John Kassir


John Edward Kassir is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's Tales from the Crypt franchise. Kassir is also known for his role as Ralph in the Off-Broadway show Reefer Madness, as well as its film adaptation, as well as his voice over work as Buster Bunny, Ray "Raymundo" Rocket on Rocket Power, the mischievous raccoon Meeko in Pocahontas and its direct-to-video sequel, Jibolba in the Tak and the Power of Juju video game series, Pete Puma in The Looney Tunes Show, and Deadpool in ' and the ' series. He has also done the voice of Rizzo for the Spyro game, ', and voiced Ghost Roaster in ', as well as Short Cut in ' and Pit Boss in '. He is also known for his various roles in season 1 of The Amanda Show. He voiced the Ice King in the original Adventure Time pilot, but was replaced by Tom Kenny for the series. He also provided additional voice over work for Sonic the Hedgehog, Eek! The Cat, The Brothers Flub, Dead Rising, Casper's Scare School, Spider-Man 3, ', Diablo III, Monsters University, The Prophet, ' and The Secret Life of Pets.

Early life

Kassir was born in Baltimore, Maryland to an Iraqi father from Mosul and a Syrian mother.

Career

Kassir first became known in 1985, when he defeated Sinbad for best stand-up comic on Star Search.
As a stand-up comic, he has opened for the likes of Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, The Temptations and Four Tops on their TNT Tour, Bobby Vinton, Richard Belzer, U2, and Harry Blackstone, Jr. among others. John has also appeared on stage performing improvisation with Robin Williams.
He then played the Bulgarian kicker, Zagreb Shkenusky, for 7 years in the HBO comedy series 1st & Ten, about a fictional football team. His other live-action credits include sketch-acting on The Amanda Show and a portrayal of Shemp Howard in the 2000 TV biopic The Three Stooges, produced by Mel Gibson, and Ralph in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical. He was also able to get his own Pee-wee Herman style show in 1997 called Johnnytime, which aired for two seasons on the USA network. He also appeared as The Atom in the Justice League of America pilot episode, which, despite not being picked up, was released as a film in some markets. John has appeared in over a dozen feature films, starred in eight TV pilots and guest starred in dozens of TV series in both comic and dramatic roles.
John has specialized in voice-over work for animation, video games, and other productions, most notably as the voice of Crypt Keeper in Tales from the Crypt. He would later voiced Ray "Raymundo" Rocket in Rocket Power. He also provided the voice for the mercenary Deadpool in the video games ', ', and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, as well as for Sauron and Pyro, two other well-known characters. He was also featured in the very first commercial for the Nintendo cornerstone video game series The Legend of Zelda in the United States in 1987.
A few of his many theater credits include: originating the role of Kenny in Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down, for which he was nominated for both a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award. John also originated the role of Ralph in the musical Reefer Madness, on stage and in the film version.
He provided the vocal effects of the mischievous raccoon Meeko in Disney's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas and '. Also, he provided the voice of Buster Bunny in four Tiny Toon Adventures cartoons. He played the villainous Scuttlebutt in '. He also made one voice appearance in an episode of Ben 10, as Zombozo. He voiced the character Adam MacIntyre and provided Additional voice over work in the video game Dead Rising. His voice is featured in the games Shadows of the Damned and as Hell demons and Desperado Enforcement captain Monsoon, respectively.
In 2011, he voiced Crazy Smurf in the live-action/animated film The Smurfs, and in 2012, he voiced Jealousy as well as Gumball, Penny, Leslie, Carrie & Darwin when he possesses them in The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Flower". Kassir appeared in Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer, along with Bill Nighy, as Fallon, the two-headed leader of the giants; Nighy played the big head while Kassir played the small head.

Personal life

He married actress Julie Benz on May 30, 1998, the marriage lasted for nine years until Benz filed for divorce in December 2007, and was finalized later in the month.

Filmography

Live-action