Neil Ross (born 31 December 1944) is an English-born voice actor and announcer, now resident in the United States, working in Los Angeles. He has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably Voltron, G.I. Joe and Transformers. He has also done voice work in numerous video games, including Mass Effect and Leisure Suit Larry 6 and 7. Ross has also provided voice roles (such as radio announcers) for many movies, including Back to the Future Part II, Babe, Quiz Show, and Being John Malkovich.
Neil Ross was the announcer for the 75th Annual Academy Awards Telecast in 2003, and the Emmy Awards Telecast in 2004. He has also narrated numerous episodes of A&E's Biography, and many editions of NOVA on PBS (including Mars – Dead or Alive, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2004).
Early life[]
Neil Ross was born in London, England, on 31 December 1944 and subsequently raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was 12 years old. When they moved to San Diego, a young Ross started listening to KFWB, and became obsessed with becoming a disc-jockey.
Career[]
He started working in radio when he finished school. His first station was KMUR in Salt Lake City, Utah. Following this, he moved on to KORL, KGMB and KKUA in Honolulu, Hawaii, before moving to KCBQ in San Diego in 1969. He stayed in California, working on KYA San Francisco and KMPC Los Angeles. He made his last broadcast in 1985.
He began his voice-over work in 1978 when he moved to Los Angeles. His first role was as a salesman in an episode of Richie Rich for Hanna-Barbera. Ross has voiced radio and television commercials for companies including Wal-Mart, AT&T, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Goodyear, Disney, Hoover, Anheuser-Busch, Southwest Airlines, and Kelloggs, and has done promos for CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS and Fox Kids, using an American accent in all performances.
From 1989–1990, he was the announcer for Signal Research's (later Signal/ABC Research, as a result of a merger between Signal Research and the ABC Television Network) Game Player's Gametape VHS series, which was a home video counterpart of the defunct magazine publication of the same name.
Neil Ross lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Selected voice work[]
Cartoons[]
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series – Whitley White
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes – Crossfire
- Batman: The Animated Series – Ratso
- Bionic Six – F.L.U.F.F.I
- The Centurions – Ace McCloud
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Shipwreck / Dusty / Heavy Metal / Buzzer / Thunder / Monkeywrench
- Galaxy High – Rotten Roland
- Garfield and Friends – Jon's cousin, Paco, announcer
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law – Vulturo / Dr. Benton Quest / Ding-A-Ling Wolf
- Inhumanoids – Herc Armstrong / Tank / Ssslither / Sabre Jet / Ronald Reagan
- Iron Man – Fin Fang Foom, Wellington Yinsen, Howard Walter Stark (Season 1), Blizzard ("The Beast Within" only)
- Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness – Constable Hu
- Jem – Howard Sands
- The Little Troll Prince – Prag No. 1
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm – Shang Tsung
- My Life as a Teenage Robot – Dr. Phineas Mogg
- Pac-Man – Clyde
- Pinky and the Brain – Marvin the Martian
- Planet Sheen – Helmb
- Pryde of the X-Men – Nightcrawler
- Rambo and the Forces of Freedom – John Rambo
- Robotix – Jerrok / Flexor / Gaxon / Steggor
- Rugrats – Judge
- Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost – Mayor Corey
- Secret Squirrel – Morocco Mole
- Spider-Man (1981) – Norman Osborn
- Spider-Man (1994) – Green Goblin
- SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron – Mac Mange
- The Legend of Prince Valiant – Duncan Draconarius
- The Mask: The Animated Series – Lt. Kellaway, Sly Eastenegger
- Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends – Norman Osborn, Wolverine, Cyclops ("The X-Men Adventure")
- Spiral Zone – Overlord / Wolfgang 'Tank' Schmidt
- The Transformers[1] – Bonecrusher / Hook / Springer / Slag / Sixshot / Pointblank / Fracas[2]
- Voltron – Keith / Jeff / Pidge / Chip / Prince Bandor
- Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light – Leoric
- Wake, Rattle and Roll – Axel / Baba Looey
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa - Bat Blastagun
- Yo Yogi! – Morocco Mole
- Zazoo U – Logan Chomper
Live action[]
- Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad – Skorn, Stupid Virus
- The Suite Life on Deck – Narrator (I Brake for Whales)
Movies[]
- An American Tail – Honest John (voice)
- Babe – Additional Voices
- Back to the Future Part II – Biff Tannen Museum Narrator (voice)
- Being John Malkovich – Narrator of Malkovich biography show
- Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey – voice of Station Twin No. 2
- Dick Tracy – Radio Announcer (voice)
- Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight – Fizban/Paladine (voices)
- It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown (TV Special) – (voices)
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest – Elder (voice)
- Garfield Gets Real – Wally, Charles (voices)
- Garfield's Pet Force – Charles (a freakishly deerlike character that persistently shouts "Betty?!") (voice)
- Gremlins 2: The New Batch – Announcer
- Innerspace – Pod computer voice
- Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland – Oompa (voice)
- Operation: Z.E.R.O. – Grandfather
- Quiz Show – Twenty-One Announcer
- Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost – Mayor Corey (voice)
- Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders – Sergio (voice)
- Son of the Mask – Deep Alvey Voice (voice)
- The Little Engine That Could – Doc/Control Tower/Handy Pandy (voices)
- The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – Cyclops (voice)
- Thumbelina – Mr. Bear and Mr. Fox
- Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry – Dr. Professor, Director
- Transformers: The Movie[1] – Bonecrusher / Hook / Springer / Slag – (voices) (1986)
- A Troll in Central Park – Pancy
Video and computer games[]
- Baldur's Gate – Eldoth
- Call of Duty (video game) - Ending Voice
- Disney Universe – VIC
- Doom 3 – Sergeant Kelly
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars – Stogg Nexus – AI Fax Anchor
- Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem – Dr. Edwin Lindsey
- Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist – Narrator
- Grand Chase - Dungeon of Monsters
- Kinetica – Crank
- Legacy of Kain – Rahab, Malek the Sarafan, King Ottmar, Elzivir the Dollmaker
- Leisure Suit Larry series – Narrator
- Mass Effect – Codex Narrator
- Mass Effect 2 – Codex Narrator
- Mass Effect 3 – Codex Narrator
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Navy SEAL
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – Colonel Volgin
- Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge – Wally B. Feed
- The Curse of Monkey Island – Wally B. Feed
- Ninja Gaiden – Murai
- Onimusha 3 – Guildenstern[3]
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein – Higgs / Nazi Soldier No. 2
- Spyro: Year of the Dragon – Moneybags (Spyro: Year of the Dragon only), Bentley
- Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly – Moneybags, Additional characters
- Spider-Man 3 – Luke Carlyle/Mad Bomber
- Star Trek: Elite Force II – Stemmons
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds – Han Solo
- Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron – Narrator, Han Solo, General Rieekan, Moff Kohl Seerdon, narrator
- Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi – Han Solo, Jodo Kast
- Star Wars: Rebellion – Han Solo, Stormtrooper, Imperial Command Center Communications Officer
- Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance – Admiral Nammo, Concourse PA Announcer, Imperial Officer, Rebel Pilot
- Star Wars: Force Commander – Han Solo, TR-SD Driver, Ruulian Computer Worker
- Star Wars: Starfighter – Trade Federation Officer, Rescue 3, Wingman
- Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter – Wingmate 2
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Additional Voices
- Summoner 2 – Krobelus, Pirate Medevan Leader, Sharangir
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines – Gorgeous Gary Golden, Male Sire
- Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory – Axis Commander
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lawson, Tim; Persons, Alisa (2004), The magic behind the voices: a who's who of cartoon voice actors, Univ. Press of Mississippi, p. xxx, ISBN 978-1-57806-696-4
- ↑ "The TCC Presents: Screamers Retro-Views – G1 Interview with Neil Ross". Transformers Collectors Club Magazine 1 (37): 3.
- ↑ Template:Cite video game