Every actor who voiced Best Prime in Transformers movies and TV shows

Many different actors have played the iconic Transformers Character Optimus Prime over the years. The franchise, which is a collaboration between Hasbro in America and Takara Tomy in Japan, originally started when the Takara Tomy toy lines Micro change And Diaklon They were rebranded in the West in 1984, accompanied by an animated series that brought the characters of the lines to life. Optimus Prime, whose Japanese name is Konwi, was one of the original Transformers characters during the rebrand launch.

Since it originated, the Transformers The franchise has expanded to include a vast array of additional toy lines and animated shows as well as additional multimedia properties including animated and live action movies, comic books, video games and more. Optimus Prime has continued to be one of the core characters of many of its iterations, and more than a dozen different actors have provided his voice over the years, with still others providing the voice of the character for toys, web series, and others. Related. Media.

1

Peter Callen

First Performance: The Transformers (1984-1987)

Peter Cullen is the original voice actor to play Optimus Prime in the franchise, and the most frequent star to reprise the role, having voiced him from the original animated series through the Transformers Movies and beyond. Below, see a breakdown of all of Cullen’s stints in the role, not counting video games, shorts or animated episodes reconstituted as feature-length video releases:

Cullen also voiced Optimus Prime several times outside of the Transformers Franchise properIncluded in Universal Studios’ Transformers: The Ride, a series of bedtime stories for the Calm app, and a 2024 episode of the reality show The masked singer.

2

Tesshō Genda

First Performance: The Transformers (1984-1987)

Tesshō Genda is basically the equivalent of Peter Cullen in JapanAlthough he did not play the role of Conway quite as many times as Cullen played Best Prime. However, Genda portrayed the character in the original Japanese dub of the 1984 animated series, reprising the role in the live-action movie dubs just as Cullen did in the original English-language releases. See a full breakdown of his performances dubbing for Cullen below:

Genda is a frequent dubber for Hollywood stars, having provided Japanese dubs for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, and more, across multiple movies.

3

Satoshi Hashimoto

First performance: Transformers: Machine Robots (2000)

The next actor to portray any version of the character on screen would be Satoshi Hashimoto, who voiced Conway in the Japanese animated series. Transformers: Machine RobotsA reboot that ran for a total of 39 episodes in 2000 creating a new continuity for the franchise.

Hashimoto is better known as a stage performer, having held roles in The Rocky Horror Show, Les Miserables, Hamletand recently, Spirited Away, Moulin Rouge!And Come from away. However, he has also held voice roles in quite a few video games, including playing the character Terry Bogard from 1991 Fatal Fury: King of Fighters By 2010s Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting.

4

Neil Kaplan

First performance: Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001-2002)

Neil Kaplan took over the role of Optimus Prime when Transformers: Machine RobotsLater repeated Robots in disguisewas localized for western markets and aired between 2001 and 2002. Just like Hashimoto, he would not go on to reprise the iconic character in others Transformers Media.

However, Kaplan would continue to provide English dubs for anime properties for quite some time, including Digimon Frontier, bleach, Master!, Naruto, Sailor MoonAnd Attack on Titan. He has also held roles in English-language animated projects including a 2019 episode of Love, death and robots And Robot Chickenin which he voted Harry Potter Character Albus Dumbledore.

5

Gary Chuck

First Performance: Beast Machines: Transformers (1999-2000)

Voice actor Gary Chalk joined the franchise in 1999 When he voiced both Optimus Primal and Optimus Prime in Beast Machines: Transformers Before going to dub Optimus Prime in the western locations of the three Transformers anime series that are collectively known as the Unicron Trilogy. Below, see a breakdown of every series in which he has voiced the character:

Chuck has also appeared in quite a few live-action roles over the years, including playing the minor character Stan Walsh in the 2014 Monsterverse movie Godzilla And appeared in the franchise horror movies The flight II, Freddy vs. Jason, Leprechaun originsAnd The Predator.

6

Tōru Ōkawa

First Performance: Transformers: Armada (2002-2003)

Tōru Ōkawa was the first of three actors to voice Conway in the Unicron trilogy, originating the role in the first series, Transformers: Armada. He would not go on to voice the character in any other media in the franchise, although he continued a healthy career as a voice actor in projects including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders Egypt Arc And Play the game Mask of Truth.

As a voice actor, he has also provided the Japanese dubs for many English-language performers including Nicolas Cage in The stronger personWoody Harrelson in War for the Planet of the Apes, Michael Keaton in MorbiusJeff Daniels in Dumb and dumb tooand Yehuda Law in AI artificial intelligence.

7

Katsuyuki Konishi

First Performance: Transformers: Energon (2004)

Katsuyuki Konishi was the second actor to portray Conway in the Unicron trilogy, taking over the role in 2004 Transformers: Energon. Just like Tōru Ōkawa before him, he did not reprise the role in future installments, although his voice acting career continued to thrive and indeed included 11 projects in 2024 alone, such as Yakuza Fiance: Catch Wa Tanin Ga Ii, No longer allowed in another worldAnd Mission: Yozakura Family.

Konishi is also a prolific dubber, having provided the Japanese voices for Angus Cloud In EuphoriaSean William Scott in final destinationMos Def in ShowtimeJacob Cusati-Moyer in Black AdamAnd more.

8

Kill Kusunoki

First Performance: Transformers: Cybertron (2005)

The third and final performer to voice Cole Conway in the Unicron trilogy, Transformers: Cybertron Star Taiten Kusunoki similarly did not reprise the role after starring in the 2005 animated series. Although not as prolific as Katsuyiki Konishi, he continued to work in 2024, voicing characters in animated series including Chill in another world with Level 2 super cheat powers And Sorcerer’s Stubborn Orphan: Chaos in Urbanrama.

Kusunoki’s Japanese dubbing roles for English-language performances include dubbing for Dwayne Johnson in 20 movies, Vin Diesel at 12, Dave Bautista at nine, Idris Elba at four, Mahershala Ali at three, wants Pearl in Blades of GloryPeter Gallagher in Zoey’s extraordinary playlistand John Cena in 12 rounds.

9

David K

First Performance: Transformers: The Animated (2007-2009)

After playing Megatron in a variety of series including animal wars And the Unicron trilogy, David Kaye went on to voice Optimus Prime Transformers: Animatedwhich debuted on Cartoon Network in December 2007, becoming the first animated installment in the franchise since the debut of the first live-action movie. The show ran for three seasons and a total of 42 episodes.

Although he has not reprized the role since the end of the show in 2009He has taken on a variety of notable roles since then, including playing Arishem the Judge in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Eternal And question in DC animated properties incl Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths.

10

Jake Fauci

First performance: Transformers: Cyberverse (2018-2020)

Jake Fauci, who is sometimes credited as James Tillman, is another actor who has played Optimus Prime several times, starting with the 2018 animated series Transformers: Cyberverse. Foushee followed that by taking over for Cullen in the Rescue bots Sequel Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy After the departure of the voice actor Hiro Diaz, who was originally cast in the role.

Foushee’s acting roles have largely been limited to these Transformers franchise, including voicing Optimus Prime in two video games, though The actor also played a supporting voice role in the 2019 live action horror movie Slasher Partywhich also featured performances from Ray J and Danny Trejo.

11

Hero Diaz

First Performance: Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (2019-2020)

Hiro Diaz is a voice actor who was originally cast as Optimus Prime in Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy But only played the role for the first three appearances of the character in the series. These were limited to the two-part season 1 premiere “Recruits” and season 1, episode 12, “Rescue Promo.” From Optimus Prime’s next appearance in Season 1, Episode 51 onwards, Diaz was replaced by Jake FauciWho has already played the roles before in Transformers: Cyberverse.

Because this was Diaz’s only credited role, not much else is known about the actor, and there isn’t much information about why the actor playing Optimus Prime was switched in the middle of the season.

12

Alan Tuddick

First Performance: Transformers: EarthSpark (2022-2024)

Alan Tudyk played the role of Optimus Prime for the first and so far only time in the animated series Transformers: EarthSparkA Paramount+ and Nickelodeon program that premiered in 2022 and has so far run for two seasons and a total of 36 episodes.

Tudyk has played live-action roles in a variety of Well-known projects and cult titles included Firefly, A knight’s tale, And Resident alienAlthough he has also played many prominent roles as a voice actor. This includes the voice of Hei Hei the chicken MoanaBatman villains The Joker and Clayface in Harley Quinnand the droid K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

13

Chris Hemsworth

First Performance: Transformers One (2024)

Chris Hemsworth’s first stint as Optimus Prime is in the animated movie in 2024 Transformers onewhich follows a younger version of the iconic character and features a star-studded voice cast that also includes Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

Hemsworth is best known for live-action roles, most notably playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, other than reprising his role as Kevin in the Ghostbusters video game, the only other voice roles he has played have been in other Marvel-related works including playing Thor in What if…? And these Thor video game and make an uncredited cameo as Throg in Loki, Making the role of Optimus Prime a major departure for the star.