Charlie Adler

Adler grew up in a suburb of New York City. After several career aspirations including being a veterinarian, painter and psychologist, he decided to become an actor in the 5th grade, as his teacher had been an actor. His sister Cheryl Adler is a psychotherapist who wrote the book Sober University.^[4] Adler was mentored by Imogene Coca whom he met while performing improv. Growing up, Adler was a self-described "TV junkie",^[5] and an avid fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Three Stooges and Irene Ryan's Granny Moses from The Beverly Hillbillies.

Adler's first professional acting job was in a commercial in 1971.^[1][6] Afterward, he took a hiatus from acting.^[6] During this time, he worked a variety of jobs, including waiter, janitor, paper delivery man, floor stripper, house painter, remedial reading teacher and caretaker for an Episcopal church. In 1975, Adler was a member of Allan Albert’s groundbreaking improv company The Proposition and starred in an Off Broadway production of Once Upon a Mattress with Imogene Coca and Rita Rudner.^[7]

In 1984 and 1985, he starred as Arnold Beckoff in Torch Song Trilogy, for which he was nominated for the 1985 Helen Hayes Best Actor Award, in New York City before moving to California in 1986.^[5][8]

Adler's first animation role was recorded in New York City, voicing Spike in Rescue at Midnight Castle.^[9]

In 1985, after convincing the head of the Abrams, Rubiloff and Lawrence agency to allow him to audition for their voice-over department,^[9] Adler later attended a private audition for Ginny McSwain and Arlene Thornton. An agent had praised him in front of them as the "next Frank Welker".^[10] McSwain recalls that "he blew their minds"^[10] but he claims that initially they had no interest in him. Having no demo, they arranged for him to record an audition. He improvised characters during the tape, which impressed both McSwain and Thornton; however, Adler was so embarrassed with his performance that he performed with his back to them and his face hidden with a hat and sunglasses.^[5]

His voice acting career took off when Adler landed the roles of Nat Smurfling in the fourth season of The Smurfs, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, Silverbolt on The Transformers and Eric Raymond, Techrat and Zipper in Jem.

He was disenchanted with live-action acting after working on The Redd Foxx Show, in which he portrayed Ralph/Rita. In an interview for The Magic Behind the Voices, Adler commented on the experience: "you spend your whole life going, "God, I just want to be in a TV show and have a parking space". Then I got it and it was just so not what I wanted to do."^[5]

He became active in animation, his roles include reprising Spike on My Little Pony, Low-Light on G.I. Joe, Mr. O'Greasy on A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Deputy Fuzz and Tex Hex on Bravestarr, Cavey Jr. on The Flintstone Kids, Pinky Dalton on The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound, Quark and Zappy on Rockin' with Judy Jetson, the TurkeyBoy and sometimes Hamburglar in McDonald's commercials and The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, Mad Dog, Hacksaw, and Howard Huge in TaleSpin, Dripple on Tom and Jerry Kids, and the titular character on Paddington Bear.

In 1990, Adler lent his voice to Buster Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures.^[8] Producer Tom Ruegger recalled that he and voice director Andrea Romano insisted Steven Spielberg cast him due to the "great deal of energy" he brought to Buster. In 1992, during the show's third season, he abruptly left the show. John Kassir replaced him for the remainder of Tiny Toons.

In 1993, Adler went on to play Chance "T-Bone" Furlong on SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Bill on The Terrible Thunderlizards, Ickis on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Ed and Bev Bighead on Rocko's Modern Life, Stalker Slaughter on Captain Planet and the Planeteers and Screwball Squirrel, as well as reprising Dripple for Droopy, Master Detective.^[5]

In 1995, Adler voiced several characters on What a Cartoon!. In the latter, he played Cow, Chicken and The Red Guy. No Smoking was a pilot created by David Feiss, which was greenlit to be a series in 1997 with him on board to reprise his characters, for a new series, titled I Am Weasel. Cow and Chicken ran from 1997 to 1999, receiving multiple awards and nominations, including an Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production" for Adler as Cow. Later on I Am Weasel was made into a spinoff series, in which he reprised the three characters and also voice I.R. Baboon.

His voice directing career began in the late 1990s with Rugrats^[11] and later collaborated with Klasky Csupo. Adler has directed The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, All Grown Up!, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, The Replacements, among others.^[12]

In 2002, Adler, with David Feiss and Michael Ryan, directed his own short film No Prom for Cindy.

Adler also voiced Dr. Peacock in Froot Loops commercials, Padrig Winks and Mr. Hornsby on Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, SAVO on Danger Rangers, Mr. Whiskers on Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Optimatus on Loonatics Unleashed and Doctor Doom on The Super Hero Squad Show.

In 2007, Adler provided the voice of Starscream in Michael Bay's live-action Transformers film franchise. Just as Chris Latta voiced both Starscream and Cobra Commander^[13] in the Sunbow cartoons, Adler voiced Cobra Commander on G.I. Joe: Resolute and G.I. Joe: Renegades. He also voiced the titular character in the webtoon Inspector Beaver.

Adler was the guest of honor at the 2017 edition of AnthroCon.^[14]

His subsequent credits as voice director include: Nickelodeon's Blaze and the Monster Machines, New Looney Tunes (season 1), Kulipari: An Army of Frogs and Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny. He also plays MODOK on Avengers Assemble.

Film

More information Year, Title ...

List of voice performances in direct-to-video and feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer	Popo	Credited as Charles Adler[15]
1986	My Little Pony: The Movie	Spike, Woodland Creature
1987	G.I. Joe: The Movie	Low-Light	Direct-to-video
	The Chipmunk Adventure	Additional Voices
1988	BraveStarr: The Movie	Deputy Fuzz, Tex Hex
1989	Police Academy 6: City Under Siege	The Mastermind	Uncredited
	The Little Mermaid	Additional Voices
1990	Roller Coaster Rabbit	Carnival Barker	Uncredited Short film
	DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp	Arab
	The Rescuers Down Under	Additional Voices
	The Prince and the Pauper	Weasel #2 & 3 , Pig Driver, Peasant and Man in Street	Short film
1992	Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation	Buster Bunny	Direct-to-video[15]
	Cool World	Nails	Credited as Charles Adler
	Aladdin	Gazeem, Melon Merchant, Nut Merchant
1993	Once Upon a Forest	Waggs	[15]
1998	Rusty: A Dog's Tale	Agent the Snake[15]	Credited as Charles Adler
	The Rugrats Movie	United Express Driver
2000	Rugrats in Paris: The Movie	Inspector	[15]
2003	Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure	Templeton, Lurvy	Direct-to-video[15]
2005	Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry	Grammy
	Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild	Beaver
2006	Bratz: Genie Magic	Reporter
2007	Transformers	Starscream	[15]
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Krongarr	Direct-to-video[15]
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Starscream	[15]
	A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures
2013	Khumba	Wild Dog #1, Dassie Leader	Credited as Charles Adler[15]
2015	Top Cat Begins	Granny Dibble	[15]
2016	Norm of the North	Forebear
2017	All I Want for Christmas Is You	Santa, Mr. Ingersoll, Dougie's Dad	Direct-to-video[15]
2019	Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling	Ed Bighead, Bev Bighead, others	Netflix film[15]
2024	Hitpig!	Super Rooster	[16]

Close

Television

More information Year, Title ...

List of voice performances in television shows

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	My Little Pony	Spike	[15]
1985–1989	The Smurfs	Natural "Nat" Smurfling
1985	The Pound Puppies	Flack[15]	Credited as Charles Adler
1985–1986	Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling	"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
1985–1987	The Transformers	Silverbolt, Triggerhappy, others
1985–1988	Jem	Eric Raymond, Zipper, Tech Rat, Angus (episode "Danse Time"),[17][18] others
1986	Smurfquest	Natural "Nat" Smurfling	Television film
	The Glo Friends	Excavator, Glo Bug, Dipper Duck
	G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero	Low-Light	[15]
	Inhumanoids	George Landisburg	Uncredited
1986–1987	My Little Pony 'n Friends	Spike, Woebegone
1986–1988	The Flintstone Kids	Captain Caveman Jr.
1986–1990	The Real Ghostbusters	Osiris, Sandy Van Sanders, Elizabeth
1987	Sky Commanders	Kreeg
	Ultraman: The Adventure Begins	Andy	Television film
	DuckTales	Filler Brushbill, Pluck	Episode: "Much Ado About Scrooge"
	Pound Puppies	Shadow Monster	Episode: "The Rescue Pups/Good Night, Sweet Pups"; uncredited
	The Little Troll Prince	Stav	Television film
1987–1988	The Little Clowns of Happytown	Pranky
	Yogi's Treasure Hunt	Greed Monster
	BraveStarr	Deputy Fuzz, Tex Hex, others
	The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse	Bat-Bat, Moe
1988	The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound	Pinky Dalton, Pig, TV Announcer from Bit-2 News	Television film
	Rockin' with Judy Jetson	Quark, Zappy
	The New Yogi Bear Show	Additional Voices
	The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
	Dino-Riders	Hammerhead, Turret, Lokus
	Christmas in Tattertown	Sidney the Spider
1988–1989	Slimer!	Rafael
1988–1990	A Pup Named Scooby-Doo	Mr. O'Greazy, others
1989	The Further Adventures of SuperTed	Wally	Episode: "Leave It to Space Beavers"
	The Karate Kid	Additional Voices	Episode: "My Brother's Keeper"
	Dink, the Little Dinosaur		Episode: "Phantom of the Cave/Dry River"
	Camp Candy
1989–1990	Paddington Bear	Paddington Bear
1989–1983	ABC Weekend Special	Mr. Funnbunny, Street Pig
1990	Wake, Rattle, and Roll	Igor Jr., Catula	Credited as Charles Adler
	Gravedale High	Additional Voices	Episode: "Cleo's Pen Pal"
	Timeless Tales from Hallmark	Ugly Duckling, Crocodile #1	Episode: "The Ugly Duckling"
	Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone	Rocky
	The Wizard of Oz	Cowardly Lion
1990–1991	TaleSpin	Mad Dog, Hacksaw, Howard Huge
1990–1992	Tiny Toon Adventures	Buster Bunny	Main role[15]
1990–1993	Tom & Jerry Kids	Dripple
1991	Star Street: The Adventures of the Star Kids	Sagi, Moon, Gemo
	Yo Yogi!	Additional Voices
	ProStars
1991–1992	Darkwing Duck	Major Trenchrot, Andy Ape, Loophole, Mr. Mikey
1991–1996	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Stalker Slaughter, Piebald, Thylacine, Newt
1992	Defenders of Dynatron City	Dr. Mayhem
	Goof Troop	Moe the Ghost, Igor, The Magician's Hat
	The Plucky Duck Show	Buster Bunny
	Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire	Additional Voices
1992–1993	The Little Mermaid	Squid #1, Additional Voices
1992–1996	Capitol Critters	Jammet
1992–1997	Eek! The Cat	Bill, others
1993	Family Dog	Additional Voices
	2 Stupid Dogs	Greg
	Marsupilami	Additional Voices
	Biker Mice from Mars	Corroder Cody	Episode: "The Masked Motorcyclist"
	Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa	Additional Voices	Episode: "Circus Daze"
	Mighty Max	Ernie
	Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby	Rocky	Television film
	A Flintstone Family Christmas	Additional Voices
	Droopy, Master Detective	Dripple, Screwball Squirrel, Lightning Bolt
1993–1994	Problem Child	Additional Voices
	Bonkers	Police Light, Tiny, others
	Cro	Steamer, Mojo, Big Red
	Sonic the Hedgehog	Snively	[15]
1993–1995	SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron	Chance "T-Bone" Furlong, others
1993–1996	Rocko's Modern Life	Ed Bighead, Bev Bighead, others	[15]
1994	Yogi the Easter Bear	Paulie	Television film
	Aladdin	Mechanicles
	Bobby's World	Harry's Dad
1994–1996	Duckman	Sgt. Red Herring, Juan Asalas, Doctor
1994–1997	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	Ickis, others	[15]
1995	The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show	Smelly Deputy Chafe
	Beavis and Butt-Head	Mr. Adler
	What-a-Mess	Additional Voices
	Santo Bugito	Eaton Woode, Miguel	Credited as Charles Adler
1995–1996	Earthworm Jim	Professor Monkey-for-a-Head, others
1995–1997	The Mask: Animated Series	Pete, Sergeant Cole, Ice Cream Man
	What a Cartoon!	Various	[15]
1995–1999	Timon & Pumbaa	Irwin, others
1996	The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper	Additional Voices
	Tales from the Crypt	Smokey	Episode: "The Third Pig"[15]
	The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest	Rawlings, Robber #2	Episode: "The Ballad of Belle Bonnet"
	Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series	Dr. Droid, Otto Maton, Flork
	Quack Pack	Additional Voices
	Project G.e.e.K.e.R.	Dr. Maston, Jake Dragonn, Gene Damage
	The Tick	Sarcastro	Episode: "The Tick vs. Education"[15]
	Jungle Cubs	Ned
1996–1997	The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat	Felix the Cat (season 2)	[15]
1997	Bruno the Kid	Additional Voices	Episode: "The Unfriendly Skies"
	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	Swindler, The Child	Episode: "Humility"
	Cave Kids	Bug	Episode: "Beanstalk Blues"
	Spicy City	Rocco, ZBig, Additional Voices
	Extreme Ghostbusters	Additional Voices	Episode: "The Unseen"
	Men in Black: The Series		Episode: "The Buzzard Syndrome"
1997–1999	Todd McFarlane's Spawn
	Cow and Chicken	Cow, Chicken, The Red Guy, I.R. Baboon, various	[15]
1997–2000	I Am Weasel	I.R. Baboon, The Red Guy, Cow, Chicken
1997–2006	Space Goofs	Candy Caramella, others	English dub
1998	Channel Umptee-3	Additional Voices	Episode: "The Lying Show"
	Oh Yeah! Cartoons	Herr Brush, Koko Bird, Warden, Produce Guy	[15]
	The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs	Additional Voices	Credited as Charles Adler
	Mad Jack the Pirate
	Toonsylvania
1998–2003	The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald	Hamburglar, McNugget #3, McSplorer	[15]
1999	Hey Arnold!	TV Announcer	Episode: "Love and Cheese/Weighing Harold"[15]
	Johnny Bravo	Director, Fan #1
1999–2001	Rugrats	Ickis, Professor Spooky	Credited as Charles Adler
2000	Pepper Ann	C.J.	Episode: "Burn Hazelnut Burn/Career Daze"
	The Wild Thornberrys	Wrestlers	Episode: "Horse Sense"
	As Told by Ginger	Principal, Radio Announcer	Episode: "The Party"
	100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd	The Dogfather, Retriever
2000–2001	Cartoon Cartoon Fridays	Chicken, I.R. Baboon, The Red Guy
2000, 2002	The New Woody Woodpecker Show	Bucky Beaver, Caveman Woodpecker	2 episodes
2000–2002	Rocket Power	Blimp Announcer, Helicopter Reporter
2001	The Oblongs	Executive #1	Episode: "My Name Is Robbie"
2002–2005	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	Snowman, Lubbermouth, Zombie Kid
2003–2004	Ozzy & Drix	General Malaise, Abglobtus Goop, Dr. Hammertoe	[15]
2003–2007	Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks	Padrig Winks, Mr. Hornsby
2004	All Grown Up!	Chance, Pete
2004–2005	Dave the Barbarian	Various	[15]
	The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius	The Junkman
2004–2006	Brandy & Mr. Whiskers	Mr. Whiskers
2004–2007	Pet Alien	Dinko, Flip, Cap'n Spangley, Dr. Daffodil
2005–2006	The Buzz on Maggie	Additional voices
	Danger Rangers	S.A.V.O., additional voices
2005–2008	Camp Lazlo	Additional voices
2006–2007	Loonatics Unleashed	Optimatus	[15]
	Shuriken School	Principal of Shuriken, Vladimir, Tetsuo, Principal of Katana, Cleaning Lady	English dub
2006–2009	The Replacements	Prime Minister Ricobo
2007	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera	Mano Negra	Episode: "Old Money"[15]
2007–2008	Random! Cartoons	Finster #2, Space Pilot #2, Evil Guy, Space Thugs	[15]
2007–2009	Chowder	Additional voices
2008	The Emperor's New School		Episode: "Guaka Rules"
	Wizards of Waverly Place	Report Card	Episode: "Report Card"
	Wolverine and the X-Men	Mojo, Captain Gruber, others
2009	G.I. Joe: Resolute	Cobra Commander, Stalker, Flint, Gung-Ho	[15]
2009–2011	The Super Hero Squad Show	Doctor Doom, Sabretooth, Melter, Super-Skrull, Doombots, Cynthia Von Doom, Wrecker, Captain Britain, Plantman, others
2010–2011	G.I. Joe: Renegades	Cobra Commander, Buzzer, others
2010–2012	Hero Factory	Corroder, Chief Drax, Toxic Reapa, Speed Demon
2011–2015	WordGirl	Additional voices
2012–2014	Ben 10: Omniverse	Proctor Servantis, Blarney Hokestar, Collectimus, others	[15]
2013	Bubble Guppies	Additional voices	Episode: "Sir Nonny the Nice!"
	Phineas and Ferb	MODOK[15]	Episode: "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel"
2013–2018	Avengers Assemble	MODOK, Super-Adaptoid	[15]
2014	The Tom and Jerry Show	Polly's Mother	Episode: "Holed Up/One of a Kind"
	Wander Over Yonder	Stok, Additional voices	Episode: "The Nice Guy/The Timebomb"
2015	Ultimate Spider-Man	MODOK	Episode: "Contest of the Champions: Part 3"[15]
	The Awesomes	Additional voices
2015–2022	Blaze and the Monster Machines	The King, White Knight, Robbie, others
2016	The Lion Guard	Mjomba	Episode: "Too Many Termites"[15]
2016–2024	Kulipari	Commander Pigo
2016–2017	Rolling with the Ronks!	Mormagnon	[15]
2019	SpongeBob SquarePants	Manager, Jelly Fisher Gal, Fan Boy	Episode: "Jolly Lodgers"
2019–2020	The Rocketeer	The Great Orsino, Clyde	[15]
	Spider-Man	MODOK, Father Octavius, A.I.M. Agent #1
2020, 2025	Harley Quinn	Nick Quinzel, Grandpa	2 episodes
2020	Madagascar: A Little Wild	Murray	[15]
2021–2022	Rugrats	Graham

Close

Video games

More information Year, Title ...

List of voice performances in video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Normality	Leader Paul
	Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker	Ickis	Credited as Charles Adler[15]
	Blazing Dragons	The Pied Piper, Hunter, Fisherman
1997	Atomic Bomberman	Bomberman
	Fallout	Harold	[15]
	ClayFighter 63⅓	T. Hoppy, Dr. Kiln
1998	Fallout 2	Harold
1999	Earthworm Jim 3D	Professor Monkey-For-A-Head	Uncredited
	Planescape: Torment	Ignus	Credited as Charles Adler
2000	Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn	Kalah, Telos, Rielev, Rejiek Hidesman
	Escape from Monkey Island	Jumbeaux LaFeet, Mungle the Pirate Student
	Sacrifice	Additional Voices
	Stupid Invaders	Candy Hector Caramella, Chicken, Cow, Singing Pufferfish	Credited as Charles Adler
	Nicktoons Racing	Ickis	Archival recording
2002	Earth and Beyond	Gratis August Var	Credited as Charles Adler
2005	Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan	Redback Russ[15]
2006	Cartoon Network Racing	Cow, Chicken, The Red Guy, I.R. Baboon
2009	MadWorld	Jude the Dude, Frank, Killseeker A
	Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Decepticons	Starscream	Credited as Charles Adler
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Starscream, Sunstorm	[15]
	Marvel Super Hero Squad	Doctor Doom, Sabretooth
2010	Star Trek Online	S'Taass, Gazzan
	Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet	Doctor Doom, Doombot	[15]
2011	Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds	Super-Skrull	Also Ultimate
	Marvel Super Hero Squad Online	Doctor Doom, Red Skull, Annihilus, others	Credited as Charles Adler
	Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat	Doctor Doom, Doombot[15]
2012	Final Fantasy XIII-2	Additional Voices
2013	Marvel Heroes	Super-Skrull	Uncredited
	Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII	Additional Voices
2014	Disney Infinity 2.0	MODOK
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0
2016	Lego Marvel's Avengers
	Skylanders: Imaginators	Chain Reaction, Skunkwalker, Scholarville Mabu
2018	Red Dead Redemption II	The Local Pedestrian Population

Close

Live-action

More information Year, Title ...

List of appearances in film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Redd Foxx Show	Rita / Ralph	2 episodes
1988	Thirtysomething	Mister Squeeze Auditioner	Episode: "The Competition"
1990	1st & Ten	Rod	Episode: "Earn This One for Ernie"
2009	Wake	Priest
2010	Totally Tracked Down	Himself	Episode: "Estelle Harris: Master of Her Domain"
2011	Hot in Cleveland	Director	2 episodes
2013	I Know That Voice	Himself	Documentary

Close