Men of 1,000 Voices: Ron Perlman

Voice acting is a simple, yet complicated job. You have to act without seeing another person other than the director/producer. It is just you, a booth and a stool. Now- act! Celebrities can get away with lazy performances because, well, they are celebrities. Aside from those people who go 'ooh, look- it's Jerry Seinfeld as a bee,' aficionados of cartoons will recognize certain people who keep re-appearing. I would like to pay tribute to some of those men and women who can voice talking cartoon bears or aliens with tentacles for a living. Our first subject is...

Ron Perlman

The man has his fingerprints all over the animated DC Comics universe. I mean, just look at who he has played...

Clayface: He played the Batman villain in the 1990's animated show. He later came back for the role for Justice League of America years later. He's also doing it in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game.
Orion: He also played the son of the villain Darkseid on Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited.

Slade: On Teen Titans, he played a renamed version of 'Deathstroke the Terminator.' I guess that name was too scary for tweens. He also played a character in last year's Turok game with the same name, but he is not the same guy.
Jax-Ur: On Superman, he played a version of General Zod in a version of the story from Superman II. The female Kryptonian was played the same lady from the film, by the way.
Bane: He played the Batman villain on the revamped version of the show simply called The Batman (as well as the Arkham Asylum game). He later played another villain called...
Killer Croc: In the villain's inaugural appearance, he played the large, reptilian foe of Batman. He has sports a rare use of an accent. This character was later captured by...
Rumor: Yeah, he voiced this guy too. This character was against all of Batman's foes and the man himself. The Batman got a little confusing, huh?

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Now, after playing all of those DC villains, would you be surprised to learn that he also played...

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Batman: In Justice League: Heroes (a game that would have been great with 4-player co-op), he took over the role of the Dark Knight. He's actually quite good.
The Hulk: He played the green giant on the Fantastic Four cartoon show. On an earlier one, he played a villain called the Wizard. Plus, just for fun, he voiced a Hulk villain called Abomination in the Hulk: Ultimate Destruction game.

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He also played 'Conan' in the titular game, was a character in Wing Commander Academy and even guest-starred on Phantom 2040 (a possible show to cover later). Of course, he is also the narrator in all of the Fallout games- even that crappy one one which is not an RPG.

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So, next time you hear a deep, gravelly voice, it just might be Ron. That or Powers Boothe...or Michael Ironside. I'm sure that I will touch on them more later.

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Coming up next: the man, the myth, the Brown. Stay tuned...