Dee Bradley Baker

At 62 years old, Dee Bradley Baker has this physical status:

Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor.

His major roles, many of which feature his vocalizations of animals, include animated series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, American Dad!, SpongeBob SquarePants, Codename: Kids Next Door, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Phineas and Ferb, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Ben 10, The Legend of Korra and The 7D, live action series such as Legends of the Hidden Temple and Shop 'til You Drop, films such as The Boxtrolls and Space Jam and video games such as Halo, Gears of War, Viewtiful Joe, Spore, and Overwatch.

He voices Paulie Ducklings and Burpy in T.O.T.S..

Early life

Baker was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on August 31, 1962, the son of Nancy and Buddy Baker. He grew up in Greeley, Colorado. He started performing at the age of nine and steadily worked in musicals, operas, plays, and stand-up comedy. He was a childhood fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, and the music of Frank Zappa; he also had an interest in insects, arthropods, and dinosaurs. He graduated from University High School in 1981 and received a Boettcher Scholarship.

Baker attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he studied philosophy, biology, fine arts, and German, the last of which he studied overseas for a year at the University of Göttingen. He was involved in local theater productions and singing groups. After graduating with a BA in philosophy in 1986, he was involved in many community theater projects, including a sketch comedy movie that aired on local public television.

Personal life

Baker met his wife, Michelle, when they were doing children's theatre at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. They married in 1990, and have two daughters named Josie and Cora. They live in Los Angeles.

Outside of voice acting, Baker enjoys photography, mostly taking pictures of small flowers and insects. He is fluent in German.

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Career

Baker moved to Orlando, Florida, where he appeared on an improv sketch comedy show titled The Anacomical Players at the EPCOT Center's Wonders of Life pavilion and worked on several Disney and Universal Studios. His first major television appearance was on Nickelodeon's Legends of the Hidden Temple, from 1993 to 1995, where he was not only the announcer but also the giant talking rock-god Olmec. Olmec was depicted by the poet with a "burgeoning, booming, god-like voice." During certain segments of the show, he would narrate a legend and then challenge the kid contestants to trivia questions. The series lasted three seasons and 120 episodes. When host Kirk Fogg left Los Angeles, he was encouraged to move there as well. He and Fogg reprised their roles in a live action television movie version of the series in 2016. On Legends, he recalled his role as Olmec again.

About a year before the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Baker moved to Southern California. He became involved in voice-over work; Cow & Chicken's father was the main character in the Cow & Chicken and I Am Weasel cartoons; his first major character was Cow & Chicken's father. His first film voice-over was on the basketball-themed Looney Tunes film Space Jam, where he portrayed Daffy Duck, Taz, and Toro. On The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and The Powerpuff Girls, he did voice work for several episodic and recurring cartoon characters. In the second season of Jungle Cubs, he starred characters Og in Mike, Lu & Og, and Bagheera. He starred as Mandy's father on Billy and Mandy in 2001, added voice for Sanjay, Binky, and other characters for The Fairly OddParents. In Codename: Kids Next Door, he was the leader of Numbuh 4 in Codename: Kids First Door. In SpongeBob SquarePants, he has played Bubble Bass, as well as other minor roles.

On the live-action front, he served as the co-host and announcer for the game show Shop 'til You Drop, which aired on the Family Channel and on the Pax television network before it was re-branded in 2003; Stone Stanley Entertainment, which had previously co-produced Legends of the Hidden Temple, earlier co-produced Legends of the Unknown Temple. Phil Berg played on-screen in The Journey of Allen Strange, in which he plays a crazed journalist who tries to reveal Allen's identity as a space alien.

He performed a variety of animal characters, which would be one of his specialties, starting with gigs on The Wild Thornberrys. In the live action animal film My Brother the Pig, he played Pig George. Baker has appeared on television shows for younger children, including Dora the Explorer where he provided animal sounds; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse where he voices Boo Boo Chicken; and My Friends Tigger & Pooh, where he voices Buster the dog and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, where he voices Tick-Tock the crocodile. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, where he voiced the creatures Appa and Momo and will soon appear in more than 30 others in the series, as well as the Legend of Korra, where he appears in Naga, Pabu, and Oogi. He appeared in the American Dragon: Jake Long and Ben 10 series, the latter of which featured many alien animals such as Stinkfly and Wildmutt, as well as some of the transformations. He has appeared in Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and Ben 10: Omniverse, as well as the show's live-action versions and the show's revival. Derrick J. Wyatt, the art director of Omniverse, said they had to hire some of the aliens in the later series because Baker was doing so much of them and some of the characters were putting a strain on his throat. He appeared on television as Captain Jack Sparrow's talking parrot in the refurbished Pirates of the Caribbean rides at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.

Perry the Platypus was the protagonist of the Disney film Phineas and Ferb in 2007. Baker said during the San Diego Comic-Con 2013 panel that he auditioned, he was asked to make three different animal sounds, one of which was chosen as Perry's characteristic sound. Perry has made a name for himself in the series, with Baker appearing at various Comic-Con panels. Perry was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Best Animal Sidekick in 2014. Waddles the pet pig in Gravity Falls, another one of Baker's voiced characters, was nominated for the same category.

In the primetime cartoon sitcom American Dad, Baker converted Klaus Heisler, an Olympic ski jumper from Germany who had been body-swapped into a goldfish. On Fox and TBS, the series has been on display for more than 15 seasons. Baker said in a Pop Break interview that he enjoyed playing Klaus because he loves the German language, but that the role is not difficult on his voice. He likened the rehearsals to being on The Carol Burnett Show. He appeared in American Dad panels at San Diego Comic-Con 2010 and 2014, as well as the New York Comic-Con in 2014. In the episode "Fight or Flight," Klaus was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.

In 2012, his representation of council member Tarrok in Korra received a nomination for the Behind the Voice Actors (BTVA) Voice Acting Award. Baker portrayed characters in many animated and live action animation films, including some of the classic ghost monsters in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Maurice in Happy Feet.

He also had roles in the Scooby-Doo!

The Mystery Incorporated TV series and its direct-to-video announcements were released.

Baker appeared in the Star Wars film "The Clone Wars film was released in 2008 and its television series afterwards, which lasted for seven seasons. He sang not only for Captain Rex and Cody, but also for all the supporting clone troopers, the last of which received an Annie Award nomination in a Television Production in 2012. Captain Rex's role in Star Wars Rebels has since been revived, beginning with the second season. Boba Fett's voice was also featured on Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. "It's a Trap!" says the 2011 Family Guy episode "It's a Trap!" "In a parody of Star Wars' Return of the Jedi, he portrayed Klaus as Admiral Ackbar." In 2021, he reprised his role as the clones in the Clone Wars spin-off The Bad Batch, which included the corresponding group of experimental clones.

Baker also appeared in Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's slew of show-related game launches in the video game industry. In addition to his appearances in Halo 2 and Halo 3, Joe in the Viewtiful Joe series, which was released from 2003 to 2005. He made the creature sounds for the Spore video game, which allows players to design and build their own creatures. He appeared at the Opening Night of San Diego Comic-Con 2008, where he performed characters from Gears of War and other series. Murky, a baby murloc in Heroes of the Storm, and Hammond, a genetically engineered hamster in Overwatch, provided voices for two Blizzard Entertainment characters. In Portal 2, he is also the voice of Atlas and P-body.

Baker continued to be involved in American Dad, Gravity Falls, and the Legend of Korra's fourth season. In a Disney XD film The 7D; and Fish, Wheels, and Bucket; he was nominated for an Annie Award for voicing Fish. Brainiac was voiced by a Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game. In "The Animated Episode" of the TV Land series Hot in Cleveland, he portrayed George Clooney and his dog. In 2020, he became the hero Leef in Rocket Arena.

Baker has appeared on various panels at Comic-Con and other conventions where he addresses voice acting in general. IWantToBeActAct.com, his son's website, where he responds to frequently asked questions regarding voice acting and gives tips. Steven Blum and Rob Paulsen, both voice actors, have recommended the website as a useful resource for getting into voice acting.

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