Ryan Drummond

Ryan Shawn Drummond was born in Lima, Ohio, on January 10, 1973.^[1] He attended Clague Middle School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he participated in various children's theatre, beginning in 1980 at seven years old.^[3][5] Both of his parents also worked in theatre, his mother and father was both actors and theatre directors of the children theatre plays that Ryan participated in while in school.^[3]

In 1993, he got his first paid acting job at a dinner theater while still attending college.^[2] He graduated from the Eastern Michigan University in 1995, with a degree in theater.^[3] Upon graduating, he moved to San Diego, California in 1996 to pursue his acting career.^[2][6]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

In 1997, Drummond got his first television acting role as DJ Johnny Jam in an episode of the television drama series Baywatch. He would later star in several other television shows, such as Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, The Chronicle, The Invisible Man, Point Pleasant and Trauma. He also made a guest appearance in an episode on The Rosie O'Donnell Show in December 1998, during the Toys For Tots segment.^[3] In film, he made his feature film debut in the 2000 teen cheerleading comedy film, Bring It On, as Theatre Boy.^[7]

As a voice actor, he has provided many character voices in various video games titles.^[8] In 1998, he became the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in the video games series for SEGA, when auditioning for the role, he was asked by the voice director "You see that picture of Sonic the Hedgehog on the wall there? If you could imagine a voice coming out of him, what would it sound like?", he stated he had no time to think and stated that he decided to give him a "speedy teenage hedgehog voice."^[9] A week later, the casting director called him up and said he got the part.^[9]

He continued to voice the character for six more years until 2004, the video games includes Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Battle, Sonic Advance 3 and Sega Superstars.^{[2][3][10][11][12]} He also voiced Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic Shuffle, Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes and briefly voiced Shadow the Hedgehog for a few lines in Sonic Adventure 2.^[13][14][15]

Additionally, he also voiced Elliot Ballade in Blue Stinger, Insider in AirBlade, Bill Bardi in The Godfather II, J. Edgar Hoover and various other characters in Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Kevin Kertsman in Illbleed and has recently voiced the Doctor character in Mafia: Definitive Edition, where he also did the motion-capture.^[8]

Drummond initially wanted to play Sonic in the anime adaptation Sonic X, and even offered to move to New York so he could play the role, 4Kids instead hired Jason Griffith who later became his successor.^[16][2]

In an interview, Drummond stated he was offered the chance by Sega to re-audition as Sonic during the development of Sonic Generations, but he rejected the role because Sega refused to give him a union contract.^[17][9]

He also did acting and voice work in commercials, such as The Padres, McDonald's, Wheel Of Fortune, Sega Dreamcast, Ocean's Eleven, Checkmate Inc., Clear Factor Skincare, Hoist Fitness Systems, and Diedrich Coffee.^[18][19][20] Additionally, he has done voices for theme parks including SeaWorld Orlando as Shamu for a few years and has also provided various background voices in Legoland California.^[4]

Outside of acting, Drummond has also worked in comedy, such as a mime artist and a clown.^[2]

Today, Drummond mainly works in theatre. He starred in a musical comedy theatre show in San Diego titled Forever Plaid.^[21] He would later star in many other musical theatre productions, such as Godspell, Into the Woods, City of Angels, Zhivago, The Producers, Hairspray, The Wedding Singer, Anything Goes, Singin' in the Rain, Mary Poppins, Sunday in the Park with George, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus and most recently, Groundhog Day.^{[22][3][23][24]}

In 2020, Drummond would once again reprise his role as the voice of Sonic in the radio fan web-series Sonic and Tails R.^[25][26]

In 2025, Drummond and his second wife Abby founded the talent agency The Gold Ring Agency,^[27] as a way for events to book appearances of Drummond and other Sonic Adventure series voice actors David Humphrey and Scott Dreier.^[28]

Drummond is a member and the bass vocalist in the music group, The A.Y.U. Quartet.^[2] Together, the music group has released three albums.^[5]

Upon moving to San Diego, California, Drummond met his first wife Lisa.^[2] They were married on October 8, 2002, and together, they have two sons.^[2] In 2019, they had divorced, and on October 30, 2019, Drummond married his second wife Abby.^[27][29] He currently resides in San Francisco, California.^[30]

Drummond would update his fans about his personal life from time to time on his online blog.^[31]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2000	Bring It On	Theatre Boy		[7]
2001	Poor Man	Mime	Short film	[7]
2002	Trial By Pies	—N/a		[7]
2003	Miniature Sun	—N/a		[7]
2004	The Color Of Corruption	—N/a		[7]
2005	Man of the House	—N/a		[7]
2008	Based on a True Story	Hunter		[7]

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	Baywatch	DJ Johnny Jam	Episode: "Baywatch at Sea World"	[32]
1998	Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place	Isaac Glickstein	Episode: "Two Guys, a Girl and an Elective"	[32]
1999	The Rosie O'Donnell Show	Sonic the Hedgehog	Voice; Season 4, Episode 69	[3][32]
2001	The Chronicle	Andy	Episode: "What Gobbles Beneath"	[32]
	The Invisible Man	Mime, Scientologist	Episodes: "Money for Nothing: Part 2", "Immaterial Girl"	[32]
2002	Art of Betrayal	—N/a	1 episode	[32]
2004	Veronica Mars	Roger	Episode: "You Think You Know Somebody"	[32]
2005	Point Pleasant	Booth Vendor	Episode: "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Choked"	[32]
2009	Trauma	Fair Patron	Episode: "All's Fair"
2011	Dual Suspects	Robert Evans	Episode: "Fast Food Fatality"

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Video games

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	The Three Decoders: Riddle of the Ring	Sheldon		[2]
	The Three Decoders 2: Key to the Carousel			[2]
1998	Sonic Adventure	Sonic the Hedgehog		[4][8]
1999	Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger	Rick Arlen		[8]
	Blue Stinger	Eliot Ballade		[8]
	Twisted Metal 4	Pizza Boy		[8]
2000	Evil Dead: Hail to the King	Merchant		[8]
	Danger Girl	Additional voices
	The Mummy	Jonathan Carnahan
	Sonic Shuffle	Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna		[4][13][8]
2001	Undying	Various
	Illbleed	Kevin Kertsman		[8]
	Zax: The Alien Hunter	Zax, Korbo, Villager
	Sonic Adventure 2	Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog (few lines)		[4][8]
	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle			[4]
2002	AirBlade	Insider		[8]
	NASCAR Racing 2002 Season	Spotter		[8]
	Backyard Baseball 2003	Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Cliff Floyd, Frank Thomas, Achmed Khan, Ernie Steele, Pablo Sanchez, Tony Delvecchio		[8]
	Backyard Football	Achmed Khan, Amir Khan, Ernie Steele, Pablo Sanchez, Tony Delvecchio		[8]
2003	Chrome	Additional voices
	Rogue Ops
	Backyard Soccer 2004	Additional voices		[8]
	Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut	Sonic the Hedgehog	Archive recordings	[4]
	Sonic Battle			[4][8]
	Sonic Heroes	Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic		[4][8][14]
2004	Duel Masters	Additional voices
	Gangland	Black Boss, Bouncer, Croupier, Civilian, Sniper, Cop, Ninja, Additional voices
	Spy Fiction	Michael Kwan
	Sonic Advance 3	Sonic the Hedgehog		[4][8]
	Sega Superstars			[4][8]
2005	Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth	J. Edgar Hoover, Seaman Willie Thompson, Experiment, Poorhouse Resident, Cutter Urania Seaman, Yithian, Additional voices
	Cold War	Carter, scientist, Civilian
2006	Scared Rings	Additional voices
2008	The Godfather II: Crime Rings	Bill Bardi
2009	The Godfather II	Bill Bardi, Additional voices		[8]
	Guitar Hero: Van Halen	Additional voices
2011	Dreamcast Collection	Sonic the Hedgehog	Archive recordings
2020	Mafia: Definitive Edition	Doctor	Also motion-capture	[8][33]

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Web

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020–2024	Sonic and Tails R	Sonic the Hedgehog	11 episodes YouTube fan-made audio drama series	[25]

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Theme parks

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	SeaWorld San Diego	Shamu, Wild Arctic monitor		[4]
1999	Legoland California	Various voices		[4]

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Commercials

More information Title, Role ...

Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
The Padres	Baseball fan	Channel 4	[18]
McDonald's	Sonic the Hedgehog	Voice	[18]
Wheel of Fortune	—N/a	King World distribution	[18]
Sega Dreamcast	Sonic the Hedgehog	Voice	[18]
Oceans Eleven Casino	Himself		[18]
Checkmate Inc.	—N/a		[18]

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Ads

More information Title, Ref. ...

Title	Ref.
Mastercard	[20]
Pizza Hut	[20]
Weekenders Clothing Company	[20]
Chrysler	[20]
Jack in the Box	[20]
Washington Mutual Bank	[20]
Carl's Jr.	[20]
Petco	[20]
Deputy Inc.	[20]
Sunrider	[20]
Applied Micro Circuits	[20]
Lifeforce	[20]
Ford Motor Company	[19]
CTX International	[19]
Mamillian Express	[19]

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• S.C.R.A.M. (1994) – Harmony, lead vocals
• Atomic Young Ultrasonics (1996) – Harmony, lead vocals
• Acappella Yuletide Uproar (2010) – Harmony, lead vocals