23 Facts About Peter Cullen

Peter Claver Cullen was born on July 28,1941 and is a Canadian voice actor.

Peter Cullen voiced Optimus Prime in the original 1980s Transformers animated series, later returning to the role in Transformers media in 2007, starting with the first live-action film.

Peter Cullen has voiced many other characters across a wide variety of popular media, including Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, Monterey Jack in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, the first voice of KARR in Knight Rider and the vocalizations of the title character in Predator.

Peter Cullen was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2023 as part of the 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards.

Peter Cullen is a member of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada, which he graduated in 1963.

Peter Cullen's brother, Larry Cullen, was a retired captain in the United States Marine Corps, and helped inspire the voice of Optimus Prime.

Peter Cullen played a French-Canadian astronaut character named Commander Bi Bi Latuque alongside Ted Zeigler for the 1969 children's show, The Buddies on CFCF-TV in Montreal.

Peter Cullen honed his voice skills by working as a radio announcer, notably in his home town of Montreal on MOR station CKGM doing the overnight and weekend swing shifts.

In 1974, Peter Cullen was the announcer and a series regular on The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show.

Peter Cullen lent his voice to a character in the album "The Story of Halloween Horror" in 1977.

Peter Cullen has stated that Optimus is his favorite voice role, and that he based the voice of the Autobot leader on his older brother Larry, who served in Vietnam.

Peter Cullen has stated that he had no idea of Prime's popularity until the character's controversial death in the 1986 animated film, because the studio had never given him fan letters from children addressed to Optimus.

Peter Cullen again reprised his role as Optimus Prime in the video games Transformers: War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Transformers: Devastation, and in the recent television series Transformers: Rescue Bots, Transformers: Prime and Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Peter Cullen had a voice part in the 1984 motion picture Gremlins and in the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider series, where he reprised his vocal role as KARR.

Peter Cullen did voicework in The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible series, notably as Japheth, one of Noah's sons in the "Noah's Ark" episode, and the King of Nineveh in the "Jonah" episode.

Peter Cullen played the evil sorcerer Renwick in the lesser known series Little Wizards and played Cindarr in the short-lived series Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

Peter Cullen acted the role of a French-Canadian astronaut, along with writer and his partner on the show, Ted Ziegler.

Peter Cullen has done voicework on drum and bass DJ Dieselboy's 2004 album, The Dungeonmaster's Guide, and narration on the 2013 album Tetragrammaton by the Dutch extreme metal band The Monolith Deathcult.

Peter Cullen is a voice announcer on Police Story 4: First Strike in advertisements for New Line Cinema, lending his experience as an ex-cop for the Santa Monica division to the cast.

Peter Cullen has done voice work for promotions of the 1999 film The Iron Giant.

Peter Cullen has four children: Clay, Angus, Claire, and Pilar, and three grandchildren.

Peter Cullen is a good friend of his longtime Transformers co-star and fellow voice actor Frank Welker, in contrast to the rivalry of their respective characters, Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Peter Cullen is a devoted fan and supporter of NASA, citing the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 as the start of his interest.