Christopher Collins (Johnsonverse)

Christopher Charles Collins (born Christopher Lawrence Latta; August 30, 1949) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known as the voice of Cobra Commander in the G.I. Joe animated series and Starscream in the Transformers franchise. He had a few guest roles in the Star Trek series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, he has voiced Mr. Burns in The Simpsons (1989–present), and he has had many other roles in television series and films. He has also had a successful stand-up comedy career.
==Early life==
Christopher Lawrence Latta was born in Orange, New Jersey to Robert Latta, a New York stage actor, and Jane Morin, an advertising executive. He grew up in the Morningside Heights (sometimes called "West Harlem") section of Manhattan, New York City. His legal name became Christopher Charles Collins when his stepfather adopted him. In his stand-up routine, he claimed to have grown up in Harlem and said his ultra-liberal parents had moved the family there "so he could meet some Negroes".
After a year at New York University, he studied acting, dance, voice, and mime.
==Career==
In the mid-1970s, he acted on the New York and Boston stage and did voice-over work for Boston radio station WBCN.
Collins's stand-up career peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he performed in most of the major comedy venues in the United States and Canada. In 1990, he won the San Francisco International Stand-Up Comedy Competition.
At the beginning of his act, he entered in a black trench coat and ordered the audience to applaud the person who introduced him. He picked an audience member who failed to applaud and told him he had to "clap alone". He told the audience he was not a comedian, but a "psychotic who learned to market his problem". His comic persona was a loud, angry, mentally unstable man who liked to intimidate the audience. He was a frequent featured performer on An Evening at the Improv and Caroline's Comedy Hour.
Collins made his animation voice acting debut as one of the English dubbers of the 1979 anime series Space Battleship Yamato (also called Star Blazers). He was most recognizable in that series as the voice of space marine Sgt. Knox during the Comet Empire installment.
When he began regular voice work, he adopted the stage name Chris Latta, as another Screen Actors Guild actor was performing as Chris Collins.
In 1983, Collins began voicing Cobra Commander for a five-part G.I. Joe animated mini-series. He continued voicing the role in a second five-part animated mini-series in 1984, a regular animated series beginning in 1985, a 1987 direct-to-video animated movie, a 1989 animated series, and other works. Starting in 1984, Collins voiced the Decepticon Starscream for the Transformers animated series, reprising this role in later series. He also voiced other G.I. Joe and Transformers characters in these series as well as in toy commercials. These included the Autobot scientist Wheeljack, the Autobots' human friend Sparkplug Witwicky, the G.I. Joe Marine Gung-Ho and the Dreadnok Ripper. In Inhumanoids, he voiced D'Compose and Tendril. In Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, he voiced Darkstorm and Cravex. He provided voices in The Real Ghostbusters, credited as Chris Collins. He played the live-action role of King Koopa in King Koopa's Kool Kartoons in 1989 before the role was taken over by Patrick Pinney.
In The Simpsons, Collins is the voice of Mr. Burns and recorded lines as Moe Szyslak for "The Telltale Head" and "Some Enchanted Evening" (but was dubbed over in the latter).
===Live action===
Later in the 1980s, he adopted the stage name of Christopher Collins and acted in many live-action television series and motion pictures. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, he played Klingon Captain Kargan in the episode "A Matter of Honor" and Pakled Captain Grebnedlog in the episode "Samaritan Snare". In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he portrayed two different Markalians: Durg in "The Passenger", and an unnamed assistant to The Albino in "Blood Oath". In Married... with Children, he played Roger, one of Al Bundy's bowling buddies and a member of NO MA'AM (National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood). He portrayed a mugger on an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Subway". He appears as Mr. Forbes in a first-season episode of NYPD Blue titled "Abandando Abandoned".
His first live-action feature film appearance is a bit part as the sharing husband in the film Road House. He appeared in True Identity, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Blue Desert, and A Stranger Among Us.
On April 28, 2012, Collins was inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame.
==Personal life==
Collins married twice and had three children. Early in his career, he divided his time between New York, Boston, and Los Angeles before settling in L.A. in 1983. In 1991, he moved to Ventura, California.
==Filmography==
*Star Blazers (1979, TV Series) – Comet Empire General Dire / Sergeant Knox
*G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983, TV Mini-Series) – Cobra Commander / Gung-Ho / Breaker / Steeler (voice)
*Pac-Man (1983, TV Series) – (voice)
*Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1983, TV Series) – Beetle / Sandman (voice)
*The Transformers (1984–2004, TV Series) – Starscream / Wheeljack / Sparkplug Witwicky / Laserbeak / Buzzsaw / Reflector / Defensor (voice)
*G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra (1984, TV Mini-Series) – Cobra Commander / Gung-Ho / Ripper (voice)
*Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines (1985) – Adrian Ravenscrodr / Ernie Slye (voice)
*The Transformers: The Movie (1986, TV Series) – Starscream / Laserbeak (voice, uncredited)
*G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1985, TV Series) – Cobra Commander / Gung-Ho / Breaker / Steeler / Ripper / Horrorshow / Frostbite (voice)
*Inhumanoids (1986, TV Series) – D'Compose / Tendril / Statesman Granahue (voice)
*The Blinkins: The Bear and the Blizzard (1986, TV Movie) – Slime (voice)
*Inhumanoids: The Movie (1986) – D'Compose / Granahue / Tendril (voice)
*G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) – Cobra Commander / Gung-Ho / Ripper (voice)
*Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (1987, TV Series) – Darkstorm / Cravex / Falkama (voice)
*The Real Ghostbusters (1987–1990, TV Series) – Sammy K. Ferret (voice)
*This Is America, Charlie Brown (1988, TV Mini-Series) – Sailor (voice)
*Superman (1988, TV Series) – (voice)
*Mr. Belvedere (1988, TV Series) – Tom
*Mama's Family (1989, TV Series) – Larry McCary
*Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989, TV Series) – Captain Grebnedlog and Captain Kargan
*Road House (1989) – Sharing Husband
*Anything But Love (1989, TV Series) – Charles
*King Koopa's Kool Kartoons (1989, TV Series) – King Koopa
*G.I. Joe: Operation Dragonfire (1989, TV Mini-Series) – Cobra Commander (voice, uncredited)
*The Simpsons (1989–present, TV Series) – Mr. Burns (voice) / Moe Szyslak (voice)
*G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1990–1992, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*Blue Desert (1991) – Phone Man
*Doogie Howser, M.D. (1991, TV Series) – Mr. Stapleton
*Rover Dangerfield (1991) – Big Boss / Coyote / Sparky / Wolf / Horse (voice)
*True Identity (1991) – Frank LaMotta
*Danger Team (1991, TV Movie) – Truk (voice)
*Seinfeld (1992, TV Series) – Thug
*Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) – Gang Member
*A Stranger Among Us (1992) – Chris Baldessari
*The Golden Palace (1992, TV Series) – Angel
*Civil Wars (1992, TV Series) – P.J. Stone
*Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1994, TV Series) – Guard and Durg
*Married... with Children (1993–1994, TV Series) – Rodger
*NYPD Blue (1994, TV Series) – Paul Forbes
*Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles (1994, Film) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*The Simpsons: Cartoon Studio (1996, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Transformers vs. GoBots (1996, Film) - Starscream (voice)
*Virtual Springfield (1997, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Transformers: Beast Wars (1997, TV Series) – Starscream (voice)
*Detective Jenny: The Second Movie (1999, Film) – Vincenetti Goon (voice)
*The Revenge of Korem Raa (2000, Film) - Starscream (voice)
*The Simpsons Wrestling (2001, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons: Road Rage (2001, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons Skateboarding (2002, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Spy Troops (2003, Film) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom (2004, Film) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 (2005–2006, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*Transformers Cybertron (2005-2006, TV Series) - Starscream (voice)
*Family Guy (2005, 2014, 2018, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice) / Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons Movie (2007, Movie) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons Game (2007, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Transformers Animated (2007–2010, TV Series) – Starscream (voice)
*The Simpsons Ride (2008, Theme Park Ride) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Resolute (2009, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*The Simpsons Arcade (2009, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Transformers: War for Cybertron (2010, Video Game) – Starscream (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Renagades (2010–2011, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*Transformers: Prime (2010–2013, TV Series) – Starscream (voice)
*The Simpsons: Tapped Out (2012, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (2012, Video Game) – Starscream (voice)
*Transformers: The Great War (2013–present, TV Series) – Starscream (voice) / Wheeljack (voice) / Defensor (voice) / Laserbeak (voice) / Buzzsaw (voice) / Reflector (voice) / Skullcruncher (voice) / Slammer (voice) / Krunk (voice)
* Community (2014, TV Series) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015–2017, TV Series) – Starscream (voice)
*House of Mouse (2017–present, TV Series) – Starscream (voice) / Mr. Burns (voice)
*Bumblebee (2018, Film) – Starscream (voice)
*Transformers: Cyberverse (2018–2021, TV Series) – Starscream (voice)
*G.I. Joe: Blackout (2020, Video Game) – Cobra Commander (voice)
*Alvin and the Chipmunks (2021, TV Series) – Additional Voices
*The Simpsons Fighter! (2021, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons: Crazy Racing (2022, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
*Who Framed Roger Rabbit II (2022, Movie) – Starscream (voice) / Cobra Commander (voice) / Mr. Burns (voice)
*The Simpsons: Hit & Run 2 (2022, Video Game) – Mr. Burns (voice)
Category:Johnsonverse