Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his roles include

Spike Spiegel is a fictional character introduced as the protagonist of the 1998 anime series ''Cowboy Bebop''. Spike is a former member of the criminal Red Dragon Syndicate, which he left by faking his death after falling in love with a woman named Julia. H ...

from the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series ''

Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...

'';

Amon Amon may refer to: Mythology * Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra * Aamon, a Goetic demon People Mononym * Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah * Amon of Toul ( 375– 423 AD), second recorded Bishop of ...

from ''

The Legend of Korra ''The Legend of Korra'' (abbreviated as ''TLOK'' and also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Korra'' or more rarely simply as ''Korra'') is an American animated Fantasy television, fantasy action drama television series created by Michael Dante ...

''; Heatblast, Ghostfreak, and Vilgax from ''

Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise conceived by Man of Action and owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. The franchise, mainly consisting of animated series produced by Cartoon Network Studios, revolves around a young boy named Ben Tennys ...

''; Garazeb Orrelios from ''

Star Wars Rebels ''Star Wars Rebels'' is an American 3D animated science fiction television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation and set in the ''Star Wars'' universe. It takes place 14 years after '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005 ...

'';

Starscream Starscream is a character in the ''Transformers'' media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the second-in-command of the Decepticons, a villainous faction of alien robots that s ...

from '' Transformers: Prime''; Sub-Zero from the ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' franchise; Tank Dempsey from the ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'' Zombies franchise; Ares in ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...

'', '' God of War: Ghost of Sparta'', and '' God of War: Ascension''; and

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

from

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

's '' Wolverine and the X-Men'', '' Marvel Anime: X-Men'', and various other projects featuring the character. Blum has also been credited as David Lucas, Richard Cardona, Roger Canfield, Tom Baron, and Daniel Andrews in various anime and other live-action appearances.

Early life

Steven Jay Blum was born on April 29, 1960, to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. As a child, Blum was overweight and bullied. To cope with these struggles, he would often draw, sculpt and create music. He would also often go outside and observe nature, marveling at sounds, shapes, and colors. When he was 12 years old, Blum worked at the comic section of his grandfather’s book store in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

where he would sort and catalogue titles. He was a huge fan of cartoons and would often do impressions. Blum started doing impressions by request after leaving a voicemail with the voice of

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fe ...

Career

Blum started his career working at the mail room of film studio

Empire International Pictures Empire International Pictures (also known as Empire Entertainment) was an American independent small-scale theatrical distribution company. Charles Band formed Empire in 1983, prompted by his dissatisfaction with distributors' handling of films ...

. The head of the mailroom offered him a job on a “Japananimation” project since he had the deepest voice. Blum would eventually become head of marketing at a studio while doing voice acting on the side before deciding to become a voice actor full time. His credits include the voice of

in ''

'', Zeb Orrelios in ''

'', Mugen in ''

Samurai Champloo is a 2004 Japanese historical adventure anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete a ...

'', Roger Smith from ''

The Big O is a Japanese mecha-anime television series created by designer Keiichi Sato and director Kazuyoshi Katayama for Sunrise. The writing staff was assembled by the series' head writer, Chiaki J. Konaka, who is known for his work on '' Se ...

'', Orochimaru, and Zabuza Momochi in ''

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 ...

'' and

in multiple

productions. In video games, he provided the voice of main protagonist Jack Cayman in ''

MadWorld is a 2009 beat 'em up hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Sega for the Wii. It was the first game to be developed by PlatinumGames after its formation two years prior. Although a commercial failure, the g ...

'', Captain Foley and Tank Dempsey in the ''

'' series, Professor Galvez in '' Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker'', Ares in ''

'', and '' God of War: Ascension'', main protagonist Grayson Hunt in ''

Bulletstorm ''Bulletstorm'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The video game is distinguished by its system of rewarding players with "skillpoints" for performing increasin ...

'', Brimstone in ''

Valorant ''Valorant'' is a 2020 First-person shooter, first-person tactical shooter, tactical hero shooter video game developed and published by Riot Games. A free-to-play game, ''Valorant'' takes inspiration from the ''Counter-Strike'' series, borrow ...

'', Zoltun Kulle in ''

Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a 2012 online-only action role-playing dungeon crawling game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, ...

'', Sub-Zero in ''

Mortal Kombat X ''Mortal Kombat X'' is a 2015 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the tenth main installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' s ...

'' and '' 11'', Hal Jordan / Green Lantern in ''

Injustice 2 ''Injustice 2'' is a 2017 fighting video game. It is the sequel to 2013's '' Injustice: Gods Among Us'' and the second installment in the ''Injustice'' series which is based on the DC Universe. It is developed by NetherRealm Studios and publish ...

'', Rytlock Brimstone in ''

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 ...

'', and main protagonist Capt. Devin Ross in ''

Clive Barker's Jericho ''Clive Barker's Jericho'' is a horror first-person shooter video game developed by MercurySteam and Alchemic Productions and published by Codemasters. It is produced by Clive Barker. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation ...

''. In September 2000, Blum voiced TOM, the robotic host of

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...

programming block. He replaced

Sonny Strait Sonny Strait is an American voice actor, ADR director, and writer, known for his work on a number of English versions of Japanese anime series and as an illustrator for the independently published comic book series ''Elfquest.'' Strait has provi ...

in the character's subsequent appearances, until the cancellation of Toonami in 2008. When Toonami was revived on March 31, 2012, he returned as the voice of TOM. He is also the announcer for

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

's "Oh Thank Heaven" television and radio advertisements and partnered with

Vic Mignogna Victor Joseph Mignogna ( ; born August 27, 1962)Birthday tweet: * is an American voice actor and musician known for his work in the English dubs of Japanese anime shows, such as Edward Elric from the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, which earne ...

in the series ''Real Fans of Genius'' (a parody of

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

's '' Real Men of Genius'' radio ad campaign). In animation, he is the voice of Heatblast, Ghostfreak and Vilgax in the ''

'' franchise; Garazeb Orrelios in ''

'';

Count Vertigo Count Vertigo (Werner Zytle) is a supervillain created by Gerry Conway, Trevor Von Eeden and Vince Colletta as an enemy of Black Canary, Batman and later Green Arrow in the DC Comics Universe. Count Vertigo is the last descendant of the royal f ...

in '' DC Showcase: Green Arrow'' and ''

Young Justice Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team was formed in 1998 when DC's usual teen hero group, the Teen Titans, had become adults and changed their name to the Titans. Like the original ''Teen T ...

'';

Red Skull The Red Skull is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by France Herron, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon, the character first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941), in ...

, and

Beta Ray Bill Beta Ray Bill is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in the Bronze Age of Comic Books, the character was initially intended to be a surprise; an apparent monster who unexpectedly turns out ...

in '' Wolverine and the X-Men'' and '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'';

in '' Transformers: Prime''; Heatwave in '' Transformers: Rescue Bots''; and

the first season ''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...

of the Nickelodeon animated series ''

''. On June 5, 2012, he was awarded a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for being the most prolific video game voice actor, having 261 credited appearances as of May 10, 2012.

Personal life

Blum married voice actress

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (born October 16, 1966)Birthday references: * * is an American voice actress, ADR director, and singer, best known for her role as Motoko Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell series. She is also known for her involvement ...

in 2017. He has three sons from a prior relationship. One of them, Brandon, is also an actor, while another, Jeremy, is a teacher. Blum enjoys collecting reptiles, fish and birds.

Filmography

References

Books cited

* * * *

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Steven 1960 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male video game actors American male voice actors Audiobook narrators Cartoon Network people Jewish American male actors Male actors from Santa Monica, California 21st-century American Jews