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Peter Claver Cullen (born July 28, 1941) is a Canadian voice actor. He voiced Optimus Prime in the original 1980s Transformers animated series, later returning to the role in Transformers media in 2007, starting with the first live-action film. He has also voiced many other characters across a wide variety of popular media, including Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, Monterey Jack in , the first voice of KARR in Knight Rider and the vocalizations of the title character in Predator.
He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2023 as part of the 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards.
Cullen played a French-Canadian astronaut character named Commander Bi Bi Latuque alongside Ted Zeigler for the 1969 children's show, The Buddies on CFCF-DT in Montreal. He 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. From 1967 to 1969, he was the announcer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
From 1971 to 1974, he, Zeigler, and Billy Van were series regulars on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. In 1974, Cullen was the announcer and a series regular alongside Zeigler and Van on The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. He lent his voice to a character in the album "The Story of Halloween Horror" in 1977.
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 War. "When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a superhero 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 just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus."Nguyen, Hanh. "Prime Time: Cullen's 'Transformers' Resurrection", Zap2It, November 7, 2006.
He has also stated that he had no idea of Prime's popularity until the character's controversial death in the , because the studio had never given him fan letters from children addressed to Optimus. The public backlash over Optimus's death surprised producers greatly. Children were leaving the theaters distraught 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, and indeed, Optimus returned once and for all to lead the Autobots for the final five episodes of the original American cartoon series.
Cullen reprised the role of Optimus Prime in the 2007 Transformers live-action film, the sequels , , and , the reboot and its sequel, Bumblebee Optimus Prime Returning for the Bumblebee Spinoff Movie – Screen Rant and and the video games based on the film series. Though he was only contractually obligated to voice Optimus up to The Last Knight, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated in 2021 that Cullen was welcome to voice the character for as long as he wanted.
Cullen again reprised his role as Optimus Prime in the video games , and , and in the television series , and . 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.
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 in the supporting cast of 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 the 1983–1984 TV series Saturday Supercade, making him the first person to ever provide a voice for the character in western media.
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. Tetragrammaton also featured Cullen on bass in "God's Among Insects." Review of Tetragrammaton by The Monolith Deathcult, Metal-fi.com Additionally, he did voicework for the unreleased Blizzard Entertainment game , Blizzard Entertainment, Coming Soon magazine and provided narration for the Star Wars fan film series I.M.P.S.: The Relentless.
Cullen is a voice announcer on in advertisements for New Line Cinema, lending his experience as an ex-cop for the Santa Monica division to the cast.
He has also done voice work for promotions of the 1999 film The Iron Giant. In 2023, he joined season 2 of Amazon Originals Invincible series.
Cullen is a devoted fan and supporter of NASA, citing the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 as the start of his interest. As such, he sees the interaction between Optimus Prime and Buzz Aldrin in Dark of the Moon as one of his proudest moments.
Other work
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cullen appeared on a number of television shows. He has played Coran, Stride the Tiger Fighter, and King Alfor in the Golion series, the transforming spaceship/robot Ramrod, the heroic Commander Eagle and the villainous Nemesis 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 franchise, the original voice of KARR in Knight Rider, Antor and Bomba, and Gunner, in Dino-Riders, Airborne, Zandar and Nemesis Enforcer in . 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 in the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider series, where he reprised his vocal role as KARR (from the original Knight Rider series). He also did voicework in 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 & Dragons. He played the evil sorcerer Renwick in Little Wizards and Cindarr in .
Personal life
Cullen has four children: Clay, Angus, Claire, and Pilar, and three grandchildren. He is a good friend of his longtime Transformers co-star and fellow voice actor Frank Welker, in contrast to the rivalry of their respective characters, Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Honours
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.
Filmography
Film
+ List of voice performances in feature films
! Year
! Title
!width=108 Role
! class="unsortable" Notes 1971 Tiki Tiki 1976 King Kong King Kong Uncredited 1982 Heidi's Song Gruffle 1983 Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls Big Blue 1984 Gallavants Antonim Voyage of the Rock Aliens 1359 Gremlins Special Vocal Effects 1985 Robotix Additional Voices Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines Arthur Ravenscroft Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer Various characters 1986 Pincher, Tombstone, Stones Grundle, Ahgg Optimus Prime, Ironhide King Kong Lives King Kong 1987 Zandar, Nemesis Enforcer, Scientist Predator The Predator 1988 Rockin' with Judy Jetson Gruff, Commander Comsat, Bouncer Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears Ranger Roubideux 1989 Myzor, Chief Eldor 1991 The Little Engine That Could Pete, The Cave 1994 The Story of Christmas Ox 1997 Eeyore 1999 Seasons of Giving Archive sound 2000 The Tigger Movie 2001 2002 A Very Merry Pooh Year Treasure Planet Captain Nathaniel Flint Uncredited 2003 Piglet's Big Movie Eeyore 2004 2005 Pooh's Heffalump Movie Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie 2007 Transformers Optimus Prime Super Sleuth Christmas Movie Eeyore 2009 Tigger and Pooh and a Musical Too Optimus Prime 2011 2013 2014 2017 Optimus Prime / Nemesis Prime 2018 Bumblebee Optimus Prime 2023
Television
+ List of voice performances in television shows
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" Notes 1967–68 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Announcer 1974 The Bobbie Gentry Show 1979 Mighty Man and Yukk Brandon Brewster / Mighty Man Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Additional Voices 1981 The Kwicky Koala Show Bristletooth The Smurfs Additional Voices Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Hulk, Mysterio, Red Skull 2 episodes 1982 The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour Lucky Spider-Man Red Skull, Stuntman, Jack Riven Meatballs & Spaghetti Additional Voices Pac-Man Sour Puss The Little Rascals Officer Ed, Pete the Pup Knight Rider K.A.R.R. 1st voice;
Episode: "Trust Doesn't Rust"1983 Monchhichis Shreeker, Snitchitt, Gonker The Puppy's Further Adventures Lucky The Biskitts Dog Foot, Fang, Scratch Saturday Supercade Mario The Dukes Additional Voices 1983–85 Mister T Additional Voices Dungeons & Dragons Venger 1984 Dragon's Lair Bertram Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats Additional Voices Snorks Additional Voices Coran, King Alfor, Narrator 1984–86 Rainbow Brite Murky Dismal 1984–85 Alvin and the Chipmunks Additional Voices Lucky Luke English dub 1984–87 The Transformers Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Streetwise, Wingspan, Slugslinger, Nightstick 1985 The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Maldor the Malevolent Challenge of the GoBots Spoiler, Tank, Pincher Felix Faust Episode: "Brainchild/The Case of the Stolen Super Powers" 1985–86 Airborne, Ramar, Zandar 1985–87 The Jetsons Additional Voices 1986 MoonDreamers Igon, Various characters Episode: "Zodies on the Loose" Sergeant Havoc Muppet Babies Sor-Elbow, Smoggy the Bear, Football Bear Episode: "Fozzie's Family Tree" Ghostbusters Eddie Spenser Jr., Eddie Spenser Sr., Haunter, Floatzart Pound Puppies Captain Slaughter 4 episodes The New Adventures of Jonny Quest Patch Episode: "Peril of the Reptilian" Foofur Baby the Rat, Vinnie the Cat My Little Pony Captain Crabnasty Episode: "Fugitive Flowers" 1987–88 BraveStarr Dr. Whiston, Dr. Watson, Hack DuckTales Admiral Grimitz, Bankjob Beagle, Mad Dog McGirk, Lessdred 1987 The Little Wizards Renwick, Various characters The Real Ghostbusters Doctor Destructo, Police Officer Episode: "Captain Steel Saves the Day" Cindarr 1987–89 Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs Commander Eagle, Narrator, Nemesis 1988 Dino-Riders Gunner, Antor, Bomba Episode: "Toro Toro Torosaurus" The Wonderful World of Disney The Sorcerer Episode: "Mickey's 60th Birthday" 1988–89 The New Yogi Bear Show Ranger Roubideux Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash, Mugger, Napoleon 1988–91 The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Eeyore 1988–90 Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears Kerwin the Conqueror, Gritty 1989 Rude Dog and the Dweebs Herman, Winston 1989–90 Monterey Jack, additional voices 1990 TaleSpin Additional Voices Episode: "It Came from Beneath the Sea Duck" 1990–93 Tom & Jerry Kids Additional Voices 1990–92 Tiny Toon Adventures Additional Voices 1990–91 Widget the World Watcher Bob the Poacher, Rooney Kangaroo, Gdunu 1991–93 The Pirates of Dark Water Mantus 1993 Bonkers Abominable Snowman, Mackey McSlime 1994 Hardball Fox Announcer Episode: "Lee's Bad, Bad Day" 1996 Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh Eeyore 1998–present The Magical World of Walt Disney 2001 House of Mouse 2001–02 The Book of Pooh 2004–05 Megas XLR Zanzoar, Klaar 2005–06 Narrator 2007–10 My Friends Tigger & Pooh Eeyore 2009 Knight Rider K.A.R.R. Episode: "Knight in King's Pawn" Bizarre Dinosaurs Narrator 2010–13 Optimus Prime / Orion Pax, Nemesis Prime, Vehicon 2011–16 Optimus Prime 2014 2014 Kids' Choice Awards 2015–17 2017 Doc McStuffins Eeyore Episode: "Into the Hundred Acre Wood" 2017–18 Optimus Prime 2018 The Toys That Made Us Himself
Optimus Prime Optimus Prime 2019 Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Yōkai Councillor #1 3 episodes 2023–present Invincible Thaedus 2024 The Masked Singer Optimus Prime Episode: Transformers Night
Video games
+ List of voice performances in video games
! Year !! Title !! Voice role Eeyore Optimus Prime Transformers Autobots Transformers: Earth Wars Eeyore Narrator Optimus Prime
Theme park rides
+ List of voice performances in theme park rides
! Year
! Title
! Voice role
! class="unsortable" Notes 2003 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Eeyore 2011 Optimus Prime
Awards and nominations
Notes
External links
Categories: 1941 Births, Living People, Anglophone Quebec People, Canadian Expatriate Male Actors In The United States, Canadian Male Comedians, Canadian Male Film Actors, Canadian Male Television Actors, Canadian Male Video Game Actors, Canadian Male Voice Actors, Canadian People Of Irish Descent, Canadian Sketch Comedians, Comedians From Montreal, Hanna-barbera People, Male Actors From Montreal, National Theatre School Of Canada Alumni, 20th-century Canadian Male Actors, 21st-century Canadian Male Actors
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