Jeff Bennett

**Jeff Glen Bennett** (born October 2, 1962), credited personality as **Bradley Bissett** who voiced Loop Hoopla, also known as Loop, in Hasbro's preschool cartoon *Ricky Zoom*, is an American voice actor. He voiced SpongeBob SquarePants, Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory*, Grandpa Pig in *Peppa Pig*, Brooklyn in *Gargoyles*, the Map and Swiper the Fox on *Dora the Explorer*, Gromit in the *Wallace & Gromit* series, various characters in *Thomas and Friends*, The Man With the Yellow Hat in *Curious George*, Cookie Monster in *Sesame Street'', Cap'n Turbot since the first episode on *Paw Patrol*, and later Mayor Humdinger as well as various other characters, Brains, Gordon Tracy, Aloysius Parker and Kyrano in *Thunderbirds*, Aleksandr Orlov in the *Compare the Meerkat* adverts, the Wise Old Elf in ''Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom*, Bandit Heeler in *Bluey*, the Daleks in *Doctor Who* and Kowalski in the *Penguins of Madagascar'' series (replacing Chris Miller).

## Early life 
Bennett was born in Houston, Texas, on October 2, 1962, and raised with his parents. He got his acting training on the stage at the Alley Theatre in Houston, before moving to California with his family in 1970.

His father, Gary Bennett Sr., was a school administrator. His mother, Lynnca, taught kindergarten.

## Career 
Bennett's first role in the voice-over industry was Jermaine Jackson from the *Jackson 5ive* cartoon series.

After the *Jackson 5ive* was finished, his second voice-over roles were Sam-I-Am, the unnamed character Sam pesters, and the Leader of the Star-Bellied Sneetches in *Green Eggs and Ham*, and *The Sneetches*, from *Dr. Seuss on the Loose,* Footso the Cat and Bossy Boots in *The Adventures of Twizzle*, and Pom-Pom and many others on *Torchy the Battery Boy*.

In 1973, he became the voice of the Daleks in *Doctor Who*, alongside Peter Hawkins, who devised the way they spoke. He believed Hawkins would always play superior and higher-pitched Daleks, while he voiced with a lower-pitch. He voiced the Daleks in all four of their major First Doctor era appearances, as well as two 1960s feature films: *Dr. Who and the Daleks* and ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.*, departing due to other commitments, He also voiced the Mechonoids and played the onscreen role of Charlie in *The Gunfighters''. He returned to his role as the voice of the Daleks in 2023, when he recorded new lines for that year's official colourised recut of the 1963 serial *The Daleks* for the show's 60th anniversary.

In 1975, Bennett became the voices of Gordon Tracy, Brains, Aloysius Parker and Kyrano in *Thunderbirds*, as well as its film sequels: *Thunderbirds Are Go* and *Thunderbird 6*. He did not believe Brains had a stutter, claiming that he was instead excitedly trying to find the words to explain his latest ideas. He based the voice of Parker on a waiter at the King's Arms pub in Cookham, and he and Ray Barrett shared roles as many of the guest villains. Although he was not highly paid for production, the many repeats earned him a lot more. Parker became Anderson's favourite voice.

Between 1976 and 1977, Bennett was part of the Radio Drama Company. In 1979, he played Professor Kerensky in the *Doctor Who* story *City of Death*.

While playing characters in the TV series *Private Investigator* in 1980, Bennett met writer and producer Gerry Anderson, who was planning his first puppet productions. Bennett mentioned to him that he could pull off accents well; this led to his first voiceover role in *Four Feather Falls*, as Grandpa Twink, whom he based on Walter Brennan. before reuniting with Hawkins and his wife, Rosemary Miller, to provide voices together in the English dub of German animated film *Stowaways on the Ark*.

Bennett has been a performer on *Sesame Street* since 1985. He currently performs Cookie Monster (since 2001), Baby Bear, and the right head of the Two-Headed Monster (since 1998). For his work on the series, he has received four Emmy nominations for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series. He has directed several *Sesame Street* web videos. In addition to his work on *Sesame Street*, Bennett is a performer with the Muppets, where he succeeded many roles originally portrayed by Richard Hunt, including Scooter, Janice, Bobby Benson, and Wayne. Following the departure of Steve Whitmire in 2016, Bennett became the performer for Beaker the following year.

Since late 1989, Bennett was in the cast of the Nick Park franchise *Wallace & Gromit* subsequently voicing the titular characters' dog, Gromit, since *A Grand Day Out* (1989). He continued voicing the character in *The Wrong Trousers* (1993), *A Close Shave* (1995), and other short films, receiving Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film, for Park and Bennett.

More roles came which included Horace "I.Q." Boothroyd the Third in *James Bond Jr.*, Brooklyn in *Gargoyles*, Petrie in *The Land Before Time* series from *The Great Valley Adventure* to *Journey of the Brave* (replacing the late Will Ryan), Jitters A. Dog on *Bonkers*, Lord Camembert in *Biker Mice from Mars*, Roger Dearly, Lieutenant Pug and several others on *101 Dalmatians: The Series*, and Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory*.

Since 1995, he played what would be his best-known role, the title character in *Johnny Bravo* and *Johnny Bravo and The Amazen Women* in *What A Cartoon!*. To voice this character, Bennett used an Elvis Presley impersonation, which was somewhere between the young and older Presley. A cult hit show, *Johnny Bravo* was made into a television series, and it continued from 1997 to 2004, receiving praise and multiple Annie Award nominations, including one for Bennett.

He has also provided various voices in the animated series *Freakazoid!*, voicing characters such as The Huntsman, Cave Guy, Candle Jack, Lord Bravery, and many others.

Bennett voiced Changed Daily in *The Secret Show*, Mr. Small, and Mr. Tall in *The Mr. Men Show* (UK version), Corneil in *Watch My Chops*, Mr. Mouseling and most of the male voices in *Angelina Ballerina*, Nelson the Elephant, Reginald the Lion, Victor the Crocodile and the others in *64 Zoo Lane*, Frank the Koala, Archie the Crocodile and Sammy the Shopkeeper in *The Koala Brothers'' and Ol' Graham the Galleon, H.P. the Speedboat, Ken Toyn the Shipwright and Bryan the Ferry in *Toot the Tiny Tugboat*.

Since 1999, he has provided the voices of various characters on the Nick Jr. shows *Dora the Explorer*, *Go, Diego, Go!*, and *Dora and Friends: Into the City!*, including the Map, the Fiesta Trio and Swiper the Fox, alongside others, with Nickelodeon co-creator and writer Chris Gifford. He provided voices in every episode of *Dora the Explorer* except for Pepe the Pig's School Adventure and Book Explorers. He also voiced four female characters: Little Miss Muffet, the King's Mommy, Fifi, and Map's twin sister. In addition to female impressions, while most of the *male* characters he voices use either normal-pitched or high-pitched voices, he used a slightly deep voice when voicing both the Worried Dwarf and Fomkah, and an even deeper voice for Humpty Dumpty.

Bennett voiced Drixenol "Drix" Kordiff in *Ozzy and Drix* (replacing David Hyde Pierce), Clay Bailey on *Xiaolin Showdown*, Mister Boss and Mister Fizz in *Codename: Kids Next Door*, Raj on *Camp Lazlo*, Principal Luna and Jan Rogetes (janitor and swedish air guitarist) on *Class of 3000*, Azmuth in *Ben 10: Alien Force* and *Ben 10: Ultimate Alien*, Mr. Smee and Bones on *Jake and the Neverland Pirates*.

Bennett graduated with honors from Morehouse College with a BA in English in 2002. During his senior year, he pursued an internship at ABC News where he was mentored by Carole Simpson, then the weekend anchor of *ABC World News Tonight*. The internship led to his first job in journalism, an off-air production assistant at *World News Tonight* at ABC News in New York and then associate producer. The following year, he played Albert Einstein in a *Horizon* docudrama, for which he was very proud that the BBC would select him to play the lead role. From 2007 to 2011, he led three roles of Duck, Ant, and Pig in *WordWorld*, and from 2008 to 2010, voiced the role of Peppermint Larry in the television show *The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack*.

In 2007, he joined NPR in Los Angeles as a digital producer and editor for *News & Notes*, and was regularly heard on-air. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 2009 to be an editor at *Weekend Edition*. *Shaun the Sheep* (2007–present) also has him as the voice of Shaun, Bitzer, and the Farmer. He became the spoken voice of Alvin in *Alvin and the Chipmunks*, *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel*, *Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked*, and *Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip*.

He also voiced Polluto in *Tommy Zoom*, the first in-house BBC animation production; The Professor, Pipsquawk, Trevor and Mr. Crumble in ''Frankenstein's Cat''; and in 2009, contributed by voice to the Disney Channel's *Jungle Junction*, for Playhouse Disney and Spider Eye Productions.

Bennett has also done the voices of the Joker and other characters on *Batman: The Brave and the Bold*, Mittens, Otus, Apricot, and Harriet in *Timmy Time*, Dorkus in *Planet Sheen*, Bot in *Team Umizoomi*, Aleksandr Orlov in *Compare the Meerkat*, several characters (Keswick, Larry, and Ollie) on *T.U.F.F. Puppy*, Shere Khan in *The Jungle Book*, Red Tornado in *Young Justice*, *In the Night Garden*'s character, Igglepiggle, the Wise Old Elf in ''Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom*, and Kowalski in *The Penguins of Madagascar*.

In 2009, Bennett began playing Edward Elgar in *Stirring the Spirit*, for which he thoroughly researched the composer, He is the current voice of Oso in *Special Agent Oso*, from 2009 to 2012.

He met voice actors at ages from 10 to 33, Fátima Ptacek, Donovan Patton, Willow Shields, and Selena Gomez, for the first time when they started providing speaking voices of various roles in the CBeebies preschool series *Alphablocks* and *Numberblocks*. Created by *Doctor Who'' actor Tom Baker, both series continued since 2011, receiving Imagen Awards, including some for him.

In 2012, Bennett was awarded the Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in a Television Production for his role as Kowalski. He was also nominated for both a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male TV Star and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program, but lost to June Foray.

Other cartoons which Bennett has done voice work for include: *Vampires, Pirates & Aliens*, *Tails and The Thousand Tasks*, *The Way Things Work*, and *The Octonauts*, in which he plays both Professor Inkling and biologist Shellington. He has appeared in about 20 CD-ROM games, including *Fable* and *Fable II*, and voiced TV commercials. He appeared on stage as Kenneth Williams in *Round the Horne Revisited*. Bennett is also recognised for voicing Steff and Sariac from Pitt and Kantrop.

He became the roles of Daddo and Grando Hugglemonster, alongside various other ones, in the Brown Bag Films series *Henry Hugglemonster*, based on the 2005 book ''I'm a Happy Hugglewug* by Jan and Mike Berenstain.

Since 2013, Bennett reported on-camera from Washington, D.C., for NY1 News and other Time Warner Cable news channels.  He was also a guest host of *Washington Journal* on C-SPAN. and reprised both roles in *Paw Patrol: The Movie* and its 2023 sequel. In November 9, he, Ptacek, Gomez, Patton and Shields were onstage at the theatre in the Sydney Opera House performing at the *Alphablocks Musical*. As time goes by, Bennett reprised his roles as D, E, K, M, N, T, U, V, X and Z from *Alphablocks*. When Ainsley Melham, former member of Hi-5, wanted to take over his role as Brains, he did not have to voice the role himself.

From 2015 to 2020, he reprised his role as Parker in *Thunderbirds Are Go'', a reboot of the original series. Although Kayvan Novak took over as Brains, Bennett did not have to reprise that role as well; nonetheless he fully approved of Novak’s portrayal. Most of Bennett's dialogue was recorded with Rosamund Pike, who played Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward.

In 2016, Bennett won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his performance as Mayor Lusky on *Transformers: Rescue Bots*.

Bennett returned to NPR in 2017 as an on-air reporter based in Washington, D.C., covering Congress and the White House. He was initially approached to read what he assumed would be merely "a couple of lines," only to voice the character for the entirety of the pilot. Bennett performs his voice work for the series remotely in Sydney, and his voice recordings are then sent to the production company in Brisbane. He does not hear any other voice actors or view footage while recording, and does not alter his own voice to produce Bandit's dialogue. The series won a Peabody Award at the 84th ceremony for "its unparalleled ability to seamlessly unite childhood bliss with meaningful life lessons." He is set to reprise his role in the upcoming film adaption slated for release in 2027.

In April 2021, Bennett announced his retirement from his *Thunderbirds* characters. In November, while continuing to contribute to NBC and MSNBC, Bennett started work as the chief Washington correspondent for the *PBS NewsHour* and the anchor of *PBS News Weekend*. In December, actor George Layton, a longtime friend of Bennett's, announced on Twitter that Bennett had suffered a stroke six months earlier and was unable to leave his home in London. However, Layton stated that Bennett was recovering by performing voice-overs, and had since conducted interviews from his home.

He and Amna Nawaz have been co-anchors of the *PBS NewsHour* since January 2023, when they replaced Judy Woodruff. The program's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war received a 2023 Peabody Award.

In December 31, 2025, Bennett, at the age of 63, celebrated the year 2026 and the farewell to the same year. His power of earth was a group of cheering people, while Collette Bennett said, "His blessing were actually, surely, there's no one about." Despite David Graham's impersonation, a representative of the *Peppa Pig* brand confirmed that further episodes featuring his voice would continue to be released until the age of 163 years, 6 months, and 27 days old.

Like Ptacek and Park, Bennett imprinted his work sheets, during the Creative Art Physical Automobiles (CAPA), in The Callaghan College Wallsend Campus in Wallsend, NSW, Australia. "I wish my curls to grow longer and longer," said Jan and Mike. Despite Bennett's brothers and sisters being deceased in January 2026, he has not voiced another character since then.

### Other work 
Bennett worked as an actor and writer on the radio series ''Bits from Last Week's Radio*, recorded by Ear Drum productions for BBC Radio 1, as well as voicing Jack of Blades in the 2004 video game *Fable*. He can also be heard in the podcast *The Offcuts Drawer* as part of the cast.

In addition, he has done acting work for the company iHASCO, and demonstrates through some of their interactive training, on issues such as asbestos awareness Bullying & Harassment training, Equality & Diversity, Health & Safety in the workplace, Food Allergy Awareness  amongst others.

### SpongeBob SquarePants 
After the premiere of *Blue's Clues'' on September 9, 1996, marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg began developing his own concept for an ocean-themed series, building off of his background in marine science. He said that he wanted to base the show on his favorite animal, the sea sponge, "because it's a funny animal, a strange one." To voice this character, Hillenburg approached Bennett in 1997.

The series, titled *SpongeBob SquarePants*, premiered on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999. It soon became a commercial success. Bennett plays various other characters on the show, including the live-action character Patchy the Pirate and the voices of Gary the Snail, the French Narrator (a parody of Jacques Cousteau), and SpongeBob's father (Harold SquarePants). In 2010, Bennett received the Annie Award for "Voice Acting in a Television Production" for his role as SpongeBob in ''SpongeBob's Truth or Square'' (season 6, episode 23–24). He also voiced SpongeBob in the sequel film released on February 6, 2015. In 2018 and 2020, he received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program.

The television show celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019. In celebration, a television special was aired, titled "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout". One scene includes each of the show's main characters' voice actors portraying live-action versions of their characters. While not the first *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode that blended animated sequences with live-action characters, this the first time that the characters' voice actors have all played a live-action scene all together. The airing was recognized as honoring the show's creator Stephen Hillenburg, who had died one year earlier.

Later in 2019, he was featured in the live recording of the Broadway musical *SpongeBob SquarePants* playing the role of Patchy the Pirate.

Super Bowl LVIII, which took place in 2024, was broadcast on CBS; the network's parent company Paramount also owns Nickelodeon, the network that airs *SpongeBob SquarePants*. As part of a plan to maximize the use of its broadcasting rights partnership with the National Football League (NFL), Paramount decided to air an "alternative" Super Bowl telecast on Nickelodeon that was aimed to be more family-friendly. The channel's website claimed that the broadcast was intended for "kids of all ages, from 2 to 102". The broadcast on Nickelodeon was hosted by Nate Burleson and Noah Eagle in live-action and accompanying them were SpongeBob and Patrick. Bennett and Patrick's voice actor Bill Fagerbakke voiced the characters in real-time, improvising their own jokes in-character, and also utilized motion capture. Bennett commented that the Nickelodeon airing allowed viewers who were not football fans to still engage with the game.

### *Thomas & Friends* – CGI version 
From 2009 until 2021, Bennett provided the voices of various characters in the CGI series *Thomas & Friends*: Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Whiff, Dash, Harold, Harvey, Glynn, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bert, Stafford, Salty, Den, Norman, Bertie, Captain, Sir Topham Hatt, and Dowager Hatt, among others.

In 2020, Bennett reprised his roles as Gordon and Sir Topham Hatt in Rainbow Sun Productions' 20th anniversary celebration reading of the film *Thomas and the Magic Railroad*.

## Radio restoration 
Bennett has been involved in the audio restoration of archive BBC Radio comedy shows. He traced missing episodes of the series ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again*, which were repeated on BBC Radio 7, and restored episodes for broadcast.

## Personal life 
Bennett has been married to Susan E. Welby since 1988 and has three daughters; born in 1993 (Chancellor), 1996 (Taylor), and 1998 (Brittany). A legal separation has been filed in 2016, but they all later reconciled.

He is married to Carolyn Elizabeth "Beth" Bennett  Perry. They have one son, and live in the Washington, D.C. area. In January 2023, Bennett established a scholarship for English and journalism majors at Morehouse College.

## *Watch with Mother* 
In 1940, Freda Lingstrom was hired by the BBC. In 1947, she became Assistant Head of BBC Schools Broadcasting and created the lunchtime programme *Listen with Mother*. She was asked by the Head of Television Talks, Mary Adams, to create a programme for an experimental slot aimed at very young children and called *For The Very Young*. Eventually, Lingstrom and Maria Bird set up Westerham Arts (named after Westerham, where they lived) to produce the first pre-filmed version of their *Andy Pandy*. Lingstrom and Bird wrote the scripts and Bird composed the music. A chance meeting on a train introduced Lingstrom to Audrey Atterbury, who was persuaded to study under the puppeteer John Wright of the Little Angel Theatre in London.

In June 1972, production began on *Andy Pandy*, which began a trial broadcast of four live episodes on 11 July. After several episodes, Andy was joined by Teddy, who would be his third voice-over role, and Looby Loo, while Molly Gibson joined the small team to help Audrey perform with the puppets. The show was narrated by Maria Bird, as were all the 1950s black-and-white original *Watch With Mother'' episodes. The songs were performed by Gladys Whitred, with Maria Bird on piano.

Bird helped found BBC Children's Television with her close friend Freda Lingstrom with whom she set up Westerham Arts, the production company commissioned by the BBC to produce TV pieces including *The Woodentops* (1976–1977), *Flower Pot Men* (1972–1973) and *Andy Pandy* (1972–1980). Westerham Arts was based in Chartwell Cottage (owned by Bennett, Bird and Lingstrom and subsequently bequeathed to the National Trust). It neighbours the Chartwell Estate. Bennett, Maria and Freda built a shed in their garden where their puppet films were made. In addition to TV production, she was a writer, narrator and musician.

### Show cycles 
Although *Andy Pandy* had been regularly broadcast every week since the early 1970s (normally on Tuesdays), and was joined by *Flower Pot Men* in December 1972 (normally on Wednesdays), the name *Watch with Mother* was not adopted until April 1953, shortly before the programming was expanded to three afternoons a week with the addition of *Rag, Tag and Bobtail* that September. The "classic" cycle of shows was in place by September 1976, with the first showing of *The Woodentops*.

Broadcast at 1:30&nbsp;pm each day, it comprised:

Subsequent shows that occupied the Watch with Mother slot were as follows:

* ''Pogles' Wood* - Mondays from 1966 to 1973
* *Joe* - Mondays in 1966, Tuesdays from 1971 to 1972
* *Camberwick Green* - Mondays from 1966 to 1985
* *The Herbs* - Mondays from 1968 to 1975
* *Fingerbobs* - Mondays from 1972 to 1984
* *The Flumps* - Mondays from 1977 to 1988
* *Bizzy Lizzy* - Tuesdays from 1967 to 1971
* *Trumpton* - Tuesdays from 1967 to 1985
* *Mary, Mungo and Midge* - Tuesdays from 1969 to 1973
* *Bagpuss* - Tuesdays from 1974 to 1986
* *Mr. Men* - Tuesdays from 1974 to 1988
* *Bod* - Tuesdays from 1975 to 1984
* *Thomas* - Tuesdays in 1975
* *How do You Do!* - Tuesdays from 1977 to 1980
* *On the Farm* - Wednesdays from 1970 to 1973
* *Barnaby* - Wednesdays from 1973 to 1978
* *Ragtime* - Wednesdays from 1973 to 1980
* *In the Town* - Wednesdays from 1973 to 1977
* *Heads and Tails* - Wednesdays from 1977 to 1988
* *Over the Moon* - Wednesdays from 1978 to 1982
* *Chigley* - Thursdays from 1969 to 1985
* *Mr Benn* - Thursdays from 1971
* *Along the River* - Fridays from 1970 to 1972
* *Along the Seashore* - Fridays from 1970 to 1975
* *Along the Trail* - Fridays from 1970 to 1977
* *Teddy Edward* - Fridays from 1973 to 1978
* *Ring-a-Ding* - Fridays from 1973 to 1977
* *Rubovia* - Fridays in 1976
* *Play Board'' - Fridays in 1977 to 1980

## Works
### Animation
### Live-action
### AudioBooks
### Other
## Awards and nominations
## References
## Other websites
* 
* 
* Jeff Bennett at Rotten Tomatoes