Ben Small

Benjamin "Ben" Small (born on 9 June 1971 in Bristol, England, UK) is a British voice actor descending from Canadian stock, who provided voices for the UK and US versions of Thomas & Friends until the end of the eighteenth series, when his contract with HiT Entertainment was not renewed and the executives wanted to look for a fresh new voice for Thomas, with John Hasler taking over in 2015, who also takes over to play Rheneas. Rob Rackstraw took over the role of Toby in the UK, Flynn for both the UK and US after Glenn Wrage originally, and Stanley in the US after David Menkin originally but that role would later go to John Schwab. Christopher Ragland took over the role of the Troublesome Trucks in both the UK and US. Steven Kynman took over the role of Charlie in the US.

Other credits include, "Lunar Jim", "Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs", "Clifford the Big Red Dog", "Watch My Chops", "Make Way for Noddy", and "Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions".

## Voices

### UK

* Thomas (Hero of the Rails - eighteenth series)
* Toby (Hero of the Rails - eighteenth series)
* Ferdinand (Misty Island Rescue - sixteenth series)
* Some Sodor United Team Players (Pingy Pongy Pick Up)

### US

* Stanley (fifteenth series - eighteenth series)
* Charlie (sixteenth series - eighteenth series)

### UK/US

* Rheneas (Blue Mountain Mystery - eighteenth series)
* Flynn (seventeenth series only)
* Troublesome Trucks (sixteenth series - eighteenth series)
* Owen (Blue Mountain Mystery - eighteenth series)

## Songs

* Party Time (performed)
* I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (performed)
* Never, Never, Never Give Up

## Filmography

### Film

* Skegs & Skangers (2002)
* The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow (2003)
* The Prince and the Pauper: Double Trouble (2007)
* Alice in Wonderland: What's the Matter with Hatter? (2007)
* Thomas and Friends: Hero of the Rails (2009)
* Zorro and Scarlet Whip Revealed! (2010)
* Thomas and Friends: Misty Island Rescue (2010)
* Thomas and Friends: Day of the Diesels (2011)
* Thomas and Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery (2012)
* Thomas and Friends: King of the Railway (2013)
* Thomas and Friends: Tale of the Brave (2014)

### Television

* Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000-2003)
* Xcalibur (2001)
* Watch My Chops (2003)
* Zorro: Generation Z - The Animated Series (2008)
* Thomas & Friends (2009-2015)
* Pet Squad (2011)
* Matt Hatter Chronicles (2012)

## Trivia

* He also narrated the UK verisons of the Guess Who? Puzzles between the thirteenth and sixteenth series.
* He also performs the song, The Wheels on Thomas, which can only be heard at Day Out with Thomas events and stage plays in the UK.
* HiT Entertainment wanted him to concentrate on voicing Thomas alone, but it was later decided that he could also voice Toby if he wished to do so. This then snowballed because HiT wanted to have the same voices for some characters in both the UK and US versions. He auditioned to voice Thomas in the US version, but Martin Sherman was chosen instead.
* Small said in an interview with the Sodor Island Fansite that he was a fan of the Railway Series in his youth. He said that he listened to the Johnny Morris recordings as a child.