Kevin Michael Richardson Biography

American actor (born 1964)

Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in Mortal Kombat (1995) and reprises in Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020), Captain Gantu in the Lilo & S*ch franchise, Kamek in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Bulkhead from Transformers: Prime, and Deus Ex Machina in The Matrix Revolutions (2003). He has also voiced characters on Seth MacFarlane's shows Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad!, as well as several characters on The Simpsons, and Futurama.

Richardson is also known for his roles as Trigon, Mammoth and See-More in both Teen *ans and Teen *ans Go!, Antauri in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, the Oroku Saki/Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Stump Smash and Tree Rex in the Skylanders video game series, Rosie in F Is for Family, Barney Rubble in The Flintstones: On the Rocks, the Mauler Twins and Monster Girl in Invincible, and Chairman Drek in the video game Ratchet & Clank. He received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations for voicing the Joker in The Batman (2004–2008).

Early life

Richardson was born on October 25, 1964, in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater from Syracuse University in 1988.

Career

Richardson in 2010

Richardson began his live-action acting career in New York City, where he performed in commercials. His first professional acting job was in an AT&T commercial. He was frequently hired as a voice for television commercials. He later moved to Los Angeles. He has usually portrayed villainous characters due to his deep and powerful voice. In 1995, he obtained his first voice role as Mayor Tilton on the animated television version of The Mask. Additionally, early in his career, he appeared in a PBS special directed by John Houseman.

Richardson's other credits include Captain Gantu in Lilo & S*ch and its franchise, Shnitzel in the Chowder pilot (and was later replaced by John DiMaggio), Goro in Mortal Kombat, the second voice of Skulker on Danny Phantom, Sarevok in the Baldur's Gate series, Jolee Bindo in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Crunch Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot games, Sai Sahan in Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG series, Tartarus from Halo 2, Chairman Drek in Ratchet & Clank, Antauri in Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Openly Gator from Queer Duck, Doctor Payne and others on The Proud Family, Dark Laser on The Fairly OddParents, Maurice from The Penguins of Madagascar (replacing Cedric the Entertainer), Slam Tasmanian and Tech E. Coyote on Loonatics Unleashed, and the voice of Exile in the 1990s animated series Road Rovers.

Richardson replaced Keith David as the voice of Tombstone on The Spectacular Spider-Man. He provided a character voice set for Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter and Icewind Dale II. He was the voice of Heihachi in the PlayStation 2 game Soul Calibur II, though he is listed in the role as Victor Stone. He also voiced Stump Smash and Tree Rex in Skylanders: Swap Force, Skylanders: Trap Team, and Skylanders: SuperChargers.

In 2001, Richardson voiced Barney Rubble in the animated movie The Flintstones: On the Rocks. In 2004, he became the first Black actor to portray the Joker, voicing the character on the animated series The Batman, a role for which he was twice nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program. In 2005, he voiced Trigon on the animated series Teen *ans, taking over the role from Keith Szarabajka.

In 2006, he appeared in the comedy Clerks II in which he plays a cop who notices the words "Porch Monkey 4 Life" written on the back of Randal Graves' work jacket; he also voiced the elder dragon Terrador from The Legend of Spyro game series. In 2008, he performed the voice of Bishop for Wolverine and the X-Men. Later, he did the voice of Nick Fury on The Super Hero Squad Show. He also voiced Tyro in Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2004.

Richardson often plays characters based on comedian Bill Cosby, such as on Family Guy ("Brian Does Hollywood"); as Cosby himself on The Boondocks; and Numbuh 5's father Mr. Lincoln, an homage to Cosby on Codename: Kids Next Door.

His most frequent role on Family Guy is Jerome, Lois's ex-boyfriend. He was also the voice of Cleveland Brown Jr., Lester Krinklesac, and numerous others on The Cleveland Show. He currently voices Principal Brian Lewis on American Dad! and is the current voice for Dr. Hibbert replacing Harry Shearer on The Simpsons. His voice roles in 2011 included Panthro in the Thundercats series, Martian Manhunter on Young Justice and Bulkhead, one of the Autobots in Transformers: Prime. He played Kilowog in Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, the video game sequel to the live-action film Green Lantern and later reprised the role in Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice.

He was nominated for Voice Actor of the Year by Behind the Voice Actors in 2012 and in 2013.

In September 2013, he provided the voice of Mr. Gus on the Cartoon Network show Uncle Grandpa. In 2015, he did the voice of a Nigerian king on The Simpsons episode "The Princess Guide". Later, he provided the voice of Judge Michaels in Tyler Perry's first animated film, Madea's Tough Love. In 2021, he provided the voice of Jimbo in The Boss Baby: Back in Business (2018), the sequel to the 2017 film The Boss Baby.

Personal life

Richardson lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Monica, whom he married in 2006. He is the stepfather of her two sons from a previous marriage.

Filmography

Main article: Kevin Michael Richardson filmography

References

Bibliography

• Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9th:ed.). Random House Publishing Group. ISBN:978-0-307-48320-1.
• Terrace, Vincent (2008). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2d:ed.). McFarland. ISBN:978-0-7864-8641-0.
• Perlmutter, David (2014). America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. McFarland. ISBN:978-1-4766-1488-5.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kevin Michael Richardson.

• www.kevinmichaelrichardson.net (archived)
• Kevin Michael Richardson at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kevin Michael Richardson at IMDb
• Kevin Michael Richardson on Twitter
• Richardson on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2021
• Kevin Michael Richardson at Behind The Voice Actors