Neil Charles Kaplan is an American voice actor, audiobook narrator, entertainer, and comedian. His most well known voice roles are Hawkmon from ''

Digimon , short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise, which encompasses virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films, and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures who inhabit a ...

'', Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto from ''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

'', Emperor Zarkon from '' Voltron: Legendary Defender'' and Madara Uchiha from ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

''.

Biography

Kaplan got his start as a comedian doing impressions of presidents such as

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

. He also impersonated a little-known journalist at the time,

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurrica ...

. He then started work on video games, including several ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' titles. From there he went on to do such shows as ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

'', '' Digimon: Digital Monsters'' and '' Transformers: Robots in Disguise''. He was once a contestant on the game show ''

Street Smarts ''Street Smarts'' is an American game show that featured two in-studio contestants trying to predict the outcome of interviews of people who were found on the street. The show, which was hosted by Frank Nicotero, aired in syndication from 200 ...

''. On that appearance, he showed off some of his other impressions, including one of

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, best-known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often-controversial, sense of humor. Hi ...

. He was a guest to the Power Morphicon (in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) in June 2007 and August 2010, to Armageddon (in Australia and New Zealand) in October 2007, and to AVCon: Adelaide's Anime & Video Games Festival (in Australia) in July 2018. He also created the television series ''The Way it WASN'T!'' and the graphic novel ''I, of the Wolf''. He voices Captain Fort Worth in the adult video game ''BoneCraft''.

Filmography

Anime

Animation

Films

* '' Digimon: The Movie'' – Twin Boy 1, Computer Voice 2, Professor, Hawkmon, Halsemon * '' Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning'' as Hawkmon * '' Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!'' (standalone dub) - Professor, Little Boy 2C * '' Digimon Adventure 02: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!! / Transcendent Evolution! The Golden Digimentals'' (standalone dub) - Hawkmon, Halsemon * '' Dragon Quest: Your Story'' – Dr. Agon, Zenith Dragon * ''Ghost Cat Anzu'' – Old Man Mushroom * '' Muhammad: The Last Prophet'' –

'Amr ibn al-'As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and wa ...

, The Spy * '' The Happy Cricket'' – Toad #1 * '' The Little Polar Bear'' – Bert * '' Promare'' – Vulcan Haestus

Video games

* ''

Baten Kaitos Origins ''Baten Kaitos Origins'', released in Japan as ''Baten Kaitos II'', is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and Tri-Crescendo for the GameCube. It is a prequel to ''Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean'' (2003). Simi ...

'' – Wiseman/Verus Wiseman * ''

BioShock Infinite ''BioShock Infinite'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K. The third installment of the ''BioShock'' series, ''Infinite'' was released worldwide for the PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, a ...

'' – Thursday Warren, John Hammond, Ezekiel Price * ''BoneCraft'' – Captain Fort Worth * '' Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion'' – Grim, Johnny Bravo * '' Conan'' – Bone Cleaver * '' Conan Exiles'' - Nunu the Cannibal, Additional Voice * ''

Destiny 2 ''Destiny 2'' is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie. It was originally released as a pay-to-play game in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It became free-to-play, utilizing the games as a se ...

'' – Dominus Ghaul *''DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles'' – Emperor Zarkon * ''

Fallout 76 ''Fallout 76'' is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the ''Fallout'' series and a prequel to previous entries. Initially set in the year 2102, players ...

'' – Biv, Derrick Taylor, Dr. Emerson Hale, Hubert, Lev, Marcus, Intercom, Raiders, Blood Eagles * ''

Final Fantasy XIII is a 2009 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and later for Windows (in 2014). Released in Japan in December 2009 and international in March 2010, it is the thirteenth titl ...

'' – Cocoon Inhabitants * ''

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a 2011 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in 2011 in Japan and 2012 in North America and PAL regions, and was ported to Windows in 2014. ''XIII-2'' is a direct ...

'' – Additional Voices * ''

Final Fantasy XV is a 2016 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2016, Windows in March 2018, and as a lau ...

'' – Additional voices * '' Gears of War 3'' – Stranded Crew #7 * ''

Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedi ...

'' – Various Charr and Norn NPCs, Edrick Thorn * ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...

'' – Cenarius * ''

Heroes of the Storm ''Heroes of the Storm'' is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Announced at BlizzCon 2010, it was released on June 2, 2015 for macOS and Windows. The game features various crossover ...

'' – Tychus * '' Honkai: Star Rail'' - Duke Inferno * '' Infamous First Light'' – Additional Voices * ''

Justice League Heroes ''Justice League Heroes'' is a 2006 console video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms. It was developed by Snowblind Studios, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in conjunction with DC Comics and was distributed in Europe ...

'' –

Gorilla Grodd Gorilla Grodd is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, the character first appeared in ''The Flash'' #106 (May 1959). He is an evil, super-intelligent gorilla who ...

* '' Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII'' – Additional Voices * '' Marvel Heroes'' – Sabretooth,

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

* '' Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor'' – Nemesis Orcs, Humans * '' Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3'' – Obito Uchiha (Ninja War Tobi), Madara Uchiha * '' Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4'' – Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha (Ninja War Tobi) * '' Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations'' – Madara Uchiha * '' Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution'' – Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha (Ninja War Tobi) * '' Ninja Gaiden II'' –

Genshin , also known as , was a prominent Japanese monk of the Tendai school, recognized for his significant contributions to both Tendai and Pure Land Buddhism. Genshin studied under Ryōgen, a key reformer of the Tendai tradition, and became well kn ...

* Omega Strikers - Drek'ar * ''

Red Dead Redemption 2 ''Red Dead Redemption 2'' is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the ''Red Dead'' series and a prequel to the 2010 game ''Red Dead Redemption''. The story is set in a fictiona ...

'' – The Local Pedestrian Population * '' Skylanders: Giants'' – Batterson, Hatterson * '' Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure'' – Nort, Weapon Master * '' Skylanders: Trap Team'' – Batterson, Hatterson * ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directe ...

'' –

Kraven the Hunter Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff; Russian: Сергей Николаевич Кравинов) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, th ...

* '' Spider-Man: Battle for New York'' – Norman Osborn / Green Goblin * '' Star Wars: The Old Republic'' – Skadge * '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'' – Tychus Findlay, Reaper, Vulture * '' StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void'' - Herc * '' Tell Me Why'' – Tom Vecchi / Alexander Kershwin * ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States ...

'' – Additional Voices * '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' – Long Haul * '' Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution'' – Ork Nob * '' World of Warcraft: Cataclysm'' – Cenarius * '' World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor'' – Additional Voices

Live-action

* '' Beetleborgs Metallix'' – Hornix, Witch Doctor (voices, credited as Bob Johnson) * ''

Big Bad Beetleborgs ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' (later ''Beetleborgs Metallix'' for Season 2) is an American live-action superhero television series by Saban Entertainment and was co-produced with Renaissance-Atlantic Films, Toei Company and Bugboy Productions. Two sea ...

'' – Venus Claptrap (voice, credited as Bob Johnson) * '' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie'' – Oozemen (voice, uncredited) * ''

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue ''Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue'' is a television series and the eighth season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 23rd ''Super Sentai'' series '' Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive'' (1999). ''Lightspeed Rescue'' had, for the first time, ...

'' – Diabolico, Gold Beaked Monster (voices) * ''

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' is a tokusatsu television series and the seventh season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 22nd Super Sentai series ''Seijuu Sentai Gingaman''. The series was the first to follow the Sentai tradition o ...

'' – Destruxo (voice), Mutantrum (2nd voice) * ''

Power Rangers Time Force ''Power Rangers Time Force'' is a television series and the ninth season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 24th Super Sentai series ''Mirai Sentai Timeranger'', running for 40 half-hour episodes from February to November 2001. I ...

'' – Gluto (voice), Recap Narrator (voice, uncredited)

References

External links

Neil Kaplan - official websiteNeil Kaplan's Facebook
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Neil American male voice actors American male comedians American impressionists (entertainers) American male video game actors Contestants on American game shows Living people Jewish American male actors Jewish American comedians 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)