It would not be unreasonable to state that Rob Paulsen is
one of the voice actors that inspired my interest in the field, and certainly
one of my idols. As a child of the 90s decade, there were very few cartoons I
would watch which Mr Paulsen wasn’t involved in for at least an episode.
Rob Paulsen landed his first credited job as an “additional
voice” on The Smurfs (IMDb, date unknown), and was in work consistently from the
mid-80s onwards. His personal website lists his most well-known roles as
Raphael of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987),
the title role of Mighty Max (1993), Arthur
in The Tick (1994), both characters
of Stanley Ipkiss and The Mask in the animated series of The Mask (1995), Carl Wheezer of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (2001), Jack Fenton in Danny Phantom (2004), and Bobble in the Tinkerbell DVD series (2008-present). With
a career this long-lasting and wide-reaching, Mr Paulsen is an imposing and
knowledgeable figure in the voice acting industry.
He was born in Detroit, and raised in Michigan. From an
early age, he was an avid fan and player of ice hockey, but soon found that he
did not have the skill or temperament to play professionally. So, at the age of
eighteen, he decided to dedicate himself to acting and singing, his other
passions. It was clearly a wise choice, as he has had a varied and prolific
career, with some on camera roles, character voices for animations and video
games, and commercial voice-overs all evident on his resume.
Rob Paulsen currently offers one-on-one and group seminar
sessions in a bid to raise money for children’s’ and veterans’ charities.
His awards include:
4 nominations and 3 wins- “Annie” awards, voice acting in
the field of animation
1 nomination and 1 win- “DVDX” awards, best original song in
a DVD premiere movie
2 nominations and 1 win- “Daytime Emmy” awards, outstanding performer
in an animated programme
I think, personally, my admiration for Mr Paulsen stems from
his tendency to portray particularly talkative characters, displaying a mastery
of wrapping his mouth around particularly difficult phrases. My first knowledge
of him as a performer came from his role as Yakko Warner in the 1991 cartoon Animaniacs, a particularly good example
of Paulsen’s ability to be both wordy and witty. With the pointed yet drawling
New York tones of a teenage Groucho Marx, Yakko was supposedly the elder of
three ink-blot style cartoons, who used a special brand of music and mayhem to
make an entertaining, educational programme. The wordiness of Yakko’s character
did not end with witty one-liners and parodies of famous speeches, but extended
on into songs that listed the presidents throughout American history, the planets
of the solar system, ingredients in ice cream and chocolate bars and, most
famously, the countries of the world.
If there are two things Rob Paulsen’s career can teach the
aspiring voice actor, they are that commitment, practice and perseverance are
invaluable skills, and breath control.
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