Maurice LaMarche

Maurice Eric LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian-American voice actor and former stand-up comedian. He is known for voicing the animated version of Egon Spengler in both The Real Ghostbusters and its follow-up Extreme Ghostbusters, The Brain in Animaniacs and its spin-off Pinky and the Brain, his Emmy-winning performances in Futurama, and impersonating Orson Welles in numerous series and films.

Biography
LaMarche was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but his family moved to Timmins, Ontario soon after he was born.

At the age of 19, LaMarche took his high school act to an open mic night in New York, performing to a reaction in which, as he describes, "they just totally ignored me." Three years later, at the age of 22, Maurice moved straight to Los Angeles to further his stand up career. This move, LaMarche says, would always be something he regretted doing instead of moving to New York.

Over the next five years, LaMarche's career would gradually progress, playing comedy clubs over the U.S., with several appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and An Evening At The Improv, but in spite of such interest, LaMarche believed that, while his impersonations and stage presence were strong, he needed to develop funnier comedy material. During his standup career, LaMarche opened for such acts as Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Howie Mandel, David Sanborn and Donna Summer, usually in the main showrooms of Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

On March 9, 1987, LaMarche's father was shot to death by a lifelong friend in a Toronto hotel lobby, in front of dozens of witnesses. This sent LaMarche into depression and alcoholism for the next two years, effectively stalling his stand-up career. After sobering up in 1989, LaMarche embarked again into the world of standup comedy. As he was regaining lost momentum, his 18-year-old sister was killed in a car accident in September of 1990. At this point, though he remained sober, LaMarche decided he just could not do standup comedy anymore.

LaMarche's entrance into the voiceover industry was in 1980 in Easter Fever and Take Me Up to the Ball Game, two Canadian films from Nelvana. LaMarche did not venture into voiceover acting again until years later as a side endeavor during his full-time standup comedy career.

It took a few years after his 1981 move to Los Angeles based voice actor for Maurice LaMarche to establish himself in the American voiceover industry, which he initially pursued as a side endeavor during his full-time standup comedy career. LaMarche began on Inspector Gadget with that show's second season in 1985, and went on to Dennis the Menace, Popeye and Son and The Real Ghostbusters where he played Egon Spengler. After The Real Ghostbusters, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry, appearing in such shows as Tiny Toon Adventures, GI Joe, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Animated Series, Taz-Mania, Where's Waldo, The Little Mermaid, Batman: The Animated Series, and Bonkers before landing perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain. Following this, LaMarche worked on The Critic, Freakazoid, and The Tick before then reprising his role of Egon in Extreme Ghostbusters. The stretch of two years after this saw LaMarche portray characters in such shows as Hey Arnold! as Big Bob Pataki, Queer Duck, and The Chimp Channel. During this time LaMarche would become the voice actor for Mortimer Mouse whom he would voice in the television series Mickey Mouse Works and Disney's House of Mouse. It was at this time, 1999, that LaMarche began work on Futurama, and since Futurama, he has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons (where he once again parodied Orson Welles). His most recent regular role came as Hovis the butler on the Nickelodeon series Catscratch. LaMarche was the voice of antagonist Father in Codename: Kids Next Door and was also the voice of Victor in Playhouse Disney's Handy Manny 2007 Halloween episode.

LaMarche has done various voice work for many Warner Bros. Animation and DiC Entertainment cartoons. He also delivered the protracted belches for the "Great Wakkorotti" shorts on Animaniacs, in which Wakko Warner performed various pieces of music. In 2011, LaMarche reprised his role as Yosemite Sam in Cartoon Network's new series, The Looney Tunes Show, and its spin-off, New Looney Tunes. LaMarche made several appearances in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic where he voiced Chancellor Neighsay. Maurice LaMarche began on Inspector Gadget, and landed his first major role in animation on The Real Ghostbusters as the voice of Egon Spengler. Afterwards, LaMarche became a regular mainstay of the voiceover industry, and was a prominent part of many of Warner Bros Television Animation's cartoon series. He was the voice of Dizzy Devil in Tiny Toon Adventures, various voices on Taz-Mania, and later landed perhaps his most recognized role in 1993 as The Brain on Animaniacs and later its spin-off show Pinky and the Brain. He also provided voices on shows such as Hey Arnold! as Big Bob Pataki, The Critic, Freakazoid!, and The Tick as well as reprising his role of Egon in Extreme Ghostbusters. He is also well known for his work on Futurama, where he voices Kif Kroker, Morbo, Lrr, Calculon, and many others.

LaMarche has continued to work steadily in television, including guest roles on The Simpsons.

TV Series

 * The Naked Director (2019-present) - Furuya, Additional Voices (Season 2)

Films

 * Napoleon (1995) - Snake, Frill Necked Lizard, Turtle

Animated Series

 * Space Goofs (1997-2006) - Etno Polino, Announcer (ep. 7), Cowboy (ep. 8), Bat (ep. 10) , Policeman (ep. 14), Santa Claus (ep. 16) , Cop (ep. 17) , Jinx (ep. 20) , Patron (ep. 21) , Old Lady (ep. 22) , Gnome (ep. 25) , Cockroach (ep. 26) , Biker (ep. 28) , George (ep. 28) , Announcer (ep. 31) , Edmond (ep. 32) , Flying Dutchman (ep. 36) , Mechanic (ep. 38) , Zork (ep. 39) , Fred (ep. 40) , Mickey (ep. 41) , Demon (ep. 43) , Crow (ep. 45) , Fish (ep. 47) , Mailman (ep. 47) , Policeman (ep. 48) , Fish (ep. 50) , Spider (ep. 50) , Count Gracula (ep. 51) , Newscaster (eps. 54, 94, 96, 99) , Zookeeper #2 (ep. 54) , Steve Long (ep. 56) , Phil (ep. 56) , Bob (ep. 57) , Spaceship Launch Voice (ep. 57) , Anti-Theft Device (ep. 58) , Inspector Mortenson (ep. 59) , Captain Steve (ep. 59) , TV Doctor (ep. 61) , Dr. Sigmund (ep. 61) , Salesman (eps. 63, 70) , Jack (ep. 64) , Colonel Kenny (eps. 65, 95) , Basketball Coach (ep. 68) , The Roberto Twins (ep. 71) , Aaron (ep. 75) , Documentary Narrator (ep. 78) , Marty the Magician (ep. 79) , Norman (ep. 80) , Thomas Mancini (ep. 81) , Fred Adams (ep. 91) , Harry (ep. 92) , Old Indian (ep. 97) , Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather (ep. 97) , Jack the Hunter (ep. 103) , Fabrice LaRouche (ep. 104)
 * Totally Spies! (2001-2013) - Professor John Pailey (ep. 4), WHOOP Volcanalogist (ep. 4) , Rasputin Zero (ep. 44)
 * Rintindumb (2006) - Rintindumb, Additional Voices
 * Shuriken School (2006-2007) - Daisuke Togakame, Kubo Utamaro, Zumichito, Naginata
 * Rahan (2008-2009) - Narrator (Pilot ep.)
 * The Garfield Show (2009-2016) - Samuel W. Underburger
 * The Daltons (2010-2016) - Averell Dalton, Rintindumb (US Dub)

Animated Shorts

 * Have a Laugh! (2009-2012) - Mortimer Mouse

Animated Films

 * Shuriken School: The Ninja's Secret (2006) - Daisuke Togakame, Kubo Utamaro, Zumichito, Naginata

Anime Films

 * Pom Poko (1994) - Narrator, Additional Voices
 * Tekkonkinkreet (2007) - Fujimura

Video Game Dubbing

 * Stupid Invaders (2000) - Etno Polino, Computer, Santa Claus