Billy West

Billy West Actor - Born April 16, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan, USA

Birth Name William Richard West

Height 5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Bio (1) Billy West was born on April 16, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan, USA as William Richard West. He is an actor, known for Futurama (1999), Space Jam (1996) and The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991). He is married to Violet West.

Spouse (1) Violet West (? - present)

Trade Mark (2) 1. Best known for his work on Futurama (1999-2003) 2. His incredible vocal versatility

Did celebrity impressions on the Howard Stern Show for years.

Some of his characters' voices such as Stimpy are based on the voice of Larry Fine of The Three Stooges.

Did the voice of ZIM in the pilot episode of Invader ZIM (2001).

Turned down the opportunity to reprise his role as the voice of the title character on the Doug (1991)-spinoff, Disney's Doug (1996) because he considered it a role he did and did well and it was time to put it aside and move on.

Turned down the opportunity to reprise the role as the voice of the legendary Stimpy on John K.'s new Ren & Stimpy 'Adult Party Cartoon' (2003) on Spike.

Made his live-action debut in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie (2004) along with numerous other voice-over actors. Hamill has made a real career as a voice-over actor and wanted many of his peers to appear on film in the flesh.

Due to his role on Futurama (1999), he has portrayed President Richard Nixon more than any other actor.

He moved to Boston, Massachusetts when he was 11.

Provides the voice for "Red" on the M&M commercials.

Disliked the Disney Version of Doug.

Friends with Richard Steven Horvitz.

Did not start his career in radio and voice acting until he was 30 years old.

His father was an abusive alcoholic. According to Billy, his father tried to kill him 15 times.

He was addicted to alcohol and drugs in his early 20's. He went to Rehab and has been sober for over 30 years.

His favorite Looney Tunes character is Elmer Fudd.

He auditioned for the role for Rigby in Regular Show (2009).

In addition to Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Doctor Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan, he also auditioned for the role for Bender in Futurama.

He auditioned for the role for Klaus in American Dad! (2005).

He has often been compared to Mel Blanc.

He has been openly critical of the use of famous actors in animated films over professional voice actors.

He is considered one of the best vocal artists in the film industry.

Described his experience working on Rem & Stimpy as among the worst of his life and has said he'll never work with John Kricfalusi again.

[on working on Howard Stern's radio show] It was exciting, because there was nothing like it. When I came around, he was starting to get played in other cities on other stations. He was syndicating. And this show was like-when that show came to town, all the other radio stations had to duck and cover, because they couldn't go where he was going. He built that up; he learned how to dance right up close to the line. So close that it's like, "Whoa!" But that's very masterful, to be able to do that. Now there's so many watered-down versions of his show, and his humor, and the vernacular from the show. Other stations, it's commonplace to talk like he did. He kind of taught everybody how to talk, brash. He would just Tourette out his thoughts, and I thought that was the greatest thing in the world.

As long as I can apply my craft, I'm happy.

It had more layers than an onion. These writers meant business. There was a level for everybody. Your major could be celestial mechanics, and there'd be celestial-mechanics jokes.

You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer.

Robert Mitchum sounded different from John Wayne, and John Wayne sounded different from Clark Gable.

Life is for the living. I was a little scared before surgery 'cause of the release you sign that says there's always a very small percent chance that you'll die during the operation.

Robin Williams understands sonic performances. He understands what it's like to change your voice up.

I've always said that you can't be the new Mel Blanc by doing Mel Blanc's voice.

I'm not like a high intellectual.

I don't get to watch Futurama, until it's on TV.

Even when I was coming through school, I was a loner and I used to study music and play it and play it, and I was in bands.

If someone gave me the chance to create something, I put myself into it. I just want to try to do something that will last forever and that won't leave people saying, 'Gee, it could have been better, it could've been this, it could've been that.'

But the throat just kind of falls into line once you realize in your head what it is. You got to remember the musicality of a character you're going to do.

You watch people and study them the way an alien would.

Well, I happen to have a love of vocal reproduction devices.

Somebody's real voice is probably the hardest one that somebody could attempt.

To me, it all comes down to things being character-driven. It's hard for me to look beyond that. CG and all this cool stuff - so be it. But to me, it pretty much begins and ends with character-driven plots rather than technologically-driven plots.

[on top celebrities getting roles in animated films] It's ridiculous - The industry spends so much money on celebrities, then they write off the duds and sell the DVDs. Maybe they think this is the formula for success. They'll pay someone $10 million to come down from Mt. Olympus and sit in a studio for two weeks, and 'this is my fairy princess voice, this is my astronaut, this is my carrot voice.' But it's them. There's no alchemy going on, there's no transformation.