I'm in 'Madagascar 2.' I'm Testy the Lion. The franchise moves to Africa, and Bernie Mac is also in the film. I loved working for Dreamworks on that film.
I kind of modeled Optimus Prime's voice out of many people I had known over the years, my family especially.
It really depends, but, generally speaking, just because of the mechanics of it, voice-over is easier because there is no hair, no makeup, no wardrobe, no fittings, no line memorizing. You don't have to me woken up in Russia at 6 in the morning and go film a scene. It's just easier on the body, the family life to do voice-overs.
I've been doing silly voices since I was a child.
A lot of people don't realize this, but probably the one person that gets made fun of in 'South Park' more than anybody is my dad. Stan's father, Randy - my dad's name is Randy - that's my drawing of my dad; that's me doing my dad's voice. That is just my dad. Even Stan's last name, Marsh, was my dad's stepfather's name.
I'm trying everything. But voice work is the best thing you ever imagined. It's not about how you look, and you can go to work in your PJs.
On some level, acting is the art of pretend, and you have to have a highly cultivated sense of imagination. You have to be able to see things that aren't there, no matter what aspect of acting, whether it's green screen, whether it's on stage, whether it's anything else, whether you're working on the radio.
I've been dubbing my own lines in Tamil for some time now.
I got good offers from Bollywood because I can speak Hindi very well.
I make more than a handsome living doing voices for commercials; I hear myself all day on the tube.
I've actually, very rarely have I worked in my own voice. I've played, I think, Russian, American, Northern from the North of England. All sorts of different accents I've worked in.
What's kind of wonderful about being the voice in an animated film is you're a small part of an enormous production. And in a way, you get to remain a little bit objective.
I've done the voice for the Hulk for the animated cartoon.
In the Emperor's New Clothes, they got a different celebrity to do each voice. They drew up a picture of each character and then each actor wrote their own part.
After dubbing my lines for the first time, I'd say it's more difficult than performing in front of the camera.
I wrote on a show called Johnny Bravo when I was at Hanna-Barbera.
I have been dubbing since 2006.
That's what's so great, I get to play any character in the world. And I think that's one of the things that makes doing 'Comedy Bang Bang' or other improv podcasts so fun, as well as my own, is that you can really explore a character deeply for a long period of time that is nothing like yourself.
I have less to do with 'The Simpsons' every season, but I stick my nose in here and there. Basically, it's just trying to keep the characters consistent and making sure the show has a soul.
I did a voice for Odo, but people don't recognize you by your voice.
Working on the 'Ice Age' movies, I'm really proud to be in them.
I'm doing 'Alvin and the Chipmunks.' I get to play the bad guy. That's a nice change of pace.
I didn't change my voice for 'The Boondocks.'
I was always quite good with accents - I always had quite a good ear - so from the age of about 13, I used to do a lot of voiceover and dubbing for foreign films.
When Tim and I first discussed the part in 2003, he told me, 'I'd love for you to play five Oompas.' But five Oompas quickly turned into 165 - and they're not computerized; I did each one individually myself.
