Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings
James Jonah "Jim" Cummingsis an American voice actor and singer, who has appeared in almost 400 roles. He is known for voicing the title character from Darkwing Duck, Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Pete. His other characters include Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and the Tasmanian Devil. He has performed in numerous animated Disney and DreamWorks movies including Aladdin, The Lion King, Balto, Antz, The Road to El Dorado, Shrek, and The Princess and the Frog. He has also...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionVoice Actor
Date of Birth3 November 1952
CityYoungstown, OH
CountryUnited States of America
I started out doing multiple characters from day one, when I got my fist job in 'Dumbo's Circus.' I'm used to getting in an argument with myself, throwing myself off a cliff, patching myself up and brushing myself off with an arm around my shoulder.
I really have been blessed and fortunate to have accomplished what I have. I hope to do this for a long time. It's such an enjoyable job. I love to do it.
My agency tells me I am rare because I sing, do movie trailers, and do cartoons too. I like that because it gives me variety in jobs. I don't just sit and do movie trailers, and I don't just do cartoons either. I can do both, and I feel very fortunate for that.
As long as it comes across, the characters are well-served, the stories are good, and people like it, that's it for me. I'm a happy guy.
As a kid, I just loved cartoons. And as the credits went by, I'd study those names and then try to figure how I could get hired to do what Mel Blanc and Daws Butler did. Create all of these great voices for animated characters.
One good thing about animation is that, if you do screw up a line, they won't use it. You can keep going until it's right.
I take the work seriously. Which is why I always swing for the fences whenever I voice a character. But that said, I don't take myself all that seriously.
Sterling Holloway, the actor who had originally voiced Pooh, decided to retire in the mid-1980s. Disney decided that they wanted to continue this character with their 'New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' TV series.
By the time 'Dumbo's Circus' wrapped production of its 120 episodes, I had an agent, and I had scored my first feature film gig.
I'm usually the guy who says, 'Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington in the Siege'!
The established characters are easy to recall. I don't know why, but they come back to me instantly when I need them. It's the one-time-only characters that I don't remember where the voice I used came from.
I argue with myself, get mad at myself, throw myself around the room and then apologize to myself.
I remember as a kid watching TV and seeing Mel Blanc doing his voices and Paul Winchell doing his ventriloquism and thinking, 'Those guys are having a good time. I want to do that.'
Sometimes at drive-thrus I go into Winnie the Pooh and ask for a jar of honey.