Greg Baldwin

Greg Baldwin is an American voice actor. He is best known for his roles as Frank Fontaine in '' BioShock'', Uncle Iroh on the third season of '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and Aku on the fifth season of '' Samurai Jack'', with the latter two as a voice match for the late Mako Iwamatsu.

Career

Baldwin has worked in the theater extensively as Sidney Lipton in '' God's Favorite'', Mushnik in '' Little Shop of Horrors'', Dr. Zubritsky in Neil Simon's '' Fools'', Count Otto Von Bruno in '' Bullshot Crummond,'' and the Baker in '' The Baker's Wife''.

Successor of Mako Iwamatsu

Contrary to internet rumors of being Mako Iwamatsu’s understudy in preparation for voicing Iroh in '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', Baldwin had actually earned the part by auditioning for it. He first began voicing the character for brief pieces of dialogue in the show’s second season due to Iwamatsu being unable to record for them before passing on, all of which were mixed in with the material Iwamatsu already completed. Baldwin would later voice the character full-time for the final season, various video games based on the franchise, and for the second and third seasons of ''The Legend of Korra''.

Before ''The Last Airbender'' final season aired, Baldwin also performed a substantial portion of Splinter's dialogue in the movie '' TMNT'' after Mako died during production. His recordings would once again be mixed in with Iwamatsu’s, thanks to their uncanny similarities.

Nearly six months after ''The Last Airbender'' concluded, Baldwin would once again succeed Iwamatsu by voicing Aku in the 2009 video game '' Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall''. And nearly three years after ''Korra'' concluded production, and after Iroh’s final appearance in Season 3’s “The Ultimatum”, Baldwin reprised the role of Aku for the fifth season of '' Samurai Jack''. In 2020, he’d later play Aku once again in the '' Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time'' video game.

At the time the fifth season of ''Samurai Jack'' was being released, series creator Genndy Tartakovsky was asked about Baldwin's casting and made the following statement in an interview with The Verge:

''"It was hard. For a while, I thought we should reimagine Aku with a different voice, perhaps even use a different character. But then I realized I love Aku too much, so we auditioned a few people, and Greg really did the best job. Honestly, nobody can replace Mako, he was that special, that unique, especially the performance he made for Aku. But Greg did really well. On the last episode, Mako’s daughter and grandson came by, and they watched him record, and they were crying. It was really amazing, because they heard the voice of their dad and grandfather."''

Other works

Aside from often serving as a voice double for Iwamatsu, Baldwin has also voiced original characters for both ''Samurai Jack'' and the ''Avatar'' franchise, as well as for various TV shows and video games outside of those two series. He provided the voices of multiple characters in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and '' Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures'', and he made a guest appearance in Xiaolin Showdown, ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Curious George'', and '' The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack''.

Baldwin was credited as the original actor for Atlas in '' BioShock''; he was replaced by Karl Hanover in the final version of the game and the character's original Southern drawl was changed into an Irish accent. His voice can also be heard in numerous other video games, including '' Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown'', '' Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood'', ''F.E.A.R.'' and '' Fallout 4''.

On April 2, 2021, Baldwin announced that he was cast in an undisclosed original role for the Disney Television Animation program, '' The Ghost and Molly McGee''. Upon release, Baldwin’s role was later revealed to be one of the members of the Ghost Council, and the show’s second season revealed his character’s name to be Bartholomew. Baldwin would also go on to provide additional voices for the series.

In a rare live-action performance, he appeared as communist writer Dutch Zweistrong in '' Hail, Caesar!''.

Personal life

Baldwin currently resides in Albuquerque with his wife Melissa Baldwin. Together they have two children, Sydney and Cooper.

According to an interview with The Dot and Line, Baldwin was able to fill-in for Mako on his voice roles by listening to the cast album of '' Pacific Overtures'', a musical that Mako starred in, which was a personal favorite album of Baldwin’s.

In May 2023, Baldwin posed the question on his Twitter account as to whether he should run for Governor of New Mexico in 2026. In November 2024, Baldwin reiterated his interest in running for governor "beyond hefractured two party system" as part of the White Lotus Party, named in reference to the secret society in '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' which his voiced character, Iroh, is part of.

Prior to making these announcements, Baldwin frequently used his social media accounts to express support for various Democratic politicians and causes, particularly on Twitter. For instance, he stated his support for Deb Haaland to be governor of New Mexico, while also commenting that he wouldn’t mind running for mayor of said state instead.

Filmography

Film

Animation

Video games

Live-action

Theatre

* '' Bullshot Crummond'' – Count Otto Von Bruno
* '' God's Favorite'' – Sidney Lipton
* '' Little Shop of Horrors'' – Mushnik
* '' The Baker's Wife'' – The Baker

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Greg
Living people
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
New Mexico Democrats
Year of birth missing (living people)