My story
Pull up a chair. It’s a long story, and I do all the voices.
- 350
- credits in the index
- 5
- disciplines
- 6
- decades
- 56
- years of work
01The story
Born in Oakland, California in 1951, one of seven kids in a Navy family that moved wherever the orders said — including a high-school stretch in Japan. He found the theater early, studied it at Los Angeles City College, and worked the honest end of the business first: soap operas, sitcom guest spots, a short-lived series about a Texas family.
Then 1977 happened, and a farmboy staring at twin suns became one of the most recognized characters in the history of film. He played the role across two trilogies, four decades apart — and spent the years between proving the range was always bigger than the robe.
He went to Broadway — the title role in The Elephant Man, Mozart in Amadeus — and then, in 1992, walked into a recording booth and gave an animated villain a laugh that three generations of audiences can identify in one second flat. What followed is one of the most prolific voice-acting careers ever assembled: hundreds of characters across series, films, and games.
The late career belongs to directors who grew up on him — a Templar knight, a horror patriarch, a small-town accountant in a Stephen King story — and the work keeps coming.
02Passions
Comics. A lifelong collector and genuine scholar of the form — he's written them too, and can hold his own with any archivist on golden-age trivia.
The craft of voice. A vocal champion of voice actors as actors, full stop — and of the booths, unions, and mentorship that keep the discipline alive.
His audience. Decades of conventions, letters answered, and a feed that treats millions of strangers like old friends.
The feed is his own — no publicist between him and the audience.
03The index, by discipline
04Causes & scholarships
The scholarship. An endowed scholarship at Los Angeles City College — the theater program that trained him — helping the next kid from anywhere afford the stage.
Autograph authenticity. A longtime advocate for fans against forged memorabilia, lending his name to the push for California's autograph-authentication law and keeping his signing policy public so nobody gets fooled.
Humanitarian work. An ambassador for UNITED24, raising funds and attention for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
05Recognition 30
- 2025 Savannah Film Festival — Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2025 Saturn Awards — Best Guest Starring Role on Television, The Fall of the House of Usher
- 2025 San Diego International Film Festival — Gregory Peck Award
- 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival — Icon
- 2021 Daytime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Performer in a Preschool Animated Program, Elena of Avalor
- 2018 Saturn Awards — Best Actor, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- 2018 Hollywood Walk of Fame — Motion pictures star
- 2017 Disney Legends — Film
- 2012 British Academy Games Awards — Best Performer, Batman: Arkham City
- 2010 Interactive Achievement Awards — Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance, Batman: Arkham Asylum
- 2004 Inkpot Award — Lifetime Achievement
- 2001 DVD Exclusive Awards — Best Animated Character Performance, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
- 1984 Saturn Awards — Best Actor, Return of the Jedi
- 1981 Saturn Awards — Best Actor, The Empire Strikes Back
Nominations · 1616 more nominations, from the Saturn Awards to the Annie Awards and the Emmys.
- 2024 Astra TV Awards — Best Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie, The Fall of the House of Usher
- 2022 Children's and Family Emmy Awards — Outstanding Voice Performance in an Animated Program, Masters of the Universe: Revelation
- 2020 Saturn Awards — Best Guest Starring Performance on Television, What We Do in the Shadows
- 2019 Daytime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, Kulipari: Dream Walker
- 2018 Teen Choice Awards — Choice Twit, Himself (Twitter)
- 2018 Teen Choice Awards — Choice Fantasy Movie Actor, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- 2016 British Academy Games Awards — Best Performer, Batman: Arkham Knight
- 2015 The Game Awards — Best Performance, Batman: Arkham Knight
- 2015 Daytime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, Star Wars: The Clone Wars
- 2014 Annie Awards — Voice Acting in a Television Production, Regular Show
- 2012 Spike Video Game Awards — Best Performance by a Human Male, Batman: Arkham City
- 2001 Annie Awards — Voice Acting in a Feature Production, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
- 1994 Annie Awards — Voice Acting in a Television Production, Batman: The Animated Series
- 1988 CableACE Awards — Actor in a Dramatic Series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- 1985 Drama Desk Awards — Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Harrigan 'N Hart
- 1978 Saturn Awards — Best Actor, Star Wars