Kevin Michael Richardson

Fairly OddParents

**Kevin Michael Richardson** (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor and voice actor, who has played a multitude of characters in animated series and video games. He is known for his distinctively deep voice and has been playing mostly villainous characters since the 1990s. For voicing the Joker in *The Batman* (2004–08), he was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.

## Early life

A native of the Bronx, New York, during high school Richardson was selected for the National Foundation for the Arts' "Arts '82" program. He appeared in a PBS special directed by John Houseman, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater from Syracuse University.

## Career

Richardson has usually portrayed villainous characters due to his deep and powerful voice. In 1995, he obtained his first voice role; Mayor Tilton on the animated TV version of *The Mask*.

His credits include Captain Gantu in *Lilo & Stitch* and its franchise, Shnitzel in the *Chowder* pilot (and was later replaced by John DiMaggio), Goro in *Mortal Kombat*, the second voice of Skulker on *Danny Phantom*, Sarevok in the *Baldur's Gate* series, Jolee Bindo in *Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic*, Crunch Bandicoot in the *Crash Bandicoot* games, Tartarus from *Halo 2*, Chairman Drek in *Ratchet & Clank*, Antauri in *Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!*, Openly Gator from *Queer Duck*, Doctor Payne and others on *The Proud Family*, Dark Laser on *The Fairly OddParents*, Maurice from *The Penguins of Madagascar*, Slam Tasmanian and Tech E. Coyote on *Loonatics Unleashed* and the voice of Exile in the 1990s animated series *Road Rovers*. Richardson also replaced Keith David as the voice of Tombstone on *The Spectacular Spider-Man*. He provided a character voice set for *Icewind Dale*: *Heart of Winter* and *Icewind Dale II*. He was the voice of Heihachi in the PlayStation 2 game *Soul Calibur II*, though he is listed in the role as Victor Stone. He also voiced Stump Smash and Tree Rex in *Skylanders: Swap Force*, *Skylanders: Trap Team* and *Skylanders: SuperChargers*.

In 2001, he voiced Barney Rubble in the animated movie *The Flintstones: On the Rocks*. In 2003, he voiced Trigon in the animated series *Teen Titans*. In 2004, he became the first African-American to voice the Joker in the Kids WB animated series, *The Batman*, a role for which he was twice nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program. In 2006, he appeared in the comedy *Clerks II* in which he plays a cop who notices the words "Porch Monkey 4 Life" written on the back of Randal Graves' work jacket. In 2008, he did the voice of Bishop for *Wolverine and the X-Men*. Later, he did the voice of Nick Fury on *The Super Hero Squad Show*.

He often plays characters based on comedian Bill Cosby, such as on *Family Guy* ("Brian Does Hollywood"), where Stewie is a contestant on the comedian's *Kids Say the Darndest Things*; as Cosby himself on *The Boondocks* and playing the role of Numbuh 5's father Mr. Lincoln, who is also a homage of Cosby on *Codename: Kids Next Door*. His most frequent role on *Family Guy* is as Jerome, Lois's ex-boyfriend. He also voiced Cleveland Brown, Jr., Lester Krinklesac and numerous others on *The Cleveland Show*. He currently voices Principal Brian Lewis on *American Dad!*.

Richardson's voice roles (in 2011) include Panthro in the 2011 *Thundercats* series, Martian Manhunter on *Young Justice*, and Bulkhead, one of the Autobots in *Transformers: Prime*.

He played Kilowog in *Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters*, the video game sequel to the live-action film *Green Lantern*, and later reprised the role in *Green Lantern: The Animated Series*.[*citation needed*]

Richardson was nominated for Voice Actor of the Year by Behind the Voice Actors in 2012[2] and in 2013.[3]

In 2015, Richardson provided the voice of a Nigerian king on *The Simpsons* episode "The Princess Guide". Later, he provided the voice of Judge Michaels in Tyler Perry's first animated film *Madea's Tough Love*.

In 2018, Richardson provided the voice of Jimbo in *The Boss Baby: Back in Business*, a follow-up of the 2017 film *The Boss Baby*.