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Townsend Coleman

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Townsend Coleman
Coleman at Animate! Columbus in 2024
Born
Townsend Putnam Coleman III

(1954-05-28) May 28, 1954 (age 70)
New York City, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Voice actor, DJ
Years active1974–present

Townsend Putnam Coleman III (born May 28, 1954)[1] is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,[2] Wayne Gretzky on ProStars, Jason Whittaker in Adventures in Odyssey and the title characters in Where's Wally? and The Tick.

Early life

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Townsend Putnam Coleman III was born in New York City, New York, but his family relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1955.[3]

Career

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Early work

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Coleman was a disc jockey for WGCL in Cleveland, Ohio in the late 1970s. This included the weekend of July 7–8, 1979, when that radio station presented his own take on American Top 40 after the station's refusal to air the "Top 40 Disco Songs" special for that weekend.

In the same period, Coleman appeared in several plays through Jerry Leonard's Heights Youth Theater ensemble. The plays were staged at Wiley Junior High School in University Heights, Ohio – just down the road from John Carroll University. Other famous performers who appeared in Leonard's plays include the actress Carol Kane.

Shortly before becoming a voice actor, he hosted a pair of dance shows for local television stations: We're Dancin' at WNEW in New York City (now WNYW) and The Dance Show at WSB-TV in Atlanta.[4][5]

Voice acting

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Coleman's career as a voice actor took off in the 1980s when, having recently moved to Los Angeles, he auditioned for the role of Corporal Capeman on Inspector Gadget. He also portrayed Riot on Jem, Gobo in the animated version of Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock, Scott Howard on the animated Teen Wolf and many others. In TV commercials, he was the 7-Up "Spot", Keebler Elves, and Raid Bugs. Coleman has also been the voice of NBC commercials for programs such as Must See TV and The Tonight Show since the early 1990s. Coleman has also provided the voice for Jason Whittaker on the Focus on the Family radio drama Adventures in Odyssey since 1994. He also voiced the Autobot Mini-Cassette Rewind on the Transformers cartoon series (1986) and provided the voice of Colt in Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.

From 1987 to 1996, Coleman voiced Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Coleman also provided the voice for The Tick in the 1994 cartoon series, for which he received an Annie Award nomination. Coleman performed a wide range of voices in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, including Vizier Abdul Alhazred, Shamir Shamazel, Lord Azure, Ferryman, Beast and the Minotaur.

Coleman returned to the Transformers franchise by voicing Sentinel Prime in the Transformers Animated series. The character was designed to look like The Tick, as confirmed by the writers of the show at Botcon 2008, Coleman also currently provided the voice of Neddy the Mallet in the Cartoon Network series, Mighty Magiswords. Neddy's mannerisms on the show are based on The Tick which led to him being acquired the role. According to the creator Kyle Carrozza, Neddy was Townsend's first original cartoon role in years.

Recently, he also returned to the Tick franchise in the 2017 series on Amazon Prime, voicing the ex-superhero dog Midnight.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1986 Black Moon Rising Waiter Live action
The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure Eliab, Fox Soldier #2 Television film
The Amazing Adventures of Inspector Gadget Cpl. Capeman
1987 Alice Through the Looking Glass Tom Fool[6] Television film
1988 Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears Zor One
1992 FernGully: The Last Rainforest Knotty[6]
1998 Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero Additional voices Direct-to-video
Buster & Chauncey's Silent Night Father Joseph
2000 The Crippled Lamb Samuel, Daniel, Joseph Television film
2007 Superman: Doomsday Drill Operator[6] Direct-to-video
2008 Justice League: The New Frontier Will Magnus[6]
2013 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Morrie[6]
Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite Commissioner Gordon
2016 Sing Additional Voices
2018 The Grinch Additional Voices
2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood The F.B.I. Intro Announcer (voice) uncredited

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1985 Inspector Gadget Corporal Capeman Sweetly
1986 The Transformers Mini-Cassette Rewind, Martin
1986–1987 Teen Wolf Scott Howard / Teen Wolf
1987–1996 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michaelangelo, Rat King, Krang, Shredder, Usagi Yojimbo, Rahzar, Screwloose, Splinter, Burne Thompson, Jerry Spiegel, Electrozapper, Dalton Dumpsky, Fritz
1987 Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series Gobo Fraggle, Architect Doozer 13 episodes[6]
1988 Jem and the Holograms Rory "Riot" Llewelyn
1988 Superman Teenage Clark Kent, Ted Kline
1989 Ring Raiders Yasu Yakamura
1990 TaleSpin Turkey Client, Newsreel Announcer Episode: "From Here to Machinery"
1991 Darkwing Duck Patrick Episode: "Whiffle While You Work"
1991 Where's Wally? Waldo
1991–1992 Space Cats Scratch
1992 Batman: The Animated Series Chick[6] Episode: "It's Never Too Late"
1994–1996 The Tick The Tick[6]
1995–1996 Timon & Pumbaa Vulture Police, Purplest Stupidest Pirate
1995–1997 Spider-Man Silvermane (Young)[6] 2 episodes
1996 Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series Canard 2 episodes
1996 Superman: The Animated Series Programmer, Captain, Co-Pilot, Death Fist Ninja[6] 4 episodes
1997–1999 The New Batman Adventures Rocco, Mugsy 2 episodes[6]
1997–1998 Pinky and the Brain Hal Slug, FBI Agent, Les Tarr, Bobby Fenster, Bryce Wallace, Bobby Bob Yokel[6] 8 episodes
1998 Animaniacs Pressberg Katzeneisnerman[6] Episode: "Hooray for North Hollywood"
1998 I Am Weasel Hector, Prisoner[6] Episode: "I Stand Corrected"
1998–2002 The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Nerdy Kid, Mayor, Accountant[6] 3 episodes
1999–2000 Batman Beyond False-Face, Lieutenant[6] 2 episodes
1999 Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain Claude Gristle[6] Episode: "Hooray for Meat"
2002 Spy TV Announcer 2 episodes
2005 Duck Dodgers Superego Dodgers, Protectorate #2[6] Episode: "A Lame Duck Mind"
2007 The Batman Campus Guard[6] Episode: "Seconds"
2007–2009 Transformers: Animated Sentinel Prime, Tracks, News Bot, PA Voice[6] 13 episodes
2014–2017 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 80s Michelangelo, Clerk[6] 5 episodes
2015 Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Hercules[6] Episode: "The Tale of Hercules"
2016–2018 Mighty Magiswords Neddy the Mallet, Bee Crown, Matt, Man #3, Giant Slug, Cricket, Red Herring, Galoot [6]
2017–2018 The Tick Midnight, Onward

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
1992 King's Quest VI Vizier Abdul Alhazred, Shamir Shamazel, Lord Azure
2007 Mass Effect Lord Darius, Rafael Vargas, Zabaleta
2012 Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Mr. Freeze, Mad Hatter, Commissioner Gordon, General Zod
Spec Ops: The Line Soldiers[6]
2021 Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Michelangelo[6] Voiceover added in 2022 update
2022 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Michelangelo, Rat King, Rahzar[6]
2022 Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway Michelangelo[6]
2023 Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Michelangelo

Radio

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Year Title Role Notes
1994–present Adventures in Odyssey Jason Whittaker 131 episodes

Announcer

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  • NBC advertising (1992–2009)

References

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  1. ^ "Townsend Coleman at rottentomatoes.com". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  2. ^ "Townsend Coleman Interview" Kidzworld.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2009.
  3. ^ "Talking Toons With Rob Paulsen: Episode 126 with Guest: Townsend Coleman". Talkin Toons with Rob Paulsen, mixcloud.com. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Wolcott, James (March 28, 1983). "A Priest Called Ralph". New York. New York City: New York Media, LLC. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  5. ^ The Dance Show (February 12, 1984). "The Dance Show -2/12/1984 Episode 08 With Madonna Cicconne". archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Townsend Coleman (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved November 20, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
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