Josh Robert Thompson

Josh Robert Thompson (born March 11, 1975) is an American voice actor, actor, comedian, and impressionist. He is best known for his work on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson , providing the voice of robot skeleton Geoff Peterson along with numerous characters and impersonations, as well as his celebrity impersonations on Family Guy and The Howard Stern Show. He appeared in a lead role in the 2014 romantic comedy Nowhere Girl.

Thompson is known for his celebrity impressions, including Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matthew McConaughey, George Lucas and Donald Trump.

Early Life
Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, "raised by classic television." He would watch as actors became different characters and began to mimic them. At age eight, his grandmother bought him a Fisher-Price tape recorder that he used to create radio-style "shows", voicing the host and the guests. The following year, he performed on stage in Peter Pan at the Cleveland Play House.

During his junior year at Padua Franciscan High School, Thompson delivered one line for the school's production of Oklahoma! and walked off to laughter and applause. "Then someone backstage said, 'They're clapping for you. They love you.' After that, I was hooked." Thompson and some of his classmates got a video camera and began making feature-length and short films, and television-style shows. He graduated from Padua in 1993.

Thompson moved to Los Angeles a few years later and performed on local television and as a stand-up comic while working toward his degree in TV, Radio and Film Production at California State University, Fullerton. He uses his middle name professionally because a "Josh Thompson" was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

Career
Thompson's Arnold Schwarzenegger impression first gained national attention during the California gubernatorial recall election of 2003. Posing as Schwarzenegger, Thompson phoned in to Fox News Channel's morning program, Fox & Friends, fooling the hosts into believing (at least for a short while) that he was, in fact, Schwarzenegger.

Thompson's Fox News prank caught the attention of The Howard Stern Show, and the impression—dubbed "Fake Arnold" by the show's producers—soon became a mainstay on the program. At around the same time, Thompson also made a number of appearances on the Conway and Steckler and Conway and Whitman radio shows in Los Angeles (KLSX), and 96fm's Breakfast show in Perth, Western Australia, where he voiced a number of characters, including Fake Arnold, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Jackson, and Bill Cosby.

In April 2005, Thompson's "Fake Arnold" character proposed a fictitious plan to "blow up the moon". Fake Arnold's phony agenda managed to dupe MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, who appeared soon after on his television program, publicly lambasting the Governor for his alleged plan. Ten days later, after learning that the entire moon destruction scenario was a hoax, Scarborough apologized on-air for his erroneous comments.

On January 10, 2006, one day after Stern's show debuted on Sirius Satellite Radio, Thompson fooled Star Trek actor George Takei into believing he was actually speaking with Governor Schwarzenegger. Several minutes after the phone call with Fake Arnold ended, Takei was finally let in on the joke. One year later, the Takei prank was ranked sixth out of the Top 10 best moments from the show in 2006; it was also named as a top moment in the ten-year satellite tenure of the program.

Josh Robert Thompson has made several uncredited appearances in the show doing voice impressions like "Fake Arnold". His last appearance was in 2011. More recent impressions on Stern's show are done by another impersonator who also does many of the same voices as Josh.

Josh Robert Thompson made his stand- up debut in March 2015 on the Late Late Show with guest host and fellow Ohio native Drew Carey. Gaining many laughs and new fans, Thompson debuted his Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaughey, Liam Neeson, Robert De Niro & Dr. Oz impressions.

In February 2007, Thompson made his first on-camera television appearance as Governor Schwarzenegger on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. He became a regular performer on the show, making appearances as Robert De Niro, "Frat Guy", Brian Deese, and Levi Johnston, and as the voice of Morgan Freeman.

Starting on April 20, 2010, Thompson voiced Ferguson's robot skeleton sidekick Geoff Peterson, originally using pre-recorded clips of various reactions to the host's cues. Thompson tweeted his "recipe" for Geoff's voice in September: "1 part Snagglepuss. 1 part Vincent Price. 2 parts George Takei." On May 16, 2011, Thompson performed Geoff as a show guest; in a later skit spoofing the show's opening broadcast, Thompson portrayed Peterson as a living sidekick who suggested that Ferguson could reanimate his skeleton should something befall him while skydiving. Beginning June 29, 2011, Thompson voiced and performed Geoff live for nearly every episode, both in-studio and in such locations as Paris, France.

Once Thompson began voicing Geoff Peterson live, he incorporated several of his own impressions into the character's repertoire. He has performed his Morgan Freeman impression for Freeman during the actor's appearances. In June 2011, Geoff asked Freeman, "Would you like to hear my Morgan Freeman voice?" and "What would you like to say to yourself?". Freeman gave the impression a thumbs-up and called it "outstanding".

In 2014, Thompson took over as the voice and operator of Sandra Peterson, the remote-controlled rhinoceros head that hangs over the fireplace. The character was originated by actress Dana DeLorenzo.

Craig Ferguson told Larry King Now in 2014 that he and Thompson will continue to work together after leaving The Late Late Show in December. In the interview, Ferguson called Thompson a "comedic genius".

Using his online presence in August 2015, Thompson created an Indiegogo campaign that would help fund the post production costs of his pilot episode. In three days, Thompson’s online following helped successfully fund the post production costs raising $51,613 (US) passing its original $25,000 goal.

During post production, the audio mixing was completed at Skywalker Ranch, where Ben Burtt overlooked some of the process and found Thompson's George Lucas sketch funny. Ben Burtt later complemented Thompson saying that Lucas himself would love his show and his characters.

On April 9, 2018, Thompson uploaded his pilot to various social media platforms to help gain traction, including Twitter, Instagram, and Periscope.

Since 2011, Thompson has voiced various characters on Family Guy, American Dad! and Skylanders Academy. While voicing a few sketches on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Thompson also appeared on The Cleveland Show from 2011 until its cancellation in 2013.

Video Game Dubbing

 * Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (2010) - Prince Phillip