's take a look at some of Mr. Avery's other credits. There are a couple "Oh neat" credits, but nothing as "Oh wow" as the simple revelation that Uncle Phil played the Shredder. He played James Rhodes in the Iron Man cartoon (which also carried over to the Spiderman cartoon). He played a Klingon in the Enterprise Star Trek series. He had a voice role appearance in Sparks, Gargoyles, and Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys. James Avery is one of those actors that just make me happy when I see him. I remember his portrayal of Phillip Banks so warmly, that I cannot see him on screen without smiling. Now that I know he has a fairly extensive resume in Voice Acting, I shall have to open my ears.
Peter Renaday, who has a relatively short list of television voice credit, has a very interesting resume nonetheless, played Splinter. He also played Vernon, April's Egotistical Coworker. The man has played in several video games, including Metal Gear Solid 2 as the Pacemaker Bomb, Richard Ames. MGS2 also included Cam Clarke (Leonardo) as Liquid Snake. He has named credits in Lost Odyssey, Assassin's Creed, Rogue Galaxy, Dead Rising, and others. He had a role in the Disney Movie The Aristocrats, and has a history of Playing Abraham Lincoln, at least as a Voice Actor. He also supplied many voices used in the Disney Theme Park Attractions, such as Henry the Bear in Country Bear Jamboree, and Abraham Lincoln in the Hall of Presidents. All in all, a wonderful list with some interesting inclusions.
April's voice actress, Renae Jacobs, has a very short resume. She was in the short-lived TV game show Masters of the Maze, playing the first Lady of the Maze. She also played Daisy/Bowser Jr. in the Nintendo Game Mario's Superstar Baseball. That's it. She will always be remembered in my mind as April O'Niel though.
Irma, April's dorky friend, has a bit of a more extensive resume with some interesting notes in it. Jennifer Darling played Pythona in GI Joe, Queen Hippsodeth in the Aladdin Cartoon, Nora in Astroboy, Mrs. Snarly in TaleSpin, The Scarlet Witch in Iron Man (Which also included James Avery (Shredder)). My favorite roles of her's though, my personal "Oh wow" moment, is Jaheira in the Baldur's Gate series. That's incredible that poor little Irma was Jaheira, but Baldur's Gate does hold a special place in my heart.
Finally, at least for the sake of this article, is Pat Fraley, who lent his multi-talented voice notably to Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, Krang and Burne, April's boss. Fraley played Ace in GI Joe (with some of his other TMNT alumni), Hillbilly Jim in Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Roll Wrestling and Denver the Dinosaur. He's also credited as "Additional Voices" in Monsters, Inc, The Tick (with most of his Turtles Alumni), Where's Waldo?, and Widget the World Watcher.
Each of these voice actors has many of other credits to their name, and many of them I did not do justice in this short piece. If I were to do an article on each of them, they'd get more spotlight, but that's not what I was trying to do here. What I intended when I sat down to write this article is to share some of the revelations I had exploring the voice talent behind one of my favorite childhood shows (and interestingly enough, I inadvertently explored the talent behind my favorite show that appeared much later, The Tick, as it was much the same talent.) I hope you enjoyed this article, and didn't get bored by the end of it, and I hope that you had at least one or two "Oh Wow" moments of your own.
A Look at the Talent Behind One of the Best Cartoons of the Early 90s
By Matthew McLuhan
As a kid, I grew up absolutely adoring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I arrived on the scene a little too late for Transformers, and I wasn't allowed to watch Ghostbusters, so Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was my life as a youngster.
Recently, I had the privilege to go back to my youth, so to speak, as a friend of mine got a hold of some old VCR recordings of the original 1987 series, and, being an adult now, and an inquisitive one at that, I decided to do some digging - primarily into the voice actors behind my beloved characters.
It started when a name flashed in front of my eyes during one of the credits that caught my eye. James Avery played Shredder. Hrmm.. I know that name - who is that? A trip to Wikipedia and the iMDB reveals the truth - Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What a bizarre incident. So I did a bit more digging, and discovered that almost all the major Voice Actors involved in the show had extensive resumes, occurring both before and after the show.
I'm aware these actors have many fans, and that these revelations are not new to everyone, but as I was researching, they were new to me, and I have never really put any real thought into Voice Actors before, and I think there were many kids like me.
So here we go. An exploration of the main characters from the show, and the voice actors' other credits. This article will hopefully cause at least a few "Oh Wow" moments for fans of the show, and people of my age, as many of these credits are relevant to the age group. If I repeat things in this article, it is merely to draw extra connections between the actors, as the actors behind the show did have many connections.
We'll start off with a big one. Cam Clarke. The man is prolific, a Virtuoso of Voice Acting. He gave voice to both Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 Turtles series. He went on to voice many Anime dubbings, such as Akira and Bleach, both very popular in America. He played Liquid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series (except, to much of the Fans Chagrin, in MGS4 on the PS3). He also played many iterations of Adult Simba (a la The Lion King) that wasn't credited to Matthew Broderick, including television Cartoon Shows, such as Timon and Pumba, and Simba's singing voice in The Lion King 2. I could honestly go on forever spouting off Cam Clarke's accolades, but he is not the main focus of this article, but only a prime example of a busy man behind the voice of one of my favorite characters of all time. Oh yeah, because it may be relevant later - he voiced Die Fledermaus in The Tick.
Barry Gordon gave voice to both Donatello and Bebop. His first credit is actually singing the iconic Christmas song "I'm Gettin Nuttin For Christmas" in the 50s. He was the voice of the Nesquik/Quik Bunny of the Nesquik/Quik commercial line. He also had parts in many other cartoons of the Time, although, unlike each of the other turtles, he did not feature in The Tick. The most interesting thing in Barry Gordon's Resume however, is that he was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1988 to 1995, basically the full run of TMNT. So while he was giving Voice to Donatello in a kid show, he was organizing and leading the leading guild of the film industry. Radical. I'm just going to mention one other thing here, as it's connected to Donatello, but Corey Feldman, one of the most famous teen idol stars of the 80s voiced Donnie in the first and third TMNT movies. Back to the Cartoon though.
Rob Paulsen - another HUGE name in cartoon Voice Acting, voiced Raphael. I'm not going to list them all (he has websites for that), but in my mind, his major credits are; Raphael (TMNT), Yakko Warner (Animaniacs), Arthur (The Tick) and Pinky (Pinky and the Brain), although he has hundreds of credits. Now on to some interesting stuff; He started his career working on the Smurfs and GI Joe, as well as The Snorks (another common thread of the Turtles, although I won't get into it in detail). He played Prince Erik in the second Little Mermaid movie, he played several characters in Final Fantasy X-2 (Tobli, Notably), Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. He played PJ in Goof Troop, and a Myriad of Characters in the New Woody Woodpecker Show. All that being said, the biggest Wow moment, for me at least, requires only two words to describe: Got Milk?
Oh, Michelangelo, the party dude. Townsend Coleman gave him voice. Although not nearly as Prolific (at least according to Wikipedia or the iMDB) as Rob Paulsen or Cam Clarke, Townsend Coleman has a decent resume with only a few choice characters - Michelangelo, everyone's favorite turtle, and The Tick, everyone's favorite ?invincimbicile? Superhero. Also, in the TMNT cartoon, Coleman voiced the Rat King, and took up the mask of The Shredder for 7 episodes in 1993. He played Sentinel Prime in the most current Transformers iteration, and Waldo in the short-lived Where's Waldo cartoon. He also worked in many commercials. But truly, Michelangelo and The Tick. I really need not say more.
Oh, the genesis of this article. Uncle Phil. The Angry Driving Instructor in Learn to Drive (also starring Core Haim, childhood buddy of Corey Feldman, who voiced Donatello in the 1st and 3rd turtles movies), and of course, The Shredder. At first, I was shocked by this revelation, but then, after listening a little harder to the voice, I shouldn't have been so surprised. I know James Avery, and we all know his most Famous role, as the patriarch of the Banks family on the TV show Fresh Prince of Bel-air, which skyrocketed Will Smith's career, but for completion sake, let's take a look at some of Mr. Avery's other credits. There are a couple "Oh neat" credits, but nothing as "Oh wow" as the simple revelation that Uncle Phil played the Shredder. He played James Rhodes in the Iron Man cartoon (which also carried over to the Spiderman cartoon). He played a Klingon in the Enterprise Star Trek series. He had a voice role appearance in Sparks, Gargoyles, and Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys. James Avery is one of those actors that just make me happy when I see him. I remember his portrayal of Phillip Banks so warmly, that I cannot see him on screen without smiling. Now that I know he has a fairly extensive resume in Voice Acting, I shall have to open my ears.
Peter Renaday, who has a relatively short list of television voice credit, has a very interesting resume nonetheless, played Splinter. He also played Vernon, April's Egotistical Coworker. The man has played in several video games, including Metal Gear Solid 2 as the Pacemaker Bomb, Richard Ames. MGS2 also included Cam Clarke (Leonardo) as Liquid Snake. He has named credits in Lost Odyssey, Assassin's Creed, Rogue Galaxy, Dead Rising, and others. He had a role in the Disney Movie The Aristocrats, and has a history of Playing Abraham Lincoln, at least as a Voice Actor. He also supplied many voices used in the Disney Theme Park Attractions, such as Henry the Bear in Country Bear Jamboree, and Abraham Lincoln in the Hall of Presidents. All in all, a wonderful list with some interesting inclusions.
April's voice actress, Renae Jacobs, has a very short resume. She was in the short-lived TV game show Masters of the Maze, playing the first Lady of the Maze. She also played Daisy/Bowser Jr. in the Nintendo Game Mario's Superstar Baseball. That's it. She will always be remembered in my mind as April O'Niel though.
Irma, April's dorky friend, has a bit of a more extensive resume with some interesting notes in it. Jennifer Darling played Pythona in GI Joe, Queen Hippsodeth in the Aladdin Cartoon, Nora in Astroboy, Mrs. Snarly in TaleSpin, The Scarlet Witch in Iron Man (Which also included James Avery (Shredder)). My favorite roles of her's though, my personal "Oh wow" moment, is Jaheira in the Baldur's Gate series. That's incredible that poor little Irma was Jaheira, but Baldur's Gate does hold a special place in my heart.
Finally, at least for the sake of this article, is Pat Fraley, who lent his multi-talented voice notably to Baxter Stockman, Casey Jones, Krang and Burne, April's boss. Fraley played Ace in GI Joe (with some of his other TMNT alumni), Hillbilly Jim in Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Roll Wrestling and Denver the Dinosaur. He's also credited as "Additional Voices" in Monsters, Inc, The Tick (with most of his Turtles Alumni), Where's Waldo?, and Widget the World Watcher.
Each of these voice actors has many of other credits to their name, and many of them I did not do justice in this short piece. If I were to do an article on each of them, they'd get more spotlight, but that's not what I was trying to do here. What I intended when I sat down to write this article is to share some of the revelations I had exploring the voice talent behind one of my favorite childhood shows (and interestingly enough, I inadvertently explored the talent behind my favorite show that appeared much later, The Tick, as it was much the same talent.) I hope you enjoyed this article, and didn't get bored by the end of it, and I hope that you had at least one or two "Oh Wow" moments of your own.
