In recent years I've become somewhat intrigued by the field of voice-over work. I've always thought it would be fun and interesting to lend my voice to a character, whether it be in movies, television, or video games. I'm not particularly talented when it comes to "doing voices", but I like the idea of being able to give voice to a character that perhaps in no way resembles me (or maybe anything/anyone else, for that matter). Voice acting has the advantages of still being acting, but without being limited by the actor's physical characteristics (size, shape, gender, etc.)

Earlier this summer I was working on a personal project that would have given me the chance to voice a bunch of characters I had created. I was pretty excited about the opportunity, but unfortunately, that project sorta fizzled (or was put on hold) both by my own failure to follow through and other difficulties (the immense potential work load being a major factor).

I even considered creating an audio version of WITFITS (I've been told I have a pleasant reading voice) but ultimately decided the work required to do that would outweigh the negligible benefits.

I have found, though, that these days I pay more attention to the names behind the voices I know and love in the media I absorb. People like Billy West (Fry/Zoidberg/Professor Farnsworth/etc. on Futurama) amaze me with their range of characters and breadth of experience. I've started to learn the names of the people whose work I enjoy (and admire) most, much like one would with the more visible "physical" actors we see every day. People like H. Jon Benjamin (Coach McGuirk/Jason, Home Movies), John DiMaggio (Bender, Futurama), Phil LaMarr (Hermes, Futurama, Green Lantern, Justice League), Keith David (Arbiter, Halo, Julius, Saints Row), the list goes on and on.

And then there's Frank Welker and Peter Cullen.

You may not recognize the names (I didn't until relatively recently), but the two combined have over 600 acting credits (at least according to a quick glance at IMDB), with Welker having over 500 of those. These two gentlemen almost single-handedly represent a significant (and special) part of my childhood with the cartoon voices they performed. Frank Welker voiced the roles of Megatron and Soundwave on Transformers, Uni from Dungeons & Dragons, Kermit and Beaker on Muppet Babies, Glomer on It's Punky Brewster, Brain and Dr. Claw on Inspector Gadget, Ray Stantz and Slimer on The Real Ghostbusters, Ralph the Guard, Thaddeus Plotz, Buttons and Chicken Boo on The Animaniacs, and most recently Avenger on Harvey Birdman and Nibbler on Futurama. Peter Cullen lent his pipes to K.A.R.R. on Knight Rider, the narrator on Voltron, Eeyore in some versions of Winnie the Pooh, and my favorite: Optimus Prime on Transformers.

I am in awe.

And what brought about this nostalgic and rambling post, you might ask? An interview I read today on USATODAY.com by Whitney Matheson with the aforementioned Peter Cullen. In it he made this (somewhat startling, to me) revelation:

"...that's one thing about [Transformers]. I never saw a fan letter. I don't know who got them. That's why I was so surprised so many years later to find out that he was so popular. I didn't know."

After reading that I did a quick Google, hoping I'd find that Mr. Cullen had a website through which I could contact him (well at least a handler or what not). Alas, I found none, so this blog post serves as my own way of saying thank you. Mr. Cullen, I have many fond childhood memories of fictional characters, Optimus Prime being near the top of the list. Thank you for lending your voice and breathing life into him. And thank you to all the voice actors out there who are bringing life to cartoon and video game characters everywhere. You guys rock!