Tom Kane (born 1962) is an American former voice actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the ''
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 ...
'' franchise.
Career
Kane began his voice acting career in 1977 when he was just 14 years old.
Some of his best-known roles include Jedi Master
Yoda
Yoda () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force. He first appeared in the 1980 film '' The Empire Strikes Back'', in which he is voiced and puppeteered by F ...
and Admiral Yularen in ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars''
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
and
TV series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
, The Chancellor in ''
9'',
Magneto
A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
in ''
Wolverine and the X-Men'' and ''
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds'',
Ultron
Ultron () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared as an unnamed character in ''The Avengers (comic book), The Avengers'' #5 ...
in ''
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow'' and ''
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'',
Mr. Herriman in ''
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'', Lord Monkey Fist in ''
Kim Possible
''Kim Possible'' is an American animated Action comedy TV series, action comedy television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The Kim Possible (character), title character is a teenage girl tasked with saving ...
'',
Professor Utonium and
HIM in ''
The Powerpuff Girls'', Oxnard Montalvo in ''
The Angry Beavers'', and Darwin in ''
The Wild Thornberrys
''The Wild Thornberrys'' is an American animated series, animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic for Nickelodeon. The series portrays the zany hijinks of a family o ...
''.
Kane was also a prominent video game voice actor, appearing in numerous titles - from bit parts, to major roles such as
Gandalf
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" fr ...
,
Professor X
Professor X (Prof. Charles Francis Xavier) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 ( ...
and lead characters in many ''Star Wars'' games like ''
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed'' as Imperial Captain Ozzik Sturn, Lobot and Kento Marek (the father of
Sam Witwer's Galen Marek) thanks to ILM's motion capture technology. In ''
Call of Duty: World at War'', ''
Black Ops'', ''
Black Ops II'', ''
Black Ops III'' and ''
Black Ops IV'', he provides the voice of Takeo Masaki, a Japanese WWII soldier and WWI warrior in the Zombies game mode.
In the arena of non-animation voiceover work, Kane recorded commercials, film trailers and television promos. In addition, he has been the announcer for the
AFI Life Achievement Award show twice, as well as the
78th,
80th,
83rd,
84th, and
90th Academy Awards. He also played
Odin
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...
(the father of
Thor
Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
and
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
) in the
video game adaptation of Thor as well as the Disneyland attraction: ''Thor: Treasures of Asgard'', taking over the role from
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
from the film.
On April 13, 2012, Kane took over for Joe Hursh as the voice of the
Walt Disney World Monorail System.
In 2013, he took over as the announcer of ''
The Eric Andre Show'', replacing
Gary Anthony Williams.
Kane made his debut in the
''Star Wars'' film saga as the voice of
Admiral Ackbar in 2017's ''
Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', taking over the role from the late
Erik Bauersfeld. He had experience in voicing the character on several occasions for video games in the franchise prior to the film's release. He also voiced Plague Champion in ''Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising and Retribution''.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Kane was one of several voices for health and safety announcements at Walt Disney World.
He also narrated the series premiere of ''
Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' in May 2021.
Retirement
In November 2020, Kane suffered a
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
which left him with significant weakness on the right side of his body and damage to his speaking, writing, and reading abilities.
In September 2021, Kane's daughter Sam confirmed that, due to his stroke, he had decided to officially enter an early retirement from voice acting. She gives regular updates on Facebook about his condition.
Personal life
Kane has been married to Cindy Roberts since 1982 and is the father of 9 children.
Filmography
Voice acting
Film
Television
Video games
Live-action
Television
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Tom
1962 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American male video game actors
Audiobook narrators
Cartoon Network people