Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures, the Bigheads on Rocko's Modern Life, Ickis on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Doctor Doom, Wrecker, Sabertooth and others in The Super Hero Squad Show, MODOK in various Marvel Comics media, Cobra Commander in and , Starscream in the Transformers film series, Mr. Whiskers of Disney's Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, the titular characters of Cartoon Network's Cow and Chicken along with its main antagonist, The Red Guy, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head in Earthworm Jim, I.R. Baboon in I Am Weasel, T-Bone in and Tex Hex in Bravestarr.
In 1984 and 1985, he starred as Arnold Beckoff in Torch Song Trilogy, for which he was nominated for the 1985 Helen Hayes Best Actor Award, in New York City before moving to California in 1986.
Adler's first animation role was recorded in New York City, voicing Spike in Rescue at Midnight Castle.
In 1985, after convincing the head of the Abrams, Rubiloff and Lawrence agency to allow him to audition for their voice-over department, Adler later attended a private audition for Ginny McSwain and Arlene Thornton. An agent had praised him in front of them as the "next Frank Welker". McSwain recalls that "he blew their minds" but he claims that initially they had no interest in him. Having no demo, they arranged for him to record an audition. He improvised characters during the tape, which impressed both McSwain and Thornton; however, Adler was so embarrassed with his performance that he performed with his back to them and his face hidden with a hat and sunglasses.
His voice acting career took off when Adler landed the roles of Nat Smurfling in the fourth season of The Smurfs, Roddy Piper on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, Silverbolt on The Transformers and Eric Raymond, Techrat and Zipper in Jem.
He was disenchanted with live-action acting after working on The Redd Foxx Show, in which he portrayed Ralph/Rita. In an interview for The Magic Behind the Voices, Adler commented on the experience: "you spend your whole life going, "God, I just want to be in a TV show and have a parking space". Then I got it and it was just so not what I wanted to do."
He became active in animation, his roles include reprising Spike on My Little Pony, Low-Light on , Mr. O'Greasy on A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Deputy Fuzz and Tex Hex on Bravestarr, Cavey Jr. on The Flintstone Kids, Pinky Dalton on The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound, Quark and Zappy on Rockin' with Judy Jetson, the TurkeyBoy and sometimes Hamburglar in McDonald's commercials and The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, Mad Dog, Hacksaw, and Howard Huge in TaleSpin, Dripple on Tom and Jerry Kids, and the Paddington Bear on Paddington Bear.
In 1990, Adler lent his voice to Buster Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures. Producer Tom Ruegger recalled that he and voice director Andrea Romano insisted Steven Spielberg cast him due to the "great deal of energy" he brought to Buster. In 1992, during the show's third season, he abruptly left the show after a disagreement with the producers; while voice actors with smaller roles in the show were given starring roles in its successor Animaniacs, he was offended when he was not offered a role in that series. John Kassir replaced him for the remainder of Tiny Toons.
In 1993, Adler went on to play Chance "T-Bone" Furlong on , Bill on The Terrible Thunderlizards, Ickis on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Ed Bighead and Bev Bighead on Rocko's Modern Life, Stalker Slaughter on Captain Planet and the Planeteers and Screwball Squirrel, as well as reprising Dripple for Droopy, Master Detective.
In 1995, Adler voiced several characters on What a Cartoon!. In the latter, he played Cow, Chicken and The Red Guy. No Smoking was a pilot created by David Feiss, which was greenlit to be a series in 1997 with him on board to reprise his characters, for a new series, titled I Am Weasel. Cow and Chicken ran from 1997 to 1999, receiving multiple awards and nominations, including an Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production" for Adler as Cow. Later on I Am Weasel was made into a spinoff series, in which he reprised the three characters and also voice I.R. Baboon.
His voice directing career began in the late 1990s with Rugrats and later collaborated with Klasky Csupo. Adler has directed The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, All Grown Up!, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, The Replacements, among others.
In 2002, Adler, with David Feiss and Michael Ryan, directed his own short film No Prom for Cindy.
Adler also voiced Dr. Peacock in Froot Loops commercials, Padrig Winks and Mr. Hornsby on Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, SAVO on Danger Rangers, Mr. Whiskers on Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Optimatus on Loonatics Unleashed and Doctor Doom on The Super Hero Squad Show.
In 2007, Adler provided the voice of Starscream in Michael Bay's live-action Transformers film franchise. Just as Chris Latta voiced both Starscream and Cobra Commander in the Sunbow cartoons, Adler voiced Cobra Commander on and . He also voiced the titular character in the webtoon Inspector Beaver.
Adler was the guest of honor at the 2017 edition of AnthroCon.
His subsequent credits as voice director include Nickelodeon's Blaze and the Monster Machines, Wabbit (season 1), and . He also plays MODOK on Avengers Assemble.
+ List of voice performances in direct-to-video and feature films ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
1985 | Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer | Popo | Credited as Charles Adler A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. |
1986 | Spike, Woodland Creature | ||
1987 | Low-Light | Direct-to-video | |
1987 | The Chipmunk Adventure | Additional Voices | |
1988 | Deputy Fuzz, Tex Hex | ||
1989 | The Mastermind | Uncredited | |
1989 | The Little Mermaid | Additional Voices | |
1990 | Roller Coaster Rabbit | Carnival Barker | Uncredited Short film |
1990 | Arab | ||
1990 | The Rescuers Down Under | Additional Voices | |
1990 | The Prince and the Pauper | Weasel #2 & 3 , Pig Driver, Peasant and Man in Street | Short film |
1992 | Buster Bunny | Direct-to-video | |
1992 | Cool World | Nails | Credited as Charles Adler |
1992 | Aladdin | Gazeem, Melon Merchant, Nut Merchant | |
1993 | Once Upon a Forest | Waggs | |
1998 | Agent the Snake | Credited as Charles Adler | |
1998 | The Rugrats Movie | United Express Driver | |
2000 | Inspector | ||
2003 | Templeton, Lurvy | Direct-to-video | |
2005 | Grammy | ||
2005 | Beaver | ||
2006 | Reporter | ||
2007 | Transformers | Starscream | |
2009 | |||
2009 | The Haunted World of El Superbeasto | Krongarr | Direct-to-video |
2011 | Starscream | ||
2013 | Khumba | Wild Dog #1, Dassie Leader | Credited as Charles Adler |
2015 | Top Cat Begins | Granny Dibble | |
2016 | Norm of the North | Forebear | |
2017 | All I Want for Christmas Is You | Santa, Mr. Ingersoll, Dougie's Dad | Direct-to-video |
2019 | Ed Bighead, Bev Bighead, others | Netflix film | |
2024 | Hitpig! | Super Rooster |
+ List of voice performances in television shows ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
Credited as Charles Adler | |
Roddy Piper | |
Television film | |
Uncredited | |
Television film | |
Episode: "Much Ado About Scrooge" | |
Episode: "The Rescue Pups/Good Night, Sweet Pups"; uncredited | |
Television film | |
Television film | |
Quark, Zappy | |
Episode: "Leave It to Space Beavers" | |
Episode: "My Brother's Keeper" | |
Episode: "Phantom of the Cave/Dry River" | |
Credited as Charles Adler | |
Episode: "Cleo's Pen Pal" | |
Episode: "The Ugly Duckling" | |
Main role | |
Episode: "The Masked Motorcyclist" | |
Episode: "Circus Daze" | |
Television film | |
Television film | |
Credited as Charles Adler | |
Episode: "The Third Pig" | |
Episode: "The Ballad of Belle Bonnet" | |
Episode: "The Tick vs. Education" | |
Episode: "The Unfriendly Skies" | |
Episode: "Humility" | |
Episode: "Beanstalk Blues" | |
Episode: "The Unseen" | |
Episode: "The Buzzard Syndrome" | |
English dub | |
Episode: "The Lying Show" | |
Credited as Charles Adler | |
Episode: "Love and Cheese/Weighing Harold" | |
Credited as Charles Adler | |
Episode: "Burn Hazelnut Burn/Career Daze" | |
Episode: "Horse Sense" | |
Episode: "The Party" | |
Episode: "Eenie, Meany, Out You Go/Stage Fright/Gone Fishin'" | |
Episode: "My Name Is Robbie" | |
English dub | |
Episode: "Old Money" | |
Episode: "Guaka Rules" | |
Episode: "Report Card" | |
Episode: "Sir Nonny the Nice!" | |
Episode: "" | |
Episode: "Holed Up/One of a Kind" | |
Episode: "The Nice Guy/The Timebomb" | |
Episode: "Contest of the Champions: Part 3" | |
Episode: "Too Many Termites" | |
Episode: "Jolly Lodgers" | |
2 episodes | |
+ List of voice performances in video games ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes | ||
1996 | Normality | Leader Paul | |
1996 | Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker | Ickis | Credited as Charles Adler |
1996 | Blazing Dragons | The Pied Piper, Hunter, Fisherman | |
1997 | Atomic Bomberman | Bomberman | |
1997 | Fallout | Harold | |
1997 | ClayFighter 63⅓ | T. Hoppy, Dr. Kiln | |
1998 | Fallout 2 | Harold | |
1999 | Earthworm Jim 3D | Professor Monkey-For-A-Head | Uncredited |
1999 | Ignus | Credited as Charles Adler | |
2000 | Kalah, Telos, Rielev, Rejiek Hidesman | ||
2000 | Escape from Monkey Island | Jumbeaux LaFeet, Mungle the Pirate Student | |
2000 | Sacrifice | Additional Voices | |
2000 | Stupid Invaders | Candy Hector Caramella, Chicken, Cow, Singing Pufferfish | Credited as Charles Adler |
2001 | Nicktoons Racing | Ickis | |
2002 | Earth and Beyond | Gratis August Var | |
2005 | Redback Russ | ||
2006 | Cartoon Network Racing | Cow, Chicken, The Red Guy, I.R. Baboon | |
2009 | MadWorld | Jude the Dude, Frank, Killseeker A | |
2009 | Starscream | Credited as Charles Adler | |
2009 | Starscream, Sunstorm | ||
2009 | Marvel Super Hero Squad | Doctor Doom, Sabretooth | |
2010 | Star Trek Online | S'Taass, Gazzan | |
2010 | Doctor Doom, Doombot | ||
2011 | Super-Skrull | Also Ultimate | |
2011 | Marvel Super Hero Squad Online | Doctor Doom, Red Skull, Annihilus, others | Credited as Charles Adler |
2011 | Doctor Doom, Doombot | ||
2012 | Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Additional Voices | |
2013 | Marvel Heroes | Super-Skrull | Uncredited |
2013 | Additional Voices | ||
2014 | Disney Infinity 2.0 | MODOK | |
2015 | Disney Infinity 3.0 | ||
2016 | Lego Marvel's Avengers | ||
2016 | Chain Reaction, Skunkwalker, Scholarville Mabu | ||
2018 | Red Dead Redemption II | The Local Pedestrian Population |
+ List of appearances in film and television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes | ||
1986 | The Redd Foxx Show | Rita / Ralph | 2 episodes |
1988 | Thirtysomething | Mister Squeeze Auditioner | Episode: "The Competition" |
1990 | 1st & Ten | Rod | Episode: "Earn This One for Ernie" |
2009 | Wake | Priest | |
2010 | Totally Tracked Down | Himself | Episode: "Estelle Harris: Master of Her Domain" |
2011 | Hot in Cleveland | Director | 2 episodes |
2013 | I Know That Voice | Himself | Documentary |
1985 | Helen Hayes Award | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Touring Production | Torch Song Trilogy | |
1999 | Annie Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production | Cow and Chicken | |
2000 | Annie Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production | Cow and Chicken | |
2003 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Children's Animated Program | Rugrats | |
2020 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Directing for an Animated Program | ||
|
|