Rob Paulsen

Robert Fredrick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and singer who has done many voice roles in various films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing Raphael and Donatello from the 1987 cartoon and 2012 cartoon respectively of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, and Pinky from Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain, Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Fireman from Rugrats Pre-School Daze, Jack Fenton from Danny Phantom, and the title character in The Mask. In total, Paulsen has been the voice of over 250 different animated characters and performed in over 1000 commercials. He continues to play parts in dozens of cartoons as well as characters in animated feature movies.

Early career
He began his voice-over career in 1983 with the mini-series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, where he played "Snow Job" and "Tripwire". A few years later, his career launched into more roles such as "Cobra Slavemaster" and reprising "Snow Job" and "Tripwire" on G.I. Joe, "Corky" on The Snorks, "Marco Smurf" on the later seasons of The Smurfs, "Boober" on the animated version of Fraggle Rock, "Hadji" in The New Adventures of Johnny Quest and the title character – "Saber Rider" and the villain "Jesse Blue" on Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.

Live action acting
During the 1980s, Paulsen also explored the field of live action films. His first movie was Eyes of Fire in 1983. He played supporting roles in Body Double, Stewardess School, Warlock, and Mutant on the Bounty. He appeared in television shows during this time as well, such as MacGyver and St. Elsewhere. He mentioned in an interview, regarding his role in Body Double, that he would not want his child (who was very young at the time of the interview) to see the movie, so he could not really be proud of his work.

Advertising
Paulsen became more prevalent in the world of advertising as well. In the 1980s, he had been the announcer for the sitcom Cheers and continued to secure roles as an announcer. He appeared as the voice of "Mr. Opportunity", spokesman of Honda commercials on TV and radio, the announcer for Buffalo Dick's Radio Ranch, and the spokesman for Lucky Stores, a West Coast grocery store chain, before it was acquired by Albertsons in 1998. He provided the voice of "Dog" in the Taco Bell kids meal commercials from 1996 to mid-1997, with Eddie Deezen as the voice of "Nacho" the cat. However, Paulsen's most famous advertising role was in the original commercial of the now ubiquitous Got Milk? campaign. The famous commercial, Who shot Alexander Hamilton in that famous duel?, aired in 1993, and launched the Got Milk? campaign into a monstrously successful enterprise. Paulsen continues to be one of the most sought-after commercial voice actors in the industry. He can be currently heard as the voice of singing Mr. Mini-Wheat in the Mini-Wheats commercials in Canada.

Animation
Paulsen has provided voices for a great amount of characters, among which are Yakko Warner, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff and Pinky in Animaniacs, Steelbeak in Darkwing Duck, "Brick" and "Boomer" in The Powerpuff Girls, Atchan in Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost in The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, Ogden O. Ostrich in Channel Umptee-3, Hathi in Jungle Cubs, "Jack Fenton", "The Box Ghost", "Nicolai Technus", and "The Vulture Ghosts" in Danny Phantom, "Carl Wheezer" and "Butch" in Jimmy Neutron, "Mark Chang", "King Grippulon", "Happy Peppy Gary" and "Bucky McBadbat" in The Fairly OddParents, Peck the Rooster in Barnyard and Back at the Barnyard, "Fireman" in Rugrats Pre-School Daze and "Gordon" in the Nickelodeon cartoon Catscratch. He was also the voice of "Rothchild" in the early episodes of Samurai Jack. Additionally, Paulsen provided the voice of "P.J. Pete" in Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie, and An Extremely Goofy Movie, as well as the voices of Ratchet and Dr. Debolt in the TaleSpin pilot episode and introductory TV movie "Plunder & Lightning". He also did the voices of Boober Fraggle, Sprocket, and Marjory the Trash Heap in the animated version of Fraggle Rock, as well as Gwizdo in the Dragon Hunters movie. He also voiced "Zeek" and "Joshua" in K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments, Rude Dog in Rude Dog and the Dweebs, and Archie the Raccoon, A.K.A. Ze Archer, in "Mask of the Raccoon" on The Penguins of Madagascar. He reprised his role as "Throttle" in the 2006 Biker Mice from Mars, and also provided the voices of 2T Fru-T, Mike Ellis, Dark Comet and Ronald in the 2001 cartoon series Butt-Ugly Martians. He portrayed the voice of Chomper and Strut in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, Spike and Rinkus in The Land Before Time sequels and Spike in the TV series, but Spike was played anonymously in the original The Land Before Time. Paulsen also played Mo in The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water. Paulsen also voiced the robot "D.E.C.K.S." in the early 1990s TV series Wake, Rattle, and Roll. Paulsen also voiced Prescott A. Wentworth III in the Jem episode The Fan. Paulsen was best known to Transformers fans as the voices of the Autobots Air Raid, Chase, Haywire, Fastlane and Slingshot in The Transformers.

Other
Paulsen is also the off-camera voice of the syndicated television series Funniest Pets & People, which is seen on Superstation WGN and other television stations throughout the United States and abroad.

Personal life
Paulsen was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is married to Parrish Todd and has one son, Ashton "Ash" Paulsen, who himself is a gaming journalist on GameXplain. In an interview with a Chicago TV station, Paulsen described himself as "a singer who decided to become an actor." Growing up in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Paulsen sang in choirs throughout his youth and adolescence and began performing in plays in grammar schools. However, his idol growing up was Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings; he considered the arts to be a secondary career choice, primarily interested in becoming a professional hockey player. Paulsen has long supported charity organizations and donated considerably for cancer research. He has worked a lot for GOALmodels, a program for adolescents, and is a sponsor of Camp Will-A-Way, a camp for mentally and physically disabled children. Paulsen also donates funds from autographs to the Wounded Warrior Project and Operation Smile. In February 2016, Paulsen was diagnosed with Stage III throat cancer. Paulsen has since undergone treatment, and his cancer is now in remission.