I've been aware of - and a fan of - Rob Paulsen's for years now, before I even paid that much attention to particular voice actors. I know that I first took real notice of him in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", as that smart-ass Raphael; particularly because his voice reminded me of Gusto Gummi on "Gummi Bears" and other similar voices. So I thought, Hm, I'd like to know who this guy is! And the next thing you know, I'm finding him popping up EVERYWHERE.
Rob's page at
Voice Chasers has a lot more info, including Rob's middle initial (F. Oh, but go to the page anyway, there's more than just that).
The next thing I noticed about Rob Paulsen, by the time Animaniacs rolled around, was that he had a MAJOR fangirl following in some circles. When I first signed onto the internet in 1994 I met more than one young lady who just thought he was the hottest thing on two legs. This was kind of funny to me at the time, because I was (and still am) more prone to fixations on characters than on the actors who play them. But I could see a lot about Rob to like, and if I hadn't been Jim Cummings's #1 fan I might have joined the drooling fangirl ranks. *g*
It was through "Dot" that I found out various trivia facts about Rob, including the fact that Comedy Central sometimes reran a spectacularly bad movie called "Stewardess School" that Rob had a supporting role in (as Larry. "Everyone who wants pizzaaaaa, come to Larry's rooooom!" That's him. *g*).
Like many cartoon viewers, however, I will remember Rob most fondly for his work as Pinky. I loved him before "Pinky and the Brain", and I will love him for years after, but Pinky is just one of the greatest character voices. EVER. Every time I feel like giggling I just think of him sing-songing "birdy-birdy-biiiiirdyyyy" and crack up. ^_^
Anyway, in terms of personal information, Rob was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1956. He is married (sorry, girls) and has at least one kid. He's been working in cartoons since at least 1983, when he was in "G.I. Joe" - like everyone else in 80s cartoons, basically - and from there he went on to be, well, all OVER the place. He has had a number of live action roles, but other than "Stew School" they're usually pretty hard to find.
In general, I love Rob for his excellent comedic timing, and his wide variety of voices. Quite often, when it came to Rob, you had to check the credits to be sure that a particular voice was him; but once you knew, you could identify variations on that voice in about five different places. Take, for example, Steelbeak; he's the same voice as Fowlmouth in "Tiny Toon Adventures", and a rat character in an episode of "Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers". I also love it when Rob and Jim Cummings team up, as often happened in "Tazmania". It generally seemed, in that show, like Jim did about 45% of the characters, and Rob did another 45%. They were constantly paired together, playing off each other, and that was what made the show fun for me.
When it comes to Darkwing, I do wish Rob had had more roles on the show than just Steelbeak. Not that Steelbeak wasn't great, and he always had some of the best lines, but if he could have been a regular think of how much fun that could have been. Oh well, at least I have Pinky. Anyway, although Steelbeak's voice wasn't created solely for the show, it was just the right voice for the character: full of ego, arrogance, sarcasm, and attitude. And that funky accent. And dude, that LAUGH! *g*
Rob caught on film
(Tracked down on the internet, don't really know where.)
A VERY abbreviated voiceography: