Jess Harnell (born December 23, 1963) is an American voice actor and singer. His roles include Wakko Warner in Animaniacs, Captain Hero in Drawn Together, Taxicrab in Jungle Junction, Chilly in Doc McStuffins, Cedric in Sofia the First, Texas in Motorcity, Grim Gloom in The 7D, Jerry in the first two seasons of Totally Spies!, Ironhide in the first three Transformers films directed by Michael Bay, Wooton Bassett in the Christian radio program Adventures in Odyssey, and the titular character in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Harnell has also been the announcer for America's Funniest Home Videos since 1998.
Early life Harnell was born on December 23, 1963, at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Teaneck, the son of Joe Harnell (a jazz composer) and his wife Alice (née Penslar) Harnell.Zayas, Javier. "'Wakko Yaks: A Conversation with Jess Harnell' by Javier Zayas" , Fulle Circle Magazine, April 17, 2015. Accessed June 17, 2015. "Javier Zayas: So you were born in Teaneck, New Jersey? Jess Harnell: Actually it was Englewood Hospital, but right near Teaneck and that's where I lived so we'll stick with that."
Career In 1989, Harnell provided the voices of Br'er Rabbit and many other critters for the Splash Mountain attraction at Disneyland Park. Harnell also recorded some new character dialogue for the subsequent Walt Disney World version of the attraction. He has continued to reprise the role of Brer Rabbit in new Disney projects when needed, such as in the 2011 video game Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.
In 1990, Harnell served as a casting director on DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. In 1993, he went on to voice Wakko Warner on Animaniacs and Secret Squirrel on 2 Stupid Dogs. That same year, he became the singing voice of father in the current version of Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. From 1994 to 1996, he supplied the voices of Sewer Urchin, the Human Bullet and Chief Louder in the animated series The Tick.
Also, in 1996, Harnell voiced Hunter in Road Rovers. One of Harnell's next appearances was as the principal stormtrooper in the 1997 Star Wars fan film Troops, a parody of Cops set in the Star Wars expanded universe. Harnell voiced Rudy's father, Joe Tabootie and Chalk Dad on the Nickelodeon show ChalkZone, Crash Bandicoot in Crash Tag Team Racing, Crash of the Titans, Crash: Mind over Mutant, and Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, Lo-Lo in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, Rodney Copperbottom in the Robots video game, Spyro the Dragon in Spyro: A Hero's Tail and Spyro: Shadow Legacy, Marlin, Bruce and Crazy Drivers in the Finding Nemo video game, Jerry in the first two seasons of Totally Spies!, Linguni in Pucca and Dr. Finkelstein in The Nightmare Before Christmas''' video game spin-offs, as well as in the Kingdom Hearts series. In 2005, he voiced Buzz Blister in Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars and numerous other characters in subsequent Tom and Jerry features. He also voiced wild and energetic Cro-Magnon Doubledome from the Longhair and Doubledome cartoon shorts for Cartoon Network's Big Pick (also starring Daniel Davis as Longhair).
In 2001, Harnell was the singing voice of Buster on Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. He also voiced Captain Hero on Comedy Central's animated comedy Drawn Together and he also does the voices of Wooton Bassett and Bennett Charles on the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, as well as playing the lead role of Finnian Jones for the Lamplighter Theatre Radio Drama. He also made appearances on Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. His voice also made an appearance in NASCAR Rumble, and is credited for in-game commentary in the follow-up game Rumble Racing. Jess also replaced Brad Garrett as the voice of Fatso during season 3 of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper. He also guest starred in Samurai Jack as he voiced Ringo and a waitress in the episode "Jack Under the Sea". He also produced the 2004 film Comic Book: The Movie along with Billy West, Mark Hamill, Eric Mittleman, Scott Zakarin and Roger Rose as well as playing the character Ricky. In 2006, he worked as a voice director on Pet Alien. In 2007, he replaced Neil Flynn as the voice of The Plumber in Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. He also voiced the Smuggler in that popular series.
In that same year, Harnell voiced the characters of Ironhide and Barricade in the Michael Bay-directed Transformers, making him the only voice actor to play both an Autobot (Ironhide) and a Decepticon (Barricade) in that film. He returned to voice Ironhide once again in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon as well as Barricade in Transformers: The Last Knight.
Harnell voiced a character in Up and replaced Brad Garrett as the voice of Professor Buffo in Special Agent Oso. He also voiced Flip Wreck, Blast Zone and Bucko in the Skylanders reboot of the franchise and The Cowardly Lion and Reegull in Lego Dimensions (the former role he would reprise in the 2017-2020 Boomerang show Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz). Harnell also provided the voice of Cedric in Sofia the First from 2013 to 2018.
Music career
Harnell released his only solo studio album, The Sound of Your Voice, in 1995. He is the lead vocalist in the pop/metal mashup rock band, Rock Sugar, which evolved from his previous band, Loud & Clear. With Loud & Clear or Rock Sugar, Harnell released five albums: Disc-Connected (2003), self-titled demo album (2007), Festival of Fire (2008), Reimaginator (2010), and Reinventinator'' (2021).
Personal life Harnell is a Christian. On November 8, 2019, Harnell proposed to his girlfriend Cara Leanne, and the couple married on November 19.
Filmography Film + List of voice performances in feature and direct-to-video films Year Title Role Notes Reference(s) 1994 Yakko's World: An Animaniacs Singalong Wakko Warner Direct-to-video film Pom Poko Gyobu (2005 English dub) 1995 Casper Casper's Arnold Schwarzenegger impression 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Frollo's Soldiers Aladdin and the King of Thieves Fat Thief Direct-to-video film Mostly In Toon: An Animaniacs Singalong Wakko Warner Direct-to-video film 1997 Casper: A Spirited Beginning Fatso Direct-to-video film 1998 Casper Meets Wendy Fatso Direct-to-video film Quest for Camelot Construction worker 1999 We Wish You a Merry Christmas Santa, Man #1, Man #2 Direct-to-video film Our Friend, Martin Reporter #1, Demonstrator Direct-to-video film O' Christmas Tree Man in House, Skunk, Santa Direct-to-video film Wakko's Wish Wakko Warner Direct-to-video film 2000 Lion of Oz Singer Joseph: King of Dreams Issachar, Lead Trader Direct-to-video The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus Wagif Knook, Giant Direct-to-video film Little Nicky Gary the Monster The Emperor's New Groove Guard 2001 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure Buster (singing voice) Direct-to-video Max Keeble's Big Move MacGoogles 2002 Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring Policeman Scooby-Doo Creatures Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian Man 2003 The Jungle Book 2 Dizzy, Ziggy Finding Nemo Seagulls 2004 Comic Book: The Movie Ricky Direct-to-video film; also producer Clifford's Really Big Movie Dirk Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers Major General Direct-to-video iMucha Lucha!: The Return of El Malefico Don Cerebro, Vegas Lounge Singer Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.! Dude #2 2005 Racing Stripes Horse #1 Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars Buzz Blister, Martian General, Worker #3 Direct-to-video film Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry Buzz Blister, Film Director Direct-to-video film 2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Male Macrauchenia Asterix and the Vikings Cacofonix English version Tales from Earthsea Messenger #2, Hazia Dealer English version 2007 Surf's Up Male Penguin #4 Transformers Ironhide, Barricade Underdog Astronaut 2008 Horton Hears a Who! Another Who Dragon Hunters Gildas (English version) WALL-E Axiom Passenger #9 Igor Announcer, Royal Guard #2 2009 Up Nurse AJ Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Ironhide Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen CoupleShared with Shia LaBeouf and either Megan Fox or any "Transformer" Dragon Hunters Gildas The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Cameraman, Astronaut, Willey the Worm, Uncle Carl 2010 The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! Captain Hero, Wile E. Coyote Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes Pan, Brett Jeremy Direct-to-video 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ironhide Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen EnsembleShared with the entire cast 2012 Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse Pan Big Top Scooby-Doo! Human Scooby-Doo, Guard Direct-to-video Wreck-It Ralph Don 2013 Monsters University Fraternity Brother, MU Security Monster 2014 Mr. Peabody & Sherman George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, Isaac Newton, New York City cop The Hero of Color City Green Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon Pan Tyler Perry's Madea's Tough Love Campaign Manager, Announcer 2015 Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest Pan Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run Tosh, Pete Puma Direct-to-video 2016 Norm of the North Male Tourist The Secret Life of Pets Papillon Nerdlands Reporter Jess 2017 Transformers: The Last Knight Barricade Tangled: Before Ever After Pocket Television film Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Grandpa Joe Direct-to-video The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Animal Control Guy #1 Deep Luigi 2021 Rick + Morty in the Eternal Nightmare Machine Scary Terry Short film History of Swear Words Grandpa 2023 Once Upon a Studio Scuttle Short film
Television