Phil LaMarr

Early life and career

LaMarr was born in Los Angeles, California. He decided to become an actor when he was in middle school performing in a play. When he was in high school, LaMarr landed a summer job on the animated series Mister T. He attended Yale University where he majored in English. LaMarr became a comedy writer. He decided to become a voice actor after joining MadTV.

Career

''Mad TV''

LaMarr, unlike most of the other original nine cast members of Mad TV, had extensive television and film jobs experience when he joined the show. Even before college, he had voiced a character on the Mister T cartoon show.

Some of the recurring characters LaMarr performed on Mad TV were Desperation Lee ("Funky Walker Dirty Talker"), Jaq the UBS Guy, "sexy player" Rick, talentless R&B singer Savante, and Rocket Revengers star Lieutenant Abraham Jefferson (a.k.a. Lincoln Willis).

LaMarr has done impressions of the following celebrities:

• Bobby Brown
• Ray Charles
• Johnnie Cochran
• Nat King Cole
• Billy Crystal (as Harry Burns from When Harry Met Sally...)
• Diddy
• Tommy Davidson
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Louis Farrakhan
• Morgan Freeman
• Sherman Hemsley (as George Jefferson from The Jeffersons)
• Ice-T
• Michael Jackson
• Rick James
• Vernon Jordan
• Don King
• LeBron James
• Will Smith
• Martin Lawrence
• Spike Lee
• Bill Maher
• Barack Obama
• Howard McNear (as Floyd Lawson from The Andy Griffith Show)
• Eddie Murphy
• Sidney Poitier
• Tiger Woods
• Colin Powell
• RuPaul
• Prince
• Chris Rock
• Bernard Shaw
• Sinbad
• Sammy Sosa
• Chris Tucker
• Ben Vereen
• Kanye West
• Dwayne Johnson
• Kevin Hart
• Barry White
• Michael Winslow
• Stevie Wonder

He has also done impressions of Moe Howard from The Three Stooges while playing an African-American version of the character.

LaMarr left Mad TV at the end of the fifth season (2000).

Voice acting work

LaMarr's voice over credits include a starring role on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited as John Stewart/Green Lantern, a major role as Hermes Conrad and various other characters on Futurama, and the title roles on Samurai Jack and Static Shock. He also voiced Black Vulcan in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Hector Con Carne in Evil Con Carne. LaMarr reprised his role as Hermes Conrad in the Futurama films Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, Into the Wild Green Yonder, and upon the series return in 2010. He also voices Wilt and other recurring characters in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Carver Descartes on The Weekenders, Philly Phil in Class of 3000, and he portrayed the character Osmosis Jones in the television series Ozzy & Drix (replacing Chris Rock). He was also Gabe Wallace, and other characters in Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters. He additionally voices Jazz, Omega Supreme, Oil Slick, and Jetstorm on Transformers Animated. LaMarr portrayed Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto in Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network; he also played Amit Noloff, a one time character, and a Tactical Droid. He voiced Aquaman and other characters in Young Justice, and Baxter Stockman in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also lent his voice to the character of Lucius Fox for DC Super Hero Girls. LaMarr also provided voice talent to J.A.R.V.I.S. throughout the series of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He also portrayed Professor Thistlethorpe, a caterpillar, in BoJack Horseman. Through a tweet, Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best implied that LaMarr had done the voice work for his character on the animated show The Clone Wars under the pseudonym BJ Hughes. LaMarr provided the voice of Alphabittle the unicorn in the Netflix animated film My Little Pony: A New Generation.

In July 2021, LaMarr provided the voice for Orn Free Taa in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Film and theatre projects

LaMarr's stage credits include The Tempest, As You Like It, Guys and Dolls, Asylum, South Coast Repertory's Make the Break and the Sacred Fools Theater Company's inaugural production of The Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Revue.

LaMarr's second film role was that of the ill-fated Marvin from Pulp Fiction. He has appeared in Kill the Man, Free Enterprise, Cherish, and Manna from Heaven. He appeared in Speaking of Sex starring Bill Murray and Catherine O'Hara, and Back by Midnight with Kirstie Alley, Rodney Dangerfield, and Randy Quaid.

LaMarr's other film appearances include Fronterz (2004) and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman (2005). LaMarr also appeared in Cook Off! as Thaddeus Briggs.

LaMarr made a cameo appearance in the Will Ferrell film Step Brothers, viewing a house for sale with his wife.

LaMarr also was in the Yum Corp Sexual Harassment training videos.

LaMarr played Cowboy Curtis (originally portrayed by Laurence Fishburne) in the Los Angeles and Broadway productions of The Pee-wee Herman Show. The LA production ran from January 12 to February 7, 2010, at the Club Nokia @ LA Live. The New York show opened on November 11 and ended its limited engagement on January 2, 2011. The New York production was recorded for an HBO special that aired in March 2011.

LaMarr also appeared in Spider-Man 2 as a passenger standing behind Spider-Man in the subway train.

Video game voice-over work

LaMarr performed the English voice-over work for Vamp, a villain of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Additionally, LaMarr voiced the characters Reddas from Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII as well as Ramza in the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. He also did several voices for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.

He also did the English voice acting for the parts of Sig and Count Veger in the Jak and Daxter video game series as well as voicing several characters in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, as well as the voice of Gadon Thek in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. As well as a featuring in the Sega CD game Make My Video C+C Music Factory, he also was the voice of Chris Jacobs in both Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and its sequel, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. He plays the character John White/The Beast in the PS3 titles Infamous and Infamous 2. Also, he plays the character Dr. Bradley Ragland in the game Prototype.

He also was the voice of the grumpy Kane in the game The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, and Marty in the video game tie-in of Madagascar. LaMarr also voiced the merchant "Vulgrim" in the action/adventure hybrid Darksiders.

He played the role of "Mr. Sunshine" in the 2008 crime game Saints Row 2, and reprised his role in Saints Row IV in 2013.

He reprised his role as Kit Fisto for the video game: Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes. LaMarr voiced Rick Grimes and various other characters in the motion comic adaptation of The Walking Dead.

He also voiced Sam B, one of the playable characters in Dead Island, and appeared in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance as Phoebus, a character originally from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and voiced by Kevin Kline.

LaMarr returned to the Metal Gear franchise as the voice of Kevin Washington in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

He also provided the voice for multiple roles in Hunt the Truth, a marketing campaign audio-drama for Halo 5: Guardians.

LaMarr provided the voices of Aquaman and John Stewart (Green Lantern) in the 2013 superhero fighting video game Injustice: Gods Among Us and its 2017 sequel, Injustice 2.

LaMarr, in addition, provided his voice for a number of audio logs in 2016 puzzle game, The Witness. He also voiced Kotal Kahn in Mortal Kombat X (2015) and Mortal Kombat 11 (2019).

He voiced Pangolier in Dota 2.

Webisode project

LaMarr had been announced to appear as a regular character in a webisode series, Naught for Hire produced by Jeffrey Berman and Ben Browder (Farscape), that has been in development since 2010. His character Mark One was described to be that of an elevator with mood swings.

Kickstarter

LaMarr worked on co-creating and voice-acting in a project titled Goblins Animated. The Kickstarter launched on October 23, 2017, and finished on November 22, 2017. LaMarr worked with Ellipsis Stephens, Danielle Stephens, and Matt King to produce the series. Voice actors on board were Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Jim Cummings, Matthew Mercer, and Steve Blum.

Filmography

Live-action

Film

Television

Voice roles

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

Audio plays

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

References

1. "Instagram".
2. (January 4, 2018). "TV in the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas [3 volumes]". Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
3. "Phil LaMarr's Resume".
4. https://michaeljamin.com/088-voice-actor-phil-lamarr/
5. (October 2004). "Los Angeles Magazine".
6. Best, Ahmed. (January 29, 2020). "I appreciate your comment. This was at a time where [sic] doing Jar jar was very painful for me. Thankfully my good brother @phillamarr held down the role until I was able to return. Love you @phillamarr. Thanks for being a great friend. https://t.co/W08cXsjj7a".
7. Bonaime, Ross. (June 30, 2021). "'My Little Pony: A New Generation' Netflix Film Reveals Release Date and Cast". Collider.
8. "Orn Free Taa Voice".
9. Cao, Caroline. (May 29, 2022). "Commander Cody And Gungi Are Returning In The Bad Batch Season 2".
10. (October 6, 2009). "Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes". [[LucasArts]].
11. (July 20, 2010). "TV: It's a 'Walking Dead' Bonanza! Featuring, a Motion Comic, Contests and More!". BloodyDisgusting.
12. Xbox Wire Staff. (May 17, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians #HuntTheTruth – Has the Master Chief Gone AWOL?".
13. (January 14, 2016). "Meet the Voice Actors of The Witness". Playstation.Blog.
14. (July 9, 2013). "Dota 2". Valve.
15. "Naught for Hire – A Noir Web Series – Naught in Development".
16. (October 23, 2017). "Goblins Animated (Canceled)".
17. (August 24, 2014). "10 Voice Actors You Probably Didn't Notice In Live Action Roles". Whatculture.com.
18. Blazenhoff, Rusty. (October 3, 2013). "I Know That Voice, A Documentary About the World of Voice Acting". [[Laughing Squid]].
19. Hunt, Larry. (2022-02-23). "10 Funniest Times Someone Broke Character In 'Murderville' Ranked".
20. "Phil LaMarr (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
21. Cochran, Jay. (December 8, 2015). "LEGO Justice League: Cosmic Clash Movie Bluray With Cosmic Boy Minifigure Details".
22. "The Lion King Press Kit". Walt Disney Studios.
23. Vejvoda, Jim. (2019-12-16). "Superman: Red Son - Exclusive Trailer Debut for the DC Animated Movie".
24. Couch, Aaron. (May 10, 2023). "'Babylon 5: The Road Home' Voice Cast Unveiled (Exclusive)".
25. Vejvoda, Jim. (June 14, 2023). "Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match Exclusive: Full Voice Cast and Plot Revealed".
26. Sherlock, Ben. (2023-11-08). "Quiz Lady Cast & Character Guide".
27. (July 10, 2024). "Watchmen Chapter I: Exclusive Trailer, Voice Cast, Boxart and Release Date".
28. (August 13, 2024). "Watchmen: Chapter I".
29. (Oct 16, 2024). "Watchmen Chapter II Exclusive Trailer".
30. Wilbur, Brock. (February 9, 2017). "Samurai Jack is back — with a darker take and a 'traumatized' samurai".
31. Busch, Jenna. (February 8, 2010). "AVENGERS Animated Assembling w/ Phil Lamarr". [[Newsarama]].
32. Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: Dawnn Lewis And Phil Lamarr Talk Freeman "Space Family" In 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 2".
33. Hurler, Jen. (2021-04-21). "'The Freak Brothers' Wraps Production On Eight-Episode First Season; Cast Announced".
34. (November 10, 2022). "'Dragon Age: Absolution' Sets Voice Cast and Unveils New Trailer, First-Look Images for Netflix Animated Series".
35. Colangelo, B. J.. (2022-01-12). "The Book Of Boba Fett Features The Busiest Actor In Hollywood".
36. Otterson, Joe. (2023-04-11). "Netflix Sets Voice Cast for 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' Team's Comedy Series 'Mulligan,' Including Daniel Radcliffe, Chrissy Teigen".
37. Otterson, Joe. (April 4, 2024). "'Among Us' Animated Series Casts Patton Oswalt, Debra Wilson, Phil LaMarr, Wayne Knight".
38. (2004). "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines". [[Activision]].
39. (2005). "True Crime: New York City". [[Activision]].
40. Krum Prodanov. (August 9, 2010). "The Secret Of Monkey Island 2 Special Edition – Credits".
41. "Presenting the man behind the Samurai and the ONLY voice for Jack. Thanks to the legendary Phil LaMarr for lending your voice to #MultiVersus!".
42. "Does anyone remember these designs from #MultiVersus? No? Just me? Wonder whatever happened to them. ☹️ Fine, I'll do it myself. ✍️@phillamarr is Aquaman! 🐬🔱 @erin_yvette is Lola Bunny! 🐰💖#SaveMultiVersus #MVS #SMVS @multiversus @Player1stGames".
43. Psyko. (June 22, 2019). "The Adventures Of Breadman llegará a Nintendo Switch si logra financiarse en kickstarter".
44. Complex, Valerie. (2024-05-08). "Phil LaMarr, Tara Strong And Vico Ortiz Join Voice Cast Of Coty Galloway's Animated Series 'Atlantis Rocks'".