Peter Claver Cullen (born July 28, 1941) is a Canadian voice actor. He is best known as the original voice of Optimus Prime (as well as Ironhide) in the original 1980s Transformers animated series, and most other appearances, as well, and Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise. He also voiced Monterey Jack in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers from seasons one to three, and is also known for his contribution to the voice of The Predator in Predator. Starting in 2007, Peter Cullen has reprised his role as Optimus Prime in related Transformers media, starting with the first live-action film.
Early life
Cullen was born on July 28, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec to Henry L. Cullen and Muriel McCann. He has three siblings: Michaela, Sonny, and Larry. Cullen attended Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School. He is a member of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada, which graduated in 1963. His brother, Larry Cullen, was a retired Captain in the United States Marine Corps, and helped inspire the voice of Optimus Prime. His sister, Michaela Tomlinson, is married to Frank Tomlinson.
Career
1960sâ€"1970s
In 1968, he appeared as Giles with Joan Stuart as 'Penelope' in L'Anglaise, a CBC sitcom about a French-Canadian husband with an English-Canadian wife (CBC's Funny You Should Say That). He also performed a French-Canadian astronaut character named Commander Bi Bi Latuque alongside Ted Zeigler for the 1969 children's show, The Buddies on CFCF-TV in Montreal. Cullen also honed his voice skills by working as a radio announcer, notably in his home town of Montreal on (then) MOR station CKGM doing the overnight and weekend swing shifts. He and Ted Zeigler also did some comedy sketch writing for the Sonny and Cher show.
From 1967 to 1969, he was the announcer for Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In 1974, Cullen was a series regular and the announcer on The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. He also lent his voice to a character in the album the Story of Halloween Horror in 1977.
As Optimus Prime
Cullen recalls auditioning for the role of the robot Optimus Prime at a casting house in Burbank, California, explaining that as he read Prime's character breakdown, he saw that it was "the opportunity of the year", and heeded his brother Larry's advice: "Peter, don't be a Hollywood hero, be a real hero. Real heroes don't yell and act tough; they are tough enough to be gentle, so control yourself." Cullen later learned from his agent, Steve Tisherman, that he not only won the part of Prime, but also, to his surprise, the role of Ironhide as well, which he saw as a "home run".
He has stated that Optimus is his favorite voice role, and that he based the voice of the Autobot leader on his older brother Larry, who served in Vietnam. "When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a hero to me," says the actor. "I watched him and listened to him. I'd never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, [that voice] just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus."
He has also stated that he had no idea of Prime's popularity until the character's controversial death in the 1986 animated film, as the studio had never given him fan letters from children addressed to Optimus. The public backlash over Optimus' death surprised producers greatly. Children were leaving the theaters because of the character's death. The writers temporarily revived the character for a single episode in Season 3 called "Dark Awakening". Initially, this was intended to be his final appearance, but after fan requests continued, "The Return of Optimus Prime", a two-part episode was produced. The original ending of "Dark Awakening" was altered in reruns to include a teaser about the return of the character.
Cullen reprised the role of Optimus Prime in the 2007 Transformers live-action film, and its sequels Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, and Age of Extinction, as well as the video games based on them. He is contractually obligated to voice Optimus in at least two more sequels.
Cullen again reprised his role as Optimus Prime in the video game Transformers: War for Cybertron, its sequel game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and in the recent television series Transformers: Prime in 2010. His performance in the premiere season of Transformers: Prime earned him a nomination for a 2011 Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program category.
Other work
In the 1980s and the 1990s, Cullen appeared on a number of television shows. He has played Coran, Stride the Tiger Fighter, and King Alfor in the Lion Voltron series, the transforming spaceship/robot Ramrod in the 1980s anime series Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Commander James Hawkins in the Vehicle Voltron series, Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh series, KARR in Knight Rider, Antor and Bomba, and Gunner, in Dino-Riders, Airbourne, Nemesis Enforcer and Zandar in G.I. Joe, He played "Mantor/Mantys" in Coleco's 5 episode mini-series Sectaurs in 1986; Red Skull in the 1981 cartoon series of Spider-Man, Klaar and Zanzoar in Megas XLR and Mantus in The Pirates of Dark Water. He also had a voice part in the 1984 motion picture Gremlins, as a gremlin, and the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider series as KARR. He also did voicework in The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible series, notably as Japheth, one of Noah's sons in the "Noah's Ark" episode, and the King of Nineveh in the "Jonah" episode. He was well known by some as the main villain Venger in the animated series of Dungeons and Dragons. He played the evil sorcerer Renwick in the lesser known series Little Wizards and played Cindarr in the short-lived series Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.
Among many other television series and films, he has also lent his basso voice to many film trailers and television commercials, including announcing for the Toonami and You Are Here blocks on the Cartoon Network. Cullen spent some of his early professional years in Montreal as a radio announcer/DJ on CKGM; and as a character in a then-popular local television kids show. He acted the role of a French-Canadian astronaut, along with writer and his partner on the show, Ted Ziegler. Both Ziegler and Cullen were spotted in the credits and doing small cameo walk-ons in various comedic roles on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, as well as other network comedies of the era.
He voiced Nintendo's mascot Mario in the Donkey Kong segments on Saturday Supercade, making him the first person to ever provide a voice for the character.
Cullen has done voicework on drum and bass DJ Dieselboy's 2004 album, The Dungeonmaster's Guide, and narration on the 2013 album Tetragrammaton by the Dutch extreme metal band The Monolith Deathcult. He also did voicework for the unreleased Blizzard Entertainment game Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and provided narration for the Star Wars fan film series I.M.P.S.: The Relentless.
Cullen is a voice announcer on Police Story 4: First Strike in advertisements for New Line Cinema.
Honors
At BotCon 2010, Hasbro named Cullen as one of the first four human inductees in the Transformers Hall of Fame for his role as the voice of Optimus Prime.
Personal life
Cullen has three children: Angus, Claire, Pilar and three grandchildren.
Filmography
Television
Film
Video games
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Peter Cullen at the Internet Movie Database
- Peter Cullen at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Peter Cullen at AllMovie
