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!, 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 Pollie Ducklings and Burpy in T.O.T.S..
Biography[]
Baker was born in Bloomington, Indiana to Buddy and Nancy Baker, and grew up in Greeley, Colorado. He started performing at age nine and steadily worked in musicals, operas, plays and stand-up. As a child he was a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, Frank Zappa and Planet of the Apes, and also liked insects, arthropods and dinosaurs. He graduated from University High School in 1981 and received a Boettcher Scholarship.
He 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, he was involved in many community theater projects, including a sketch movie that aired on local public television.
Baker got involved in voice-over work; his first major character was Cow & Chicken's dad in the Cow & Chicken and I Am Weasel cartoons. His first feature film voice-over was on the basketball/Looney Tunes-themed movie Space Jam where he voiced Daffy Duck, Taz, Road Runner, and Toro. Starting with gigs on The Wild Thornberrys, he voiced an assortment of animal characters, which would become one of his specialties. In Avatar: The Last Airbender where he voiced the creatures Appa and Momo and would soon voice many other creatures in the series as well as its sequel, The Legend of Korra, where he voices Naga, Pabu and Oogi. He voiced in the American Dragon: Jake Long and Ben 10 series, the latter of which he voiced many alien creatures such as Stinkfly and Wildmutt, as well as some of the transformations. He also voiced in the Ben 10 sequels such as Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse, as well as its live-action adaptation. Derrick J. Wyatt, who was the art director for Omniverse, noted that they had to allow other voice actors to do some of the aliens in the later series because Baker was doing almost all of them and some of the characters were putting a strain on his throat. Outside of television, he provided the voice of Captain Jack Sparrow's talking parrot in the refurbished Pirates of the Caribbean rides at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.
In 2007, Baker got the role of Perry the Platypus in the Disney series Phineas & Ferb. At the San Diego Comic-Con 2013 panel, Baker mentioned that when he auditioned, he was asked to provide three different creature sounds, regardless of whether it actually sounded like a platypus, of which one was selected as Perry's characteristic sound. Perry has become a breakout character for the series, with Baker appearing at multiple Comic-Con panels for the show. In 2014, Perry was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Best Animal Sidekick. Coincidentally, another one of Baker's voiced characters, Waddles the pet pig in Gravity Falls, was nominated for the same category.
Baker was involved in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film released in 2008 and its television series afterward which ran for six seasons. He provided the voices for not only the characters Captain Rex and Commander Cody, but also all the supporting Clone Troopers, the last of which he received an Annie Award nomination for Voice Acting in a Television Production in 2012. He reprised the role of Captain Rex in Star Wars Rebels, beginning with its second season. He also provided the voice of Boba Fett for Star Tours – The Adventures Continue. In the 2011 Family Guy episode "It's a Trap!", a parody of the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi, he voiced Klaus as Admiral Ackbar.
Baker has appeared on various panels at Comic-Con and other conventions where he talks about voice acting in general. He hosts a website where he answers frequently-asked questions about voice acting. The site has been cited by fellow voice actors Steve Blum and Rob Paulsen as a valuable resource for getting into voice acting.
Baker met his wife, Michelle, when they were doing children's theatre at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. They were married in 1990 and have two daughters: Josie and Cora. They live in the Los Angeles area. Outside of voice acting, Baker enjoys photography, taking pictures of mostly little flowers and insects.
Filmography[]
Live-Action Dubbing[]
Puppet Shows[]
- Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map (2013) - Phantom Parrot, Stu Stukowski
Animation Dubbing[]
Animated Series[]
- Jason and the Heroes of Mount Olympus (2001) - Additional Voices
- Totally Spies! (2001-2013) - Arnold Jackson (1st voice; eps. 10-41), Kidnapper 2 (ep. 2), Percival (ep. 7), Henchmen Voices (ep. 11), Marco Lumiere (eps. 26-27), Photographer (ep. 26), Bearded Witness (ep. 39), Rave Man (ep. 40), Jacob (ep. 43), Dr. Fox (ep. 43), Todd (ep. 47), Marcus (ep. 48), Suitor (ep. 49), Marco (ep. 49), Tall Guy (ep. 51)
- Winx Club (2004-2019) - Professor Wizgiz, Electronio, Kiko, Guru, Guard (ep. 106) (Nickelodeon Dub)
- Rolling with the Ronks! (2016-2017) - Godzi (1st voice; eps. 1-12)
Animated Shorts[]
- Tiny Toy Stories (1996) - Aliens
Animated Films[]
- Asterix & the Vikings (2006) - Dogmatix, SMS
- Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom (2007) - Professor Wizgiz (Nickelodeon Dub)
- Immigrants (2008) - "The Steve"
- The Snow Queen 2: The Snow King (2014) - Luta
- The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice (2016) - Luta
Anime Dubbing[]
Anime Films[]
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1986) - Additional Voices (Buena Vista Dub)
- Porco Rosso (1992) - Additional Voices (Buena Vista Dub)
- Spirited Away (2001) - Kashira
- Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - Additional Voices
Video Game Dubbing[]
- Viewtiful Joe (1998) - Viewtiful Joe
- Dark Cloud 2 (2002) - King Marden
- Kingdom Hearts (2002) - Wakka
- Tales of Symphonia (2004) - Desian Gurdian, Additional Voices
- Ape Escape: On the Loose (2005) - Specter, Knight, Old Man, Child (US Dub)
External Links[]
- Dee Bradley Baker at the Internet Movie Database
- Dee Bradley Baker at Anime News Network's encyclopedia