Most people know him as the voice of Hermes Conrad in Futurama, Jack from Samurai Jack, or even Ollie Williams from Family Guy, but did you know who it was? You may even recognize his face as Marvin from Pulp Fiction (1994). He’s got a pretty prominent name in Hollywood although most of his roles involve a recording booth. From Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, American Dad, Star Wars: Rebels, and more – there’s an actor who brought that character to life. His name is Phil LaMarr.

Aside from this Great Big Story featurette, other productions like documentary titled I Know That Voice (2013) shed a spotlight on the good folks behind thes scenes busy breathing life into icons. Remember the TV show Static Shock? Yeah, that’s LaMarr. Without voices for characters like Ratbag from Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the video game and related industries wouldn’t be as bright as they are today.

LaMarr explains the ideas that went into creating the perfect voices for the roles he was cast for. First beginning with his iconic role in Samurai Jack, Hermes Conrad from Futurama, then John Stewart from Justice League.

With Samurai Jack, I felt there should be some tie to his roots. So it was a very light Japanese accent on English, we began to refer to as a young Asian Clint Eastwood voice. When I first started out doing the Jamaican accent for Hermes, it was pretty much a heavy puhtwah. And it muddied up the comedy, so eventually your Hermes accent got pulled back, which is a lot easier to understand.”

What do you think of the roles voice actors have in animation and video games? Are they important, have they become important, or could we live without them? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on DFTG Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter!