Phil LaMarr


Phillip LaMarr is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer. He is perhaps best known as one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series Mad TV and for his extensive voice acting career, with roles in animated series including Green Lantern/John Stewart in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Hermes Conrad in Futurama, the title characters on both Samurai Jack and Static Shock, and Wilt in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. He has also provided voices for video game franchises, including Metal Gear, Jak and Daxter, Darksiders, Final Fantasy, Infamous, Dead Island, Kingdom Hearts and Mortal Kombat.

Early life

LaMarr was born in Los Angeles, California on January 24, 1967. He is a graduate of the Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood and Yale University, where he helped found the improv comedy group Purple Crayon. One of his biggest roles at Yale was the titular character in the British comedy Trevor. After graduating in 1989, he became a member of the award-winning sketch and improv comedy group The Groundlings. He studied improv at The Second City and at the ImprovOlympic in Chicago, Illinois with Del Close. He has also improvised with Cold Tofu and Off the Wall.

Career

''Mad TV''

LaMarr, unlike most of the other original nine cast members of Mad TV, had extensive television and film jobs experience when he joined the show. Even before college, he had voiced a character on the Mister T cartoon show.
Some of the recurring characters LaMarr performed on Mad TV were Desperation Lee, Jaq the UBS Guy, "sexy player" Rick, talentless R&B singer Savante, and Rocket Revengers star Lieutenant Abraham Jefferson.
LaMarr has done impressions of celebrities such as:
He has also done impressions of Moe Howard from The Three Stooges while playing an African-American version of the character.
LaMarr left Mad TV at the end of the fifth season.
Sometimes, LaMarr fills in for Greg Proops on the Odd News small, 4 minute section on Yahoo.com. It features odd, but true recent news.

Voice acting work

LaMarr's voice over credits include a starring role on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited as John Stewart/Green Lantern, a major role as Hermes Conrad and various other characters on Futurama, and the title roles on Samurai Jack and Static Shock. Besides this he also voiced Black Vulcan in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Hector Con Carne in Evil Con Carne. LaMarr reprised his role as Hermes Conrad in the Futurama movies ', ', ', ', and upon the series return in 2010. He also voices Wilt and other recurring characters in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Carver Descartes on The Weekenders, Philly Phil in Class of 3000, and he portrayed the character Osmosis Jones in the television series Ozzy & Drix. He was also Gabe Wallace, and other characters in '. He additionally voices Jazz, Omega Supreme, Oil Slick, and Jetstorm on Transformers Animated. LaMarr portrayed Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto in ' on Cartoon Network; he also played Amit Noloff, a one time character, and a Tactical Droid. He portrayed Aquaman, and voiced other characters in Young Justice, and he voiced Baxter Stockman in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also lent his voice to the character of Lucius Fox for DC Super Hero Girls. LaMarr also provided voice talent to J.A.R.V.I.S. throughout the series of . He also portrayed Professor Thistlethorpe, a caterpillar, in Bojack Horseman. Through a tweet Jar Jar Binks actor, Ahmed Best, implied that Lamarr had done the voice work for his character on the animated show The Clone Wars.
LaMarr was also the voice of the US Sega Saturn mascot "Swayzak"

Film and theatre projects

LaMarr's stage credits include The Tempest, As You Like It, Guys and Dolls, Asylum, South Coast Repertory's Make the Break and the Sacred Fools Theater Company's inaugural production of The Fatty Arbuckle Spookhouse Revue.
On the big screen, LaMarr is most well known as the ill-fated Marvin from Pulp Fiction. He has appeared in Kill the Man, Free Enterprise, Cherish, and Manna from Heaven. He appeared in Speaking of Sex starring Bill Murray and Catherine O'Hara, and Back by Midnight with Kirstie Alley, Rodney Dangerfield, and Randy Quaid.
LaMarr's recent film appearances include Fronterz and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman. As of April 2006, LaMarr is filming Cook Off!, in which he will appear as Rev. Thaddeus Briggs, Esq.
LaMarr made a cameo appearance in the Will Ferrell film Step Brothers in which he is viewing a house for sale with his wife.
LaMarr also was in the Yum Corp Sexual Harassment training videos.
LaMarr played Cowboy Curtis in the Los Angeles and Broadway productions of The Pee-wee Herman Show. The LA production ran from January 12 to February 7, 2010 at the Club Nokia @ LA Live. The New York show opened on November 11 and ended its limited engagement on January 2, 2011. The New York production was recorded for an HBO special that aired in March, 2011.
LaMarr also appeared in Spider-Man 2 as one of the riders standing behind Spider-Man in the subway train as he was trying to save the train.

Video game voiceover work

LaMarr performed the English voice over work for Vamp, a villain of ' and '. Additionally, LaMarr voiced the characters Reddas from Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII as well as Ramza in the PSP version of '. He also did several voices, including Skelter, for '.
He also did the English voice acting for the parts of Sig and Count Veger in the Jak and Daxter video game series as well as voicing several characters in the game ', as well as the voice of Gadon Thek in '. As well as a featuring in the Sega CD game Make My Video C+C Music Factory, he also was the voice of Chris Jacobs in both ' and its sequel, '. He plays the character John White/The Beast in the PS3 titles Infamous 1 and 2. Also, he plays the character Dr. Bradley Ragland in the game Prototype.
He also was the voice of the grumpy Kane in the game ', and Marty in the video game tie-in of Madagascar. LaMarr also voiced the merchant "Vulgrim" in the action/adventure hybrid Darksiders.
He played the role of "Mr. Sunshine" in the 2008 crime game Saints Row 2, and reprised his role in Saints Row IV in 2013.
He reprised his role as Kit Fisto for the video game: '. LaMarr voiced Rick Grimes in the animation film of The Walking Dead.
He also voiced Sam B, one of the playable characters in Dead Island, and recently made his debut in the Kingdom Hearts series in ' as Phoebus, a character originally from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and voiced by Kevin Kline.
LaMarr returned to the Metal Gear franchise as the voice of Kevin Washington in '.
He also provided the voice for multiple roles in Hunt the Truth, a marketing campaign audio-drama for .
LaMarr, in addition, provided his voice for a number of audio logs in 2016 puzzle game, The Witness.
He also voiced Kotal Kahn in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11

Webisode project

LaMarr had been announced to appear as a regular character in a webisode series, Naught for Hire produced by Jeffrey Berman and Ben Browder, that has been in development since 2010. His character Mark One was described to be that of an elevator with mood-swings. It is unclear whether or not he will be solely the voice of this character or if he will appear in person similarly to that of Max Headroom, a concept which Browder has pulled from before when writing for Farscape episode "John Quixote", which used an elevator displaying a talking human interface on a screen within.

Kickstarter

LaMarr is working on co-creating and voice-acting in a project titled Goblins Animated. The Kickstarter launched on October 23, 2017 and finished on November 22, 2017. LaMarr is working with Ellipsis Stephens, Danielle Stephens, and Matt King to produce the cartoon. Voice actors on board are Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Jim Cummings, Matthew Mercer and Steve Blum.

Filmography

Live action

Film

YearTitleRoleNotesSource
26.08.1994It's PatStage Manager
14.10.1994Pulp FictionMarvin
12.01.1996Bio-DomeAssistant
Suicide, the ComedyErik
Jimmy "Licorice Whip" Wilson
Free EnterpriseEric
24.01.1999Kill the ManMarky Marx
17.08.1999Eat Your Heart OutStage Manager
14.07.2000Lost CatLost Cat
12.10.2000A Man Is Mostly WaterTestifier
Speaking of SexJoel Johnson, Jr.
27.01.2002Jane White Is Sick & TwistedBert
07.06.2002CherishYoga Instructor
14.09.2002Manna from HeavenAsst. Casino Manager
03.12.2003Evil Alien ConquerorsVel-Dan
30.06.2004Spider-Man 2Train PassengerUncredited
25.01.2005Back by MidnightMile Away
2008Step BrothersSecond Homebuyer
2011Real SteelESPN Boxing Commentator
06.11.2013I Know That VoiceHimselfDocumentary
06.09.2014Men, Women & ChildrenShrink

Television

Voice roles

Film

Animation

Video games

Web series

Awards and nominations