Jess Harnell

Named by Variety magazine as one of the top ten voice actors in the business, the Emmy - nominated Jess Harnell is truly one of the best and busiest. Born on the east coast, Harnell moved to California when he was ten, and always knew he’d end up as a performer, though not necessarily as a cartoon.

Jess has appeared on practically every animated television series from “The Simpsons” and “Fairly Odd Parents” to “Special Agent Oso.” In addition, he appears in several starring roles, including Captain Hero on Comedy Central’s hit, “Drawn Together,” as Tim the Bear on “The Cleveland Show” and as Wakko in Steven Spielberg’s “Animaniacs,” winner of multiple Emmy Awards including Best Animated Series and the prestigious Peabody Award.

Harnell has an extensive background as a rock singer, winning numerous Best Singer awards and doing literally thousands of gigs as a studio vocalist and sound-alike, impersonating many famous vocalists flawlessly. In fact, Jess is now the lead singer in the acclaimed 80’s metal/pop mash-up band “Rock Sugar,” sharing stages with such rock legends as AC/DC, Slash and Aerosmith.

Jess’s voice has been heard on countless popular prime time television series including “The Practice,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Chuck” and as the familiar announcer of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and E! TV’s hit series “Celebrities Uncensored,” which Jess also hosted.

In 2007 Harnell was the only actor to take on the voices of two robots - the Autobot Ironhide and the Decepticon Barricade - in Michael Bay’s blockbuster hit “Transformers.” Two years later he reprised the role of Ironhide in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Some of his other film credits include “Finding Nemo,” “The Country Bears,” the “Toy Story” franchise and “Up.”

Additionally, Jess has voiced thousands of promos and has many national commercial credits for clients such as Disney, McDonalds, Diet Coke, Fox, Kellogg’s and a series of spots for Sea World as the voices of both Shamu and Shamu Jr.

One of the top celebrity voice matches in the business, Jess perfectly mimics over 150 celebrities, both speaking and singing, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ozzy Osbourne, Elvis Presley and all four Beatles, Albert Brooks, Christopher Walken, Steve Perry, Willie Nelson and Pee Wee Herman to Rodney Dangerfield.

Paramount Pictures