SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE
SIGN IN SEARCH MENU
SOUTH AFRICA'S TV WEBSITE


Billy West

Full / Real Name: William Richard West
Born: 16 April 1952 (72 years old)
Gender: Male

Rate:

7.7

Add to Actor Favourites

Bio

Billy West is an American voice actor best known for his roles on animated television series such as The Ren and Stimpy Show and Futurama.

West has been in television since the late 1980s. His first role was for the 1988 revived version of Beany and Cecil.

West's first two high-profile roles came almost simultaneously: Doug and Ren & Stimpy, which were two of the first original three Nicktoons (the other being Rugrats).

West provided the voice of Stimpy in Nickelodeon's The Ren and Stimpy Show from 1991 until 1996, and he provided the voice of Ren from 1993-1996 (after Ren's original voice and series creator John Kricfalusi was fired by Nickelodeon).

According to West, he was originally supposed to do the voice of both Ren and Stimpy, but then Kricfalusi chose instead that he would voice Ren.

West was also the voice of the show's namesake, Geeker throughout Project Geeker's 13-episode run.

West's roles in Futurama include Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan, as well as various other incidental characters. As he and other Futurama cast and crew point out in DVD commentaries, West is speaking to himself half the time during an episode.

West went into the Futurama auditions and tried out for, as he says, "just about every part"; eventually landing the professor, Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan. It wasn't until some casting changes were made that West got the part of Fry, which originally had gone to Charlie Schlatter.

While West is known for doing many different and unique voices, the voice he does for Philip J. Fry is often considered to be closer to his natural voice than any other character he has done. This similarity, West acknowledges, was done purposefully in order to make it harder to replace him in the part.

The part of Zapp Brannigan was originally to be voiced by Phil Hartman; however, Hartman's death occurred prior to production, and West assumed the role.

He has described the voice of Zapp Brannigan as an imitation of Phil Hartman, but described the actual vocalizations of the character as being based on old-time radio announcers.

According to the commentary for the Invader Zim pilot episode and Richard Horvitz's interview on the first Zim DVD, West was originally cast to provide the voice of Zim (which he did in the pilot episode) on the series, but the part was given to Horvitz instead.

It was also disclosed on the DVD commentary that series creator Jhonen Vasquez disliked using Billy's voice as it reminded him of other cartoon characters Billy contributed vocal acting for, notably Fry from Futurama.

Perhaps West's most memorable film work came in the 1996 movie Space Jam. Starring along side Michael Jordan, West provided the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. West reprised the roles of Bugs and Fudd in subsequent Looney Tunes feature-length films and even returned as Fudd in the theatrically-released Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

In 1998, West starred in the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island as Shaggy, becoming the second person to portray the character (the first being Casey Kasem).

2004 saw West encounter two interesting milestones; voicing the classic character Popeye in the 75th anniversary film Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy and making his live-action film debut in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie.

Other films West has lent his vocal work to include: Joe's Apartment, Cats & Dogs, Olive, the Other Reindeer, The Proud Family Movie, and three Tom & Jerry direct-to-video movies.


Television Roles

Show

Character

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Philip J. Fry, Various

Charlton Heston (voice)

Cigarenders Leader

Mr. Holloway/Clerk

Golfer/Sergeant Barber

Jeebs

Jeebs

Jeebs

Jeebs

Guard/Priest


LATEST ARTICLES

Scandal! Teasers - December 2024

A wedding proposal, a familiar face returns and Ndumiso basks in the glory of his apparent heroism.


Binnelanders Teasers - December 2024

Joe tells his sister about his visit to their father’s mistress. Ouch!


New on TV today: Thursday 21 November

BBC Earth takes you around the Solar System and a Wicked special airs on E! ahead of the film premiere.


My Naam is Farah Teasers - December 2024

Immigration officials turn up at Farah’s home. And then she receives a call from a ghost.


Survivor 45: See who lovestruck Austin's dating now

Are Austin and Dee still together? Find out here as we reflect on the season.


New on TV today: Wednesday 20 October

Our Oceans, narrated by Barack Obama, airs on Netflix and Dave returns to Disney+ for Season 3.


Summertide Teasers - December 2024

Martin grapples with Charlie’s ex and Gavin finds Rebecca at the beach. Sunset, silhouette...


The River 6 on Mzansi Magic Teasers - December 2024

Cold, warmer, hot. Veronica and Kedibone get closer to the truth.


Kelders van Geheime Teasers - December 2024

Dewald calls Annette, Shireen, Edmund and Du Toit together to sign the adoption papers.


New on TV today: Tuesday 19 November 2024

Quirky drama Interior Chinatown drops on Disney+ and Jamie: Fast and Simple begins on BBC Lifestyle.

LATEST SITE ACTIVITY


More activity at TVSA Central



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS



LATEST SOAPIE TEASERS





×
×

You browser doesn't have Flash, Silverlight, Gears, BrowserPlus or HTML5 support.