Cartoon Voice of Your Childhood is From Detroit, Michigan
You may have walked right past him and not even realized who he was. He's the voice of Saturday mornings and weekday's after school. He bounced here there and everywhere, yelled Go Joe, asked Brain what they wanted to do tonight, raced with a dog with a wheezing problem. He has over 564 acting credits including Bacon Bill from Veggie Tales, Snow Job from GI Joe, Hadji from Jonny Quest, and Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius.
The Man Behind the Toons
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1956, Robert Fredrick Paulsen III has a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer and no less than 3 Annie Awards for, arguably, his most well known character. More on that in a moment.
Rob Paulsen attended Grand Blanc High School and graduated in 1974. He did not intend on becoming a voiceover artist, in fact his childhood hero was Red Wing legend Gordie Howe, so his goal (pun intended) was to play in the NHL. He had a brief stint at U of M Flint before moving out to California to pursue a career in entertainment.
His first gig was in 1983, where he was tapped by Hasbro to voice Snow Job and Tripwire in the GI Joe: A Real American Hero miniseries. If you grew up in the 80's or 90's you've heard his voice. Corky on the Snorks, Hadji in the New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Boober in Fraggle Rock, and he even voiced Stanley Ipkiss in The Mask cartoon (he even gets calls from networks to redub Jim Carrey dialogue in edited movies for television). He is the original voice of Raphael in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Concord Condor in Tiny Toons, and .
What Are We Going to do Tonight Rob (Brain)
Perhaps his most beloved characters come from the same show. Animaniacs. Rob Paulsen is the voice not only of Yakko Warner (some view Yakko as the leader of the Warner Bros. and sister Dot) and the laboratory rat known as Pinky. Pinky and the Brain hold a special place in many a heart across this big, big world. Pinky is so loveable and loyal to his best friend Brain, who simply wants nothing more than to take over the world.
Thank you Robert Paulsen, for a childhood spent listening to your voice create countless adventures on the small and big screens.